Add heater?

[Lfoxmont]

I have a Burro without a heater......since I plan to camp in Yellowstone, heat would be nice. Anyone added a heater? Costs? Thanks....

[ShawnKK]

Love to chime in here. I bought a Mr Heater last year to off set having to use out house heater during the winter when were only in certains parts of the house. No need to heat the whole house if your not using it right! With my Mr Heater our ele bill dropped.
So now I am planning to use it in the camper as others have. You can use the small tanks or the bigger tanks. It can be moved to outdoors or where ever. I bet since it is not the winter months you can get a great deal on on now. They are vent free but you always would want to put in a leak detect-er. I got the Big Mr Heater and I have small bottles of propane for just in case but use the 20 lb tanks. Not planning to use the rv tanks at all.

[Marv]

Hi Linda,

You might find that Mr Heater is too warm for a small trailer. I believe their smallest model is 4K BTU with no thermostat (it's either on or off). We used a Coleman cat in our Casita 17. We usually ran it on high (3K BTU) for only several minutes and then cut back to low (1.5K) for the evening. I guess it depends on when you are going to Yellowstone. The built-in furnace is comfortable but expensive and uses a lot from the battery.

Marv

[mary and bob]

I recommend having some outside ventilation when using a heater than burns any kind of fuel in a small space. We have used a Mr Heater in our Uhaul with a window slightly open. We never leave it on when sleeping.

[Marv]

Certainly. I think Coleman recommends as little as six square inches of ventilation. Not very much. We don't use it overnight either.

[deryk]

well now is the time you might see some used vented marine boat heaters for sale on ebay! something with a low to no poser useage and less btu's then the furnace.

[David B.]

Originally Posted by Lfoxmont

I have a Burro without a heater......since I plan to camp in Yellowstone, heat would be nice. Anyone added a heater? Costs? Thanks....

Mr Heater doesn't work at altitude. We have a 13' Scamp and have used a Coleman Black Cat, but is way to warm for such a little space, so now we use a Coleman Sport Cat (smaller and works great for our space). We can get a couple of nights of use on just 1 one pound propane bottle.

[TPMcGinty]

I use a small electric space heater in mine but when I camp in the cold I always have electric hookups. They only cost $20-$30. That's cheap.

[mary and bob]

We also use a small electric heater that has a thermostat. We removed the original propane furnace as it was not reliable. I'm assuming that Linda wants to camp where electric hookups are not available.

[Loren G. Hedahl]

We were in a similar situation several years ago. I ended up opting for a more expensive solution that should be great for many years.

I mounted a small Olympic catalytic heater to the inside of the bathroom door. With this installation you normally heat the trailer with the door open. But a couple of minutes with the door closed gets the bathroom nice and toasty warm for those cold mornings.

Of course you could do the same with a Mr. Buddy portable heater, by placing it inside the bathroom for a few minutes.

Note: I feel a bit convicted, having installed an expensive heater since I was the one who originated the KISS thread a few days ago! :>(

So, you see, I don't always act according to my own philosophy.

[ShawnKK]

I love my Mr Heater. I have the big one and I will say wow, they do put out some heat. Even with just the pilot lite it can maintain some heat. I will buy the small one for the trailer and ya I will have the ele heat too. These campers are not air tight. And they have alarms to alert you if there is danger Will Robertson.
But that is just me. Someone wrote about the gas heaters they use in boats. They are sweet but big bucks. They also have the same kind but in a little fire box where you can burn wood. I know this because I was going to build one of those Tiny Houses you heard about.

[RLP]

Originally Posted by David B.

Mr Heater doesn't work at altitude. We have a 13' Scamp and have used a Coleman Black Cat, but is way to warm for such a little space, so now we use a Coleman Sport Cat (smaller and works great for our space). We can get a couple of nights of use on just 1 one pound propane bottle.

For two seasons now I have used a Mr Heater Portable Buddy in a 13 foot Boler at 4900 feet with absolutely no problems of altitude effecting it. Of course I ensure good fresh air ventilation and sometimes provide additional fresh air because it often heats up the Boler to much even on the low setting. They should have called it a "Little Hottie".

[Donna D.]

Yellowstone and heaters reminded me of Peterh's & Lynn's trip to the park. For a GREAT story, read Peter's thread (especially if you want to know about heaters at elevation) The first page of posts made me laugh so hard my eyes were leaking!: http://www.fiberglassrv.com/forums/f...nel-35139.html

[David B.]

Originally Posted by RLP

For two seasons now I have used a Mr Heater Portable Buddy in a 13 foot Boler at 4900 feet with absolutely no problems of altitude effecting it. Of course I ensure good fresh air ventilation and sometimes provide additional fresh air because it often heats up the Boler to much even on the low setting. They should have called it a "Little Hottie".

We tend to not thinking of 5,000 ft as much elevation, as we generally camp in Colorado at the 10,000 ft level. Heater Buddy does NOT work at ??? elevation that is written on the box.

[Carol H]

There is a long thread called Portable Propane Heaters from January of this year where the pro and cons of various little heaters was talked about.

[Vtec]

Hi, just bought a Scamp that didn't come with a heater or as I call it, a furnace. I am planning on installing it myself and have already done this to one of my last pop-ups. Honestly it was pretty easy to do in most respects if you are handy or have a friend who is handy with lots of tools. Or pay to have it installed at an RV place which would get pricey I am sure. I am a shop teacher so it was nothing to it and I am looking forward to doing it again.

I just get whatever furnace is originally installed and will put it where it would go on the model I have. I can get one on E-bay for about $375 or straight from Scamp for a little more. Some fittings, thermostat, wire and a gas line and I am in for right around $425. I think a professional install would be about $800-1000.

Installing: I looked a few days ago and found a gas inline splice connector exactly where it can be changed out with a T-connector so gas line will be easy, no cutting. Connect gas line up with compression fittings and test for leaks. I need to punch a hole or holes through camper shell and will find spot from inside and drill a pilot hole from inside and finish with a hole saw or jig saw from outside. I would then mount the furnace and wire it to the fuse box wires just as they were from the factory. Wires for this are with the gas line already or i may have to put some in which is easy. Where the furnace is going I have a large cabinet door already so I just have to cut the door to size and router the edge of the door to match. The cabinet face needs to look nice so I will either fiberglass or nicely block the hole for both furnace or cabinet. I like to do everything perfect like it was from factory so might fiberglass and repaint the cabinet face but unsure of that. Than I need to run the wires to the thermostat and install a CO detector.

I did it once already, will do it again and found the furnace install on a camper to be a pretty average level skill for someone. I like doing stuff myself and have been teaching these same skills for the past 26 years so a furnace install is something to do with beer. It's about a 4 hour job but snags and thinking always double that so am planning on 8 total.

[stevebaz]

Here is a post where I installed a furnace in my 13 Scamp. I've camped at over 8,000 feet and it worked well. I camped in the desert at 30 degrees and it worked well. I need the heater to be comfortable as I hate to be over stacked with bedding and if I had to do it again I would install the same unit again
Have fun with your install.

http://www.fiberglassrv.com/forums/f...ace-55071.html

[nlife]

The previous owner put an Atwood in ours as well. Something like 35,000 BTU and can be used at elevation. The blower on it is noisy, but there's no cold spots in the trailer. At all. Every corner is warm. The downside is that I generally only get a few days on a charge during the cooler times - early spring, late fall. Could be an older battery though.

One thing I did notice is that when the battery get's too low, the furnace stops working. The fan will spin up, but the Atwood that I have requires the fan to spin at a minimum of 75% top speed or it doesn't generate enough air movement to trip a switch that ignites the gas. It would just spin then shut down. Spin then shut down. So glad I was able to google the problem and realize that that the battery needed a charge because an RV fixit shop in Kamloops tried to sell me a $250 circuit board without even looking at the furnace. No returns either!

N

[Jared J]

Compression fittings are a no-no with propane. Flare only.

[David Tilston]

Originally Posted by Jared J

Compression fittings are a no-no with propane. Flare only.

Interesting, I am certainly no expert on propane fittings, but I have worked on large oil field natural gas compressors. For the smaller lines, up to 3/4", we used 316 stainless steel tube, and Swagelok compression fittings. Good to 11000 psi.