I'll soon be placing the final order for my 13, to be delivered in April. I originally ordered a furnace but I've read that they're really noisy (and heavy). I'm now considering nixing that and getting a heating element for the AC unit and supplementing with a ceramic heater. Scamp says the heating element is effective down to 30° - is that true? Also, how long could I run a small heater if boondocking with a Type 27 battery?
Thu, 01/04/2018 - 00:38
#1
Is the Heating Element for the A.C. Effective?
We have both the furnace and the a/c heating element option. The heating element will take the morning chill off but not much more. Someone can correct me on this but I think the a/c unit heating element does not have a thermostat so its either on or off. The fan on the overhead a/c unit is noisy as is the furnace in my opinion.
We got the furnace as it would be hard to add later and thinking of resale down the road. The heating element option was inexpensive to add so it wasn't a hard decision when we ordered ours.
The LP Furnace is 12 volts so off the grid will work. Not sure what other heater you could safely employ that would be battery friendly enough to provide the heat you would need. If in your original post you were referring to furnace run time on battery I remember others who have posted articles in the past that offered real world experience in that regard.
You definitely won’t want to run an electric heater with an inverter off of battery, it would be doable if running a generator, but you couldn’t be camped near anyone. The draw could melt the wiring to the 12v plug and a stock group 27 battery wouldn’t make it through the night possibly damaging the battery.
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A fully charged Group 27 battery holds enough usable energy to power a toaster oven for 30 minutes. It's not suitable for space heating. We all use much more energy than we're aware of.
If you are contemplating boondocking some, I highly recommend going through our Solar section in the Resources. Tons of good basic info on 12v systems that is extremely useful.
Our Trailers:
2015 19 Escape
Buying or Selling Molded FG Trailers:
Fiberglass-RV-4Sale
Thanks, guys! I obviously need to study up on electrical systems, and I will definitely check out the solar forum.
I found the AC heating element good to the mid 20s and calm. They are very loud, which in my case is a good thing. I like the white noise for sleeping. There is a thermostat, but the fan runs continuously. The thermostat is similar to those on old car heaters range from cold to hot no precise temperature control.
We use a 2 speed ceramic cube heater. Quieter than the A/C fan, more wattage (heat) and thermostatic controlled. We use this whenever A/C power is available. I have used it in 0 to 10F temps. in my Scamp. I usually find them at yard sales for $10-20.
Eddie