Boler Furnace

[Kurt in BC]

I am hoping everyone can help me out.

My '70 Boler did not come outfitted with a furnace and I am looking to upgrade to one to take advantage of some winter camping.

I posted an add on my local Craiglist site and received several replies.

I need to know what brands and models came in the Bolers, Scamps, Burros, Trilliums and U Hauls, so I can buy the right one.

Any dimensions anyone may have of their units may also help.

So far:

1. 1979 Vanguard camper furnace

2. Olympian 6100 catalytic heater


thanks!

- Kurt

[Donna D.]

My 1988 Scamp came with a Suburban. The manual says it's for models:
NT-12SE
NT-16SE
NT-20SE

Further, in the installation instructions it says to have an opening available:
10 9/16 x 10 3/16 by 21" It's like a long shoe box and is mounted under the closet.

[Bob Cupp]

My Love Bug has a Hydro-Therm furnace. It is about the same size as Donna's. My furnace is the convection type (no fan.) I find it the most desirable because it needs no electricity.

[Brian B-P]

As you can see the in 1979 Boler Manual in the Document Center, my trailer and others from the same source were supplied with either Hydro-Flame or Suburban furnaces.

While my 1979 Vanguard-built Boler B1700RGH came with a Suburban Dynatrail NT-12MEC direct-vent fan-forced furnace, some other 17' Bolers came with no-fan furnaces (presumably Hydro-Flame models).

There are lots of manuals for furnaces in the Fiberglass RV Document Center, and many will have dimensions and installation information. The dimensions given in my Suburban manual:
furnace height: 9 13/16", required opening height: 11 1/8"
NT-12 series furnace width: 8 1/8", required opening width: 10 3/8"
NT-16 series furnace width: 11", required opening width: 13 1/4"
installation depth min: 23 5/16"
installation depth max: 29"
Where not specified, dimensions for my NT-12 series furnace and the higher-output NT-16 series are the same. Note: these are not the same dimensions as the NT-xxSE furnaces.

There are all sorts of other installation restrictions and requirements - I would really encourage a thorough read of the manual.

To sort out the Suburban Dynatrail models...
NT-xx xx is the input rate in thousands of BTU per hour (output is about 3/4 of the input)
MEC = pilot ignition
MEF = electronic spark ignition (they had this 1979 and Boler didn't get it! Arggggh!)
MEP = pilot with piezo ignitor (even that would be better than mine!)

[jim munson]

Stay away from the Suburban-noisy fan that kills the battery, too much heat. I like the Coleman Procat. The 2 D fan batteries las a long time.
It's easy to refill the the propane canisters for very low cost.

[Cheryl Libby]

Hello Kurt,

We have opted for a different set up. We are adding a water heater under the sink on top of the wheelwell. From this heater we are adding radiant heating. The heating will go on as an extension of the raised floor for the dining area. This will bring the floor out about an extra 3 inches but we are putting in wood floor so it will just extend over the new heating. There will be 2 variable speed fans on this new addition to circulate the heated air out into the room.
Just an idea for an alternative. And the room we saved for the furnace is great since the water heater takes up less room.

Cheryl

[Brian B-P]

Cheryl, a hydronic setup like this was the topic of some discussion a couple of years ago in this forum. It makes complete sense to me, and is popular among the premium Class A motorhome crowd. I look forward to hearing about the details of the system and how it works out... will you share your experience in a new topic when you're done?

[Cheryl Libby]

Cheryl, a hydronic setup like this was the topic of some discussion a couple of years ago in this forum. It makes complete sense to me, and is popular among the premium Class A motorhome crowd. I look forward to hearing about the details of the system and how it works out... will you share your experience in a new topic when you're done?

To see the system that my husband designed please go to www.photoshow.net/libbycal under the renovation section. If you want more info on it please send me an email with what specs you want and I will track down the answers from my husband David.

vixenridge @ msn.com

[Pete Dumbleton]

Interesting to me is that the frame photos show the axle back in 1975 (if it isn't a replacement by a previous owner) to be a 'trailing', not a 'leading' axle.

Nice matchup now for the bottom of the trailer and Explorer so there is minimum 'air dam' effect!

The radiant heater addition is a good idea and it's out of the way.

[Cheryl Libby]

Interesting to me is that the frame photos show the axle back in 1975 (if it isn't a replacement by a previous owner) to be a 'trailing', not a 'leading' axle.

Nice matchup now for the bottom of the trailer and Explorer so there is minimum 'air dam' effect!

The radiant heater addition is a good idea and it's out of the way.

Yes Pete when we had the new trailer fabricated we went to a trailing axel with a 10 degree drop. We moved the axel forward in order to make it a trialing axel. The frame is all new fabrication as we scrapped the old one.

[peterh]

That Olympian 6100 pumps out enough heat to keep two of our 19' 5th wheels warm. Probably oversized for a fiberglass trailer.

--Peter

[Darren C]

Hey Kurt,

We have a furnace in ours that we're getting rid of - we're moving to solar + battery instead of propane whereever possible. The furnace in ours supposedly does work, except for one part, for which I already have the part. I'll talk to Andrea, but if you want to pick up shipping, it's yours. Interested? Let me know either here, private messsage or email.

[David Thomson]

Darren, you and I seem to be doing a lot of the same stuff and live pretty darned close too. I too want to get rid of the propane on the inside and go electric and have even been pondering solar. Are you planning on a baseboard style heater to provide more space in the cabinet, or some other option?

Dave

[Cheryl Libby]

Cheryl, a hydronic setup like this was the topic of some discussion a couple of years ago in this forum. It makes complete sense to me, and is popular among the premium Class A motorhome crowd. I look forward to hearing about the details of the system and how it works out... will you share your experience in a new topic when you're done?

Thank you for reviewing our project. Here is the low down from my husband. If you have any questions just drop us a line or come see the unit (hopefully) finished and installed at the Oregon Gathering.
The water flow in the Boler is as follows. Potable water from the water tank flows thru the system pump and is pressurized to 20psi. The cold and hot water lines are teed at the water heater and a parallel loop flows through the heater coils a 1gpm pump and back to the water heater. Electrically when the thermostat senses cold it closes a relay that starts the circulation pump. When the coils heat up to 110degrees the fans turn on. Each fan has its own thermostat to start airflow at that temperature. When the trailer warms up the thermostat removes power and shuts down the pump and fans both.
We expect a 20 - 50% duty cycle depending on what we do for insulation and outside temperature. The water heater should stay full because the water returns to the cold side. The pump is the weak link. Right now we have a pump that draws a measured 1 ½ amp with full open flow. The fans draw 1/3 amp each and the relay, thermostat and electric start for the water heater are negligible. Operating for 30 minutes per hour at 50% we will draw about 2 amp hour so a 20amp hour battery will last 10 hours. (overnight) Some of the nice things I wanted to do is have it warm before the air fans start to avoid a flood of cold air. Also by having two thermostat switches the fans start up one at a time and hopefully won’t wake us up every ½ hour. By replenishing the potable water every week or so we avoid Legionnaires Disease by storing warm water.

Hope this helps,
Cheryl

[Pete Dumbleton]

Yes Pete when we had the new trailer fabricated we went to a trailing axel with a 10 degree drop. We moved the axel forward in order to make it a trialing axel. The frame is all new fabrication as we scrapped the old one.

OK, that explains it -- I was pretty sure all the older Boler/Casita/Scamps had leading axles as original equipment.

Here's a Boler seen in 2002 on Vancouver Island.

[Brian B-P]

...I was pretty sure all the older Boler/Casita/Scamps had leading axles as original equipment.

And Trilliums, too, I think. Basically, the designs which had a step up in the rear frame ran the axle cross member under the step, to get the lowest floor height possible. No one seems to care about being that low anymore.

[Darren C]

Darren, you and I seem to be doing a lot of the same stuff and live pretty darned close too. I too want to get rid of the propane on the inside and go electric and have even been pondering solar. Are you planning on a baseboard style heater to provide more space in the cabinet, or some other option?

Dave

David,

The thing is for us is that we're not actually planning to heat the Boler with the solar ... consider this ....

Since we generally eat outside (and sometimes cook over the fire), and don't really sit around in the Boler during the day, we don't really need to heat the Boler. Nights are the coldest of course early and late season. So we have a nice 12V electric blanket (Canadian Tire) to heat the bed at night .... and that's it! If we really need heat, we have a Coleman 'BlackCat' flameless catalytic heater that we can use, but to be honest we rarely need to.

So, Solar will power our basic appliances and the blanket - no need for the propane heater

By the way, give me a shout once you get the Boler, I'd love to swing by and check it out. Having recently renovated, perhaps we can give you a few tips too?