Electric Heaters

[bpickens]

I am looking for recommendations on electric heaters to be used in the coach as a supplement to the gas/heat pump. I have heard about ceramic heaters but don't know the effectiveness or cost.
Thanks for suggestions.

[AKJohn]

We use a ceramic heater purchased from Target. I looked for one with adjustable heat range, I can't remember the max wattage right now. I ended up buying one that is fairly tall so it didn't take up much floor space and when not in use it would store easily in a corner of the coach that was available. The most important thing is to get one with a tip switch. This is a very important safety feature to shut off the heater if it gets tipped over. We use the electric heater to supplement the propane furnace in cold weather. Something we experienced quite a bit last winter. My wife likes it to take the chill off the bathroom when she takes a shower. I think I paid about $60 for ours. You can buy one just about anywhere with a wide range of features. Keep in mind you'll have to store it somewhere.

[2NewRVers]

We bought the best heater ever, we bought the dyson hot+cool. We bought it at best buy but costco has a smaller version for $150.00 less than we paid for ours. Good luck

[pdanders2]

I use a vornado electric, has tip switch and great fan which can be used without heat also. Have also used programable delongi oil filled radiator

[vsheetz]

We have two.

A small table top resistive element with fan. Used at night in the bedroom on the dresser.

A oil filled radiator looking unit with wheels to easily move it aside when not needed. Used in the living area.

[Cougarkid]

We have 4

42' diesel pusher w/ 1 slide out.

Infrared heater up front, near door, blowing towards rear.
Oil filled radiator type midway back, with infrared blowing thru it.
Electric stove heater (fake flames) hanging from wall in bedroom.
4th one is round tube-type forced air unit mounted in wet bay to keep pipes in bay and under floor warm.
All thermostat controlled.

Can go thru zero-degree weeks without using propane heat.

We also have the side-to-side piping wrapped with heat tape to prevent freezing. Water in and sewer out (macerator and garden hose) heat tape protected, also.

[BFlinn181]

Electric heaters have lots of bogus claims. Whether quartz, ceramic, oil filled, etc. PHYSICS determines how much heat can be created by electric resistance. You can spend $400 for a stylish Dyson heater or $30 for a ceramic cube and you'll get the same amount of heat for the kilowatt. (Check BTU ratings to compare)

What you should concentrate on is SAFETY. How hot does the heater enclosure get? How hot is the air coming out? Is there a TILT safety switch if it gets knocked over? Does it have an overheat shut off if something gets tossed on it, blocking air flow?

A couple of other considerations, where will you plug it in? If possible, don't plug it in a GFI outlet, it could cause the GFI to fail over time. If it's a 1500 W heater, does it have a lower setting so you don't max out the RV wiring? If you use electric heat, will your holding tanks still be warmed enough without the furnace running as much?

In colder weather I take the remote thermometer I usually keep in the living quarters of the RV and put it in the holding tank area to monitor temperature. You could add an incandescent lamp or two in the area to add a bit of heat to the tanks. I have a ceramic cube heater we use to supplement the furnace, especially when in unmetered electric campsites.

[KAMPURR]

We purchased one at Camping World, small, about $70, ceramic, tip switch, can't live without it during the cold season for the same reasons you are looking.

[Dutch Star Don]

"BFlinn181" has it right. I didn't want to spend a fortune and wanted something quiet. I went to Target, looked at their selection and plugged several display models in to see how loud they were.

Not only do you want to stay away from GFI outlets, you should also know which outlets in your coach are running off your inverter, if so equipped. If you disconnect your power cord and turn on your inverter, you can check which outlets run off the inverter. There will usually be a couple that don't. Mark those with a dot with a Sharpie.

Even though most inverters have pass thru power when on shore power, it's not good (in the long run) for a 1500 watt heater to be plugged into an inverted outlet. Try and plug into one of your outlets that is shore cord powered only.

On my previous coach I added two additional outlets. I installed an electrical box in the electric bay and ran Romex from that box to an additional outlet in the bathroom and one in the living area. I attached a heavy duty power cord to the box in the electric bay. On those occasions when only 30 amps (at older parks) was available, I would plug the added cord into the 15/20 amp outlet located next to the 30 amp plug in the campgrounds shore power box.

This gave me an additional 15/20 amps to use for heating or my wife's blow dryer when camping with 30 amps only. We could easily run two 1500 watt heaters on 30 amps.

[CampingCajun]

We use a cube ceramic heater in the bedroom & a tower type in the front of the coach. Both oscillate & do a good job.

[2NewRVers]

The dyson heater does not get hot or even warm to the touch if you touch any part of the housing. There is no hot burning dust smell either. We have went through more than 15 different small sized heaters for work and personal use, NONE compares to the dyson am05. But then again there are going to be a few people on here that are going to tell me I got it for status just like our DP or our Corvette. Lol

[gebills]

We have used the same heaters that "pdanders2" has mentioned above, (i.e. a vornado electric heater from Costco, and a oil filled radiator from Sears, built by delongi). I got rid of the Vorado electric heater as I was not quite a comfortable with it as compared to the oil filled heater. The oil filled heater, I'm comfortable with turning on any of it's three heat levels, dial in it's thermostat, and leaving the RV. If we're in the RV, we also run the fireplace (electric) on low or high during the night time, depending on how chilly the night is going to be. To back that up, I set the furnace thermostat at about 62-degrees (night-time) and if the electric heaters don't keep up with the chill, the furnace will kick on. As another poster mentioned also, if it is going to be a below-freezing night, I will turn on a incandescent light in the basement to keep all the water in the pex tubing in a liquid state. Works for us...

[dezolen]

We try to heat ours exclusively with electric heaters including the heat pump on our AC system. Use Propane furnace as last resort because it costs$$$ on propane where as electricity is part of campsite charge. Need 50 amp service to run the fireplace, 2 electric heaters and heat pump.
No worries with electric heaters as long as they are CSA approved as they are very safe and idiot proof as long as caution is used such as placing too close to combustibles ( should have autoshutoff for tipping and overheating)

[gemini5362]

Originally Posted by pdanders2

I use a vornado electric, has tip switch and great fan which can be used without heat also. Have also used programable delongi oil filled radiator

Do a web search there are about 30 oil filled heater brands that have been recalled for a total of 6,000,000 units.

Recall: Holmes; Oil-Filled Electric Heaters