Catalytic Heaters

[Gerry]

Yes, it does. It's one of the reasons I took mine out. It did not seem quite as power friendly as the specs printed here. Tho I never actually measured the draw with mine, I could only get a night out of it before my battery was not up to the job. Even with a fresh charge, I would get a "Brown out" when it was running.

I also had to light it manually (With a lighter) when the power was low. The fan would still run, but there wasn't enough poop to spark. And that made the thermostat useless. I had to get up to light it in the middle of the nite at times.

Wish I could figure out how to do that with my furnace.

Interesting...Not knowing how much you use the battery while on trips I can not worry too much yet. Although you got me thinking bad thoughts now.
Do you have just one battery? I do.....Does your fridge run on propane? Mine does. do you sit in the trailer alot, and use interior lights? We use our lights very little?
I appriciate your input but unless we do buy one and try it there will be no way of knowing I guess if it will will work under the conditions we camp in.
I know after this last fall when temps got down to the 30's and we only had the pilot light in the furnace to keep warm by (and by the way it keeps the 13ft Lady-Bug tolorable) if we do go off and it gets real cold we will survive.
Wanna sell your old one to me...?
Gerry the canoebuilder

[Gina D.]

I have a group 24 battery. I also have all LED or cold cathode lighting, and for boondocking, I had (In the 13) hand water pumps and back ups for all standard items requiring 12v. I always run my fridge on propane unless I have 120v power available. Same with my incandescant lights. My usage for lights is conservative, I only have on what I need, when I need it just like at home.

I intend to switch to hand pumps in my 17, just haven't gotten around to it.

Sorry! I gave th heater away a LONG time ago.

I noted wally world has group 27 marine and RV batteries on sale for 56 bucks. I will be picking one up soon!

[peterh]

Interesting...Not knowing how much you use the battery while on trips I can not worry too much yet. Although you got me thinking bad thoughts now.
Do you have just one battery? I do.....Does your fridge run on propane? Mine does. do you sit in the trailer alot, and use interior lights? We use our lights very little?
I appriciate your input but unless we do buy one and try it there will be no way of knowing I guess if it will will work under the conditions we camp in.
I know after this last fall when temps got down to the 30's and we only had the pilot light in the furnace to keep warm by (and by the way it keeps the 13ft Lady-Bug tolorable) if we do go off and it gets real cold we will survive.
Wanna sell your old one to me...?
Gerry the canoebuilder

Gerry, it's worth noting that Gina's heater was getting old and acting balky. A new one might perform much better.

--Peter

[Gerry]

Gerry, it's worth noting that Gina's heater was getting old and acting balky. A new one might perform much better.

--Peter

Prof. Peter, not only are you very knowlageable on a multitude of problems but you must be phycic also.
You felt my decision to get the Cat begin to melt as I read Gina's report, now I feel a bit better.
Gerry the canoebuilder

[falonia]

Just a follow up on the Wave 3 heater

The wave 3 has no O2 depletion control. That is why it can be used above 5000 feet. They are currently on sale with Amazon for 200 bucks which is a steal. I have hooked mine up to test it but have not used it camping yet. It will warm up my Casita 17 footer in about an hour or so on high with 40 degree outside temp. I plan to put a dryer vent in the bottom half of my shower window as a permanent opening for ventilation. That coupled with my fantastik fan vent should easily take care of my ventilation issues. I pulled out my Suburban as it was such a electricity hog.

I am mounting my heater behind my cook stove on the wall. I had already removed my vent hood because it was useless and now will place an aluminum sheet on the fiberglass above the stove. I have already placed a sheet metal shield behind the stove and sink (primarily to cover the old sife vent hole) I plan a trip to BC in March and will report back on how well the heater works. So far so Good.

Falonia

[Kevin A]

I had asked a question earlier about the fire potential with our Wave heater. Thanks for all the good discussion. Just to let you know, we have ours installed in the lower closet wall across from the sink area and near the back bed (near floor level). We run ours in the evening and early morning with fresh air venting provided through an aluminum dryer tube to an outside vent on the side of the UHaul trailer that runs right below the heater and an exhaust vent provided through the bathroom ceiling pop-up vent left open at night (bathroom door is left ajar). Haven't had a problem with condensation yet with this setup. If necessary, I'll also slide the door window open a bit.

Quick question: can the cat heater ignite cloth that comes up against the wire grill in front? I assume it can and avoid this!

[John Perry]

Quick question: can the cat heater ignite cloth that comes up against the wire grill in front? I assume it can and avoid this!

I had a cat heater in an overhead camper I had years ago. On a sub zero night at Burney Falls in California a pillow fell off a bed and landed very near to the heater. Fortunately I had a smoke alarm because it started smouldering, when smoke alarm went off the camper was full of smoke.
I hate to think of what might have happened if I had not had a smoke alarm in the camper.
There was no fire, just a lot of smoke.
John

[Kevin A]

I had a cat heater in an overhead camper I had years ago. On a sub zero night at Burney Falls in California a pillow fell of a bed and landed very near to the heater. Fortunately I had a smoke alarm because it started smouldering, when smoke alarm went off the camper was full of smoke.
I hate to think of what might have happened if I had not had a smoke alarm in the camper.
There was no fire, just a lot of smoke.
John

Thanks. That's what I suspected. I'm working on a safety shield that will prevent any accidental touching when in use.

[cjlindsay]

Hi Y'all! Here's something you might be interested in. A Funace that uses 1 pound of propane for every 5-7 hours of burn. Draws only 0.17 amps at 12 volts. And puts out 5500-7500 BTU's. It also has a flame viewing window for that "fireplace" effect.
Newport_Furnace.pdf

[Chester Taje]

I just noticed this post. I think its a real solution for a furnace.

[peterh]

I saw that, too. It looks interesting, and it'd be kind of fun to have a miniature fireplace in my little trailer. I just can't see how I'd tastefully integrate the heater and chimney into my trailer. --P

[Pete Dumbleton]

In may already be in this thread, but the rig I saw on Vancouver Island had the furnace mounted to the kitchen cabinet and the chimney just took a right angle to run horizontally under sink and then just out through the wall. Extracted more heat that way. He was burning LP, so there shouldn't have been any exhaust stains on the outside wall.





I think the round silver gizmo is the exhaust, but it seems just a bit high. It's been a couple of years. Wish I'd taken a photo of the inside.

[DENNIS GOULD]

Hi
I have had two 13' trailers. One was a Scamp, and I put an Olympian wave 3 in it. It worked great, and I am refurbing a ‘78 burro 13’ now, and as we speak, I have one in route to me for this trailer. The only thing I can say is you should open your door window a little, and the roof vent a little, to give you and the heater some fresh air. Otherwise, they are great, and do not use any power.
DENNIS IN NY

[peterh]

Does anyone have experience with the Olympian Wave 3 heating a larger trailer, like a Scamp 5er or Casita 17'?

--Peter

[Gina D.]

It cooked me out of m 13, even in below freezing weather. I would imagine it will do OK in a 17, but I am thinking a wave 6 might be better.

I did have one really uncomfortable nite with it at about 7k feet and temps in the low 20s. Because I had to leave a window open, for the heater and to compensate for the altitude, (I have 3/4 the oxygenating power most folks do) and two dogs using my air...it couldn't keep up for my comfort levels.

[SKP]

Hi all,

I’ve read up on all the threads about the vented platinum catalytic heater. I have even emailed both addresses I could find. Does anyone have a sure fire way to contact the manufacturer? Thanks in advance!

[Mike Magee]

Originally Posted by SKP

Hi all,

I’ve read up on all the threads about the vented platinum catalytic heater. I have even emailed both addresses I could find. Does anyone have a sure fire way to contact the manufacturer? Thanks in advance!

You've resurrected a 15-year-old thread! The Plat Cat caught my attention back then, but in all these years I don't recall reading any post from a person who'd installed one. I do not think they ever caught on. Not marketed well enough, perhaps? At any rate, if you are not getting any response from the email addresses you've written to, I'd venture to say that they either are no longer in business or do not deserve your business!


BTW, their "about" page lists a phone number, FWIW.