What are you using for a furnace?

[mike802]

Hi everyone:  I have a couple of RV Furnace's that I was planing on using in my conversion.  One of them I was going to install under a bunk that I am working on now, so its time for the install.  Looking it over and wondering if I really want to use it or not!  Figured I would ask what others are using before I commit and cut holes in my bus.

[luvrbus]

May not be the best on the market but by far the cheapest and works if you have propane they are about maintenance free and the hydro systems are not,good luck you will get plenty of answers on what is the best 

 

[Seangie]

Mike -

We are all electric.  We have a webasto heater but the webasto and water pumps chew through batteries and we end up having to run the generator after about 6 hours.  It makes more sense for us to just run the generator and use portable heaters if we are boondocking.  We typically use an oil filled heater and a ceramic fan heater.  The two of those keep the bus pretty toasty.  Remember that we don't ever stay our winters in cold weather places.  So we only use the heaters for about a month or so.  For us it didn't make sense to install pricey heaters.  If we constantly weathered somewhere cold it would make more sense.  Some day Ill have the webasto installed but even then there are only a few times a year we would actually use it.

-Sean

[TomC]

We have only two propane powered appliances. One is the 3 burner stove with oven and the other is the 35,000btu Atwood furnace. I have the up dated version with larger fan that runs slower and quieter. I have 4 ducted outlets and it heats the bus rather quickly. While the coldest I've been in is around 25 degrees, the furnace has always kept up nicely. Plus they are relatively cheap-around $700.00. In the 18 years I had the first furnace in, I did virtually nothing to it. The only reason I replaced it is because I left the thermostat on for two weeks and the fan motor didn't like that. I could have just replaced the fan motor, but wanted the quieter updated version. I like it so much, I'm going to use the Suburban version since it only has a 3" x 6" vent on the outside in my truck conversion.
I also have heat strips on each of my three A/C's-they work, but at the cost of lots of cold air circulating before heating up. Hence, haven't used them much. Good Luck, TomC

[Dave5Cs]

Suburban 35000 BTU with 4 outlets, works well but most of the time a small ceramic with a fan keeps up nicely. But we don't do cold areas. 

[chessie4905]

   Ours has small baseboard heaters with blower motors, and heat strips in the 3 roof A/C's. Thinking about propane, but none on board now.Out 4104 had one 35k suburban furnace that worked well. I have two Suburbans now that I'm considering installing in our 4905, but haven't done so. The price of propane now hasn't sped up a decision, nor loss of space for them and tank/s.

[mike802]

The units I have are, 25 thousand and 30 thousand BTU Suburbans.  I was planing on putting one under the bunk and the other under the sofa.  The bunk furnace would feed duct work running up the curb side and the one under the sofa would feed the duct work running up the drivers side.  Are two units really necessary?  At this time we are not planning on spending much time in the bus at sub zero temperatures, just looking to be comfortable down into the teens.  We had a 28 foot travel trailer with one furnace and it was adequate for said temperatures, but it would drain our one battery really fast.  If I put one furnace under the bunk it really sucks up storage space and I would have to vent out the wall on the curb side, something I am really reluctant to do.  Has any one installed these type of furnace in the bays, and how did you work out the venting and duct work?  Thanks for all the reply's so far.

[luvrbus]

What is the price of propane in the Penn area it is around 2 bucks a gal here in AZ 2.29 in the larger areas like Phoenix

[mike802]

5.818 in Vermont delivered.

[TomC]

You can still get propane for under $2.50/gal-just have to look. When we are hooked up, we have a single electric space heater that keeps the interior warm enough. We were just in Lake Tahoe with nights in the 40's, rain, hail, etc. and the electric fan worked well. If it gets colder, we have a second electric heater. Propane heating is mainly when dry camping or like to have quick warm up. Good Luck, TomC

[Cary and Don]

We have three cruise air heat pumps that heat much better than we expected but not enough for really cold weather.  Two toe kick heaters that are really fast at heating us up in the morning.  But for some reason, you just can't beat the oil heaters if you want constant heat all day.  All those fans drive you crazy after awhile.  The oil heater is wonderfully silent and use less electricity than the other options.

Don and Cary

[mike802]

We have three cruise air heat pumps that heat much better than we expected but not enough for really cold weather.  Two toe kick heaters that are really fast at heating us up in the morning.  But for some reason, you just can't beat the oil heaters if you want constant heat all day.  All those fans drive you crazy after awhile.  The oil heater is wonderfully silent and use less electricity than the other options.

What do you mean by an "oil heater" ?

[bevans6]

Oil filled electric heater so convection distribution of the heat and no fan.  They work well if you want a constant steady heat, not well if you need to warm up a space fast.  I use a Suburban 35K propane unit that I installed in the basement (rear luggage bay).  I made up a cold air return duct so it doesn't pull in air from the bay, only from the house, and I have three ducted heat outlets.  The space in the bay was wasted anyway, it's beside my fresh water tank.  I like it because it heats up the house fast as heck even if it's below freezing, but it uses a lot of propane and battery.  Plus it was free.

[chessie4905]

Here's  prices Clifford:

http://www.eia.gov/dnav/pet/pet_pri_wfr_a_EPLLPA_PRS_dpgal_w.htm

[Dave5Cs]

HD $1.47 a lb.