Electric heaters?

[JohnEd]

Belfert, look thru the thing with a strong light.  Is it full of lint and dust?  If not just chuck the thing.  I have bought two over the years that just didn't work.  Seeing as I buy them off season I had no chance of return.

Paso,

In my Winnie I can run one cube and it will raise the inside temp by 30 degrees.  The second will raise it by another 30.  To keep comfy I need the coach to be 70 degrees inside so I figure I can be ok down to 70 - 60 or 10 degrees thereabout.  So far I have tested that theory down to 15 degrees F and it held.  One cube ran mostly full time and the other cycled every 5 minutes.  I don't know that this is all that scientific but it worked for me.  Another coach might have a different insulation factor and the numbers would vary but I think if you ran a cube full time and determined the the rise over outside ambient you would have an idea of what 1 or 2 cubes would do for you.  I think you could even make this determination in the summer if you were out of the sun..ya think?  At 12 amps per cube I would pay some attention to how many I planed to depend on.  My 40,000 BTU propane furnace is my backup while on the pole and my primary without shore power.

John

[Paso One]

 JohnEd While working on my bus I can raise the inside temperature 30 degress also with one cubie plugged into my shop welder plug.

  My bus is all 110 or I would build in one cubie. ( I still might )

However I have a webasto 2010 and a webasto diesel fired air top heater not counting the propane wall heater ( AKA blue flame of death)

I have a fear of having a cold bus I can live with a warm bus but not with a cold one.

[Hartley]

I have an oil filled heater sitting behind the drivers seat and usually keep it on low or medium. It catches the cold air dropping off the glass and dash areas and does a pretty good job.

I have a 35,000 btu LP suburban furnace under the kitchen counter that blows straight out, The air bounces off the fridge and down the hallway and forward into the living room. I use it for emergency heating usually. The cats all plop down in front of the high volume airflow and get goofy.

I have a "turbo" heater ( electric ) in the bedroom on the dresser and run that on low most of the time. The hot air is directed up into the rooftop a/c unit and I run the fan only on that to distribute the air. ( also masks the noise of the cats playing and dog barking. ) ( White Noise!!!).

So far it's already been 7 degrees here with windchill of -9 degrees. I moved the bus into the barn (mostly) and cut down on the wind carrying off the heat.

My bus has mostly only the orginal insulation with some r-5 foam board over the walls, windows and part of the floor where I leveled it out. No, I dodn't ever get to do a proper insulating job.. $$$ & Time... Now it will have to wait since we live in it full time.

On average I can hold 68 degrees with only dips to 55 degrees with the electrics.
The sad part is that winter electric runs about $200 a month plus the 140 lbs of LP gas that gets used up. ( My wife likes HEAT! )...

This year we finally got an electric blanket... WhoooHoooo...Warmmm..

My little office is a 10X20 Playhouse building and I insulated it with r-13 fiberglass, The little ceramic heater I have keeps it nice even at 7 degrees.
Only the floor is plywood so someday I will get around to insulating that. ( I hope!)

[belfert]

Belfert, look thru the thing with a strong light.  Is it full of lint and dust?  If not just chuck the thing.  I have bought two over the years that just didn't work.  Seeing as I buy them off season I had no chance of return.

I am reasonably certain the heater is not plugged as it has rarely been used, but I will check it out.  I'll probably keep it as it heats small spaces okay.  It is good for heating the bay if I haven't winterized before first freeze.

My friend who winters in Florida now gave me a heater that works pretty good.

[HB of CJ]

FWIW we had the best luck with the parabolic looking infra-red electric from Home Club.  About $40 about 4 years ago, sossss kinda spendy.  By aiming the thing at people, (us) it actually worked quite well making things cool but liveable in the old Crown Super Coach ex-schoolie.

Disadvantages were you didn't want to knock it over; was best mounted or set upon something kinda high, (we used the icebox--36" high) and it used almost 10 amps at 110 vac. and again it worked best aimed at people and not an area.  About a 6 to 8 foot range.  Good luck.  HB of CJ

[belfert]

10 amps is nothing for an electric heater.  Most of the small ones are 1500 watts at full blast so they take close to 13 amps.

[JohnEd]

Dr. Dave,

In almost another lifetime in Berlin,Germ. I was introduced to the "DOWN COMFORTER".  My bedroom went down to 40 degrees and I was never even in the slightest chilled.  They also warm up quickly from a dead stop.  I have been hooked on those power free devices for the past 46 years.  I have a king size on my bed almost all year and the summers are mild in Eugene.  I keep one bedroom single hung sash window open wide except for the afternoon.  The coldest it has been in the bedroom is 27 and I swear to God both Wifey and I are snugly alone or together.  Incredible bed stuff and I never fear a power outage.  I am bullet proof on that score.

AGAIN, put a small fan in the corner blowing straight up....home or RV.  It should be a silent fan...you bought it.  Running a AC fan only would be a distraction for me but maybe you have modern and spendy roof tops.  The AC unit will ingest warm air at the top of the room and shoot it out in the top of the room and simply stir the air that is warmest with itself.  No gain there!  You got to get the cold air at the floor level moved up to the ceiling to get it warmed.  But, and this is from the heart, whatever works for you.

THINK GOOSE DOWN!

Thanks all and happy new year to you and yours,

John

[buswarrior]

regarding the heat strips in the roof airs...

After seeing the insides of a roof air, I'm not confident that there isn't heat loss of some significance out through them when trying to use the heat strips in winter conditions.

Ok for taking the chill out when the inside/outside temps aren't that far apart, say, 20-30 degree spread, but beyond a 40 degree spread...

Under winter conditions, I'm very suspicious we might be better off isolating them with a quilted pad from underneath and covering them outside.

happy coaching!
buswarrior

[Sojourner]

About DrivingMissLazy on toe-heater that burned interior of Eagle

Some bus nuts may have more detail about DML's fire to add to this post. Thank you.

FIXED-POSITION ELECTRIC HEATERS


Quote "Most fires reported in the IDIs were attributed to the ignition of combustibles
outside, rather than inside, the heater. Towels, clothing, and bedding (including
mattresses) were most often cited as the objects ignited. Fire officials considered the
heaters to be "properly operating electrical equipment" with combustibles placed too
close by consumers. However, the fires usually damaged the heaters so severely as to
make inspection of the unit futile. Thus, the heaters involved in incidents were rarely
examined by fire officials for internal failures.
Some IDIs cited dust accumulation in the heater as a contributing factor to fires.
In half of the IDIs, it could not be determined whether the heater had ever been cleaned.
In IDIs where the cleaning history was known, twice as many heaters had never been
cleaned as had been cleaned at least once. Consumers rarely possessed instruction
manuals for their heaters, which contain the procedures for cleaning and maintenance.
According to evaluations by Human Factors, some manuals indicate that it is the user's
responsibility to clean (typically by vacuuming) any accumulated dust or lint from inside
the heater on a regular basis. Without these instructions, the consumer would not know
the need for, the procedures to, or the recommended frequency of, cleaning the interior
of the heater, or whether the heater is intended to be cleaned." unquote


The bottom-line is that all open element heater can be a torch to combustibles material. All it needs 700°F to ignites any dry combustibles material.

My suggestion is to never leave open element heater unattended without a dependable adult.
Our Michigan local fire department always suggested to unplug the toaster and the "open element" heater when leaving the premises. They are #1 cause of house fire.
After all...the electrical switch contacts are too close for peace of mind.

FWIW

Sojourn for Christ, Gerald

Happy New Year!