How much venting for catalytic heater use?

[slackercrust]

Been using a Olympian Wav catalytic 3 heater in a leaky pop up Aliner. No need to open vents at night, since there is so much air leaks in it.

http://www.rvsupplywarehouse.com/con...tic-heater.jpg

Will be using the same heater in a much more air tight truck camper. How much venting do you catalytic heaters guys use? I was thinking about an inch on the roof vent lid? Is that enough?

[Senior Chief]

The standards say 1 square inch of vent for each 1000 BTUs of propane burned: for the Wave 3, that uses 1/8 pound of propane per hour at 22000 BTU/lb, that means just under 3 square inches of vent opening.

A standard 14" ceiling vent open 1/2" will give you 3.5 square inches of venting. 2 vents, one low on the wall and one high is supposed to be best, but in practice, everybody just cranks open a ceiling vent a little.

[slackercrust]

Thanks for the rundown!

[ralper]

I leave one 2' tall rear sliding window open 1/2". I leave the bedroom fantastic fan lid open to just even with the rim it shuts against, about 1/2". One low and one high. Gas industry standards are 1 square inch for each 1000 BTU's.