Found a good radiant space heater

[David Tilston]

Originally Posted by Noreen Bradshaw

David, the furnace is a Duo Therm but I didn't find the 65000 on it. How can I find out if that is what it is? If it is a gravity furnace I definately would think it's worth fixing.

The bottom third of the front comes off. Pull the handle and it exposes the gas valve and the pilot light hole. Just below the gas valve, on the bottom of the furnace, is the name plate. The model number and BTU value can be found there. You will need a flash light.

Looking at your registry photo, I can see by the exhaust vent, that you have the standard gravity furnace. The model numbers change, but all the classic Trillium trailers, if they have heat, they have a gravity furnace. No fan, no electricity, no noise. Just add propane and out comes heat. Most of the heat comes out of the left side. The gas valve is on the right side. On a Trillium 4500, this means that the hot stuff is not in danger of contacting your bedding. On a 1300, because the heater is on the kitchen side, the hot part is closest to the bed.

When you fix it, just don't try to remove the heater, like I did. Get someone to service it in the trailer. It should not cost much more then $450 to repair, probably less.

[Noreen Bradshaw]

David, thanks for the information, re this furnace. I would love to get this furnace working. The fact that it would be so quiet is a big plus.....not bc I can't sleep with the sound of a fan running but bc I love the sound of the woods in the night. I think the night sounds is one to the nicest things about camping.

[john warren]

i have a 1500 watt version like that, it warms our bedroom right up. they take awhile to warm up because they have to heat all the oil, but then the oil keeps a nice steady heat going. its what i would use if i didn't have a furnace.

[Rick G]

Originally Posted by Noreen Bradshaw

I bought one of those last fall and used it for one outing at the PP nearby......just to try it. It did not adequately warm my 15' Trillium in cold but not freezing temps. I returned it to the store.

I have found the little ceramic heater to be the best without sacrificing space. Set at the other end of the room the sound of the fan running does not keep me awake.

My camper still has the original Propane furnace in it and while the pilot light will come on it does not ignite the burner. I haven't taken it to the RV shop where I have my work done, bc I don't know that I would use it much anyway, if it is noisy, being so close to the bed.

If you have the original furnace, which in our 1980 Trillium 4500 is a Duotherm 65512, they have no fan in them and are completely quiet. They are also vented to the outside so that they do not use any room air, and generate their own electricity to operate the thermostat (if you have one). Mine is 12000 BTU/hr input, 8400 output, so they can give a lot of heat. So, you already have an excellent heater, if you wanted to get it serviced.

Rick G.

[gmw photos]

Phil, thanks for the comments on the little heater. That sounds like it might work well for me. I'm trying to keep weight in check for everything I buy for the trailer, because as we all know, after a few years these things tend to magically gain weight !

As I said, at night time, I just want something that can keep the temp from plummeting inside....sometimes I let it get down to lower 50's in there, and just turn the electric blanket on. Then in the AM.....yep, turn the ceramic heater to high, and kick the propane furnace on for about ten minutes and life is good.

[Roger C H]

A 1500 watt heater, which is about the limit for a 120 volt, 15 amp circuit, puts out about 5,000 BTU. Propane furnaces put out about 12,000 BTU. So you can see that you could probably cook a chicken in a 13' trailer with the propane furnace on high.

Thomas G (post #9) has the right information on natural vs forced convection. Convection heats the air around it and this air then heats the room. Of course with a fan convection, you do have the noise of the fan. I often wonder if a computer type fan, which is very quiet, couldn't be used instead of the cheap, noisy fans typical on small heaters. Radiant heaters are like radar dishes with a visibly hot element, heat from which radiates to solid objects which it warms, like your body. No heater is 100% one or the other, with convection heaters radiating some of their heat and radiant heaters convecting some of their heat. For more information about convection than you care to have, go to:

Convection - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

We have a small, forced (convection) air heater as a backup to our (natural convection) radiator. But the radiator is very quiet. It is not altogether silent, one can hear the relays clicking on and off as it operates, but otherwise, silence. Another feature we like is you don't have the hot/cold cycle with the forced convection types. The oil has mass which retains the heat, dispensing it gradually.

[bkboler]

Hi, Brian here. Can anyone tell me if you can run those oil heaters all night while you're sleeping. Is there a safety issue. Do you need some sort of alarm or detector? I went out and bought a little coleman heater that uses the little green tanks. It wasn't until I got home that I found out you shouldn't run them while you sleep. Any thoughts?

[Mike Magee]

Originally Posted by bkboler

Hi, Brian here. Can anyone tell me if you can run those oil heaters all night while you're sleeping. Is there a safety issue. Do you need some sort of alarm or detector? I went out and bought a little coleman heater that uses the little green tanks. It wasn't until I got home that I found out you shouldn't run them while you sleep. Any thoughts?

If you meant the oil-filled radiators, those are electric so perfectly safe (unless something flammable were draped across them or something)... no flame.

Is your Coleman a catalytic heater? I have a Coleman Black Cat and have slept with it on, but having a couple of windows cracked open is a must. The burner doesn't put out much CO but it does consume oxygen. Both CO and smoke detectors are advisable whether you use such a heater or not!

[bkboler]

Thanks Mike. I'm not sure of the exact name of the coleman. I can't seem to find it online. I would really like to find something I can use if I end up camping at a non electrical site. Good to know about a CO detector. Never would have thought about that. If I have to then I'll look at prices for a proper RV furnace and hook the propane lines back up. What I have been doing is running the heater for a couple hours at night to get it warm and just turning it off before I crash but the heat disipates pretty quickly.

[Panoz77]

Originally Posted by bkboler

Thanks Mike. I'm not sure of the exact name of the coleman. I can't seem to find it online. I would really like to find something I can use if I end up camping at a non electrical site. Good to know about a CO detector. Never would have thought about that. If I have to then I'll look at prices for a proper RV furnace and hook the propane lines back up. What I have been doing is running the heater for a couple hours at night to get it warm and just turning it off before I crash but the heat disipates pretty quickly.

Try looking into Mr. Heater Big Buddy or Little buddy, new for about $100 for the Big Buddy, has low O2 shutdown, nice little heaters.

[bkboler]

Thanks for the pic James. So does that just use a little green propane tank?

[Panoz77]

Yes, it works with 1 lb green bottles or you can buy an adapter (proprietary) to hook up a 20 lb tank.

[avfn]

I"ve used both the black cat and the buddy heaters... BOTH are awesome but I actually think they are OVERKILL for the little 13 footers. I used one of each to keep my WHOLE HOUSE warm (1400 square feet) during some severe ice storms where I had no power for 6 days. Everyone came to my house because I had the heat and the propane for cooking and all the camping equipment anyone might need. I think the sportcat is the PERFECT size for a little 13 footer. I used to tent camp with the black cat in a 6 man tent in 40-50 degree weather and we would SWEAT in the tent with it on LOW. the sport cat might be the best... and teeniest option. BUT YES crack a window!!! Coleman SportCat Catalytic Heater - Walmart.com

[bkboler]

It turns out that I have the Procat model. I bought it at Canadian Tire about 2 years ago. I can't seem to find it online so I don't know if they even make it anymore.

[bkboler]

Scratch that. I found it online with some pretty good reviews.