electric heater use in a motorhome

[TandW]

The SAFEST thing to do right off is install new outlets, attaching the wires with a loop under the screws. Push in connections to any wiring device have resulted in many insurance claims. Now in my case I have medical oxygen equipment on board. And I have installed ten additional coach batteries so that this equipment can run quietly thru the nite when hook-ups are not available. This equipment and a 35 pint per day Soleus dehumidifier are my heating baseload. I supplement these with a few strategically placed food warming plates. I use only one heating device on any circuit. Whenever there is a 12 volt power option for a device, 12 volt is chosen as this "tempers" the load on the main power center and or power pedestal, given that there are so many batteries to draw on. My Intellitec charger/converter has it's own power pigtail to plug into the 20 amp receptacle on the power pedestal. The reefer runs continuously on its own dedicated 300 watt inverter. The 12 volt main wiring to the reefer and to the 12 volt distribution panel have been upsized to 8 gauge. All in all it works well. Good luck!!

[hamdave]

Mine is 30A service like most units. I simply added another 15a duplex at the foot of the bed where the breaker panel is located. This is in parallel with the overhead A/C. Only hear OR A/C never both at the same time. Works for us.

cheers

[akcampr]

We have used an electric heater for years in our class C. this fall we got a Class A, and I will be replacing the outlets before running the heater after reading this thread. Thanks guys. We need the supplemental heat when we boondock with our snowmobiles, temps can drop below zero. We run the genny every morning and evening to charge batteries, the furnace runs a lot. Always have the heater going to give it a load. We also use electric blanket to warm up the bed at night.

[DAN L]

Quote:

Originally Posted by akcampr We have used an electric heater for years in our class C. this fall we got a Class A, and I will be replacing the outlets before running the heater after reading this thread. Thanks guys. We need the supplemental heat when we boondock with our snowmobiles, temps can drop below zero. We run the genny every morning and evening to charge batteries, the furnace runs a lot. Always have the heater going to give it a load. We also use electric blanket to warm up the bed at night.

we use a 2 controller queen 12v electric mattress pad from backwoods solar. it works well for us.
i installed 3 indoor-outdoor wired temp gauges, 1 in the water pump-water heater compartment, middle water tank compartment, and in the aft water service compartment to monitor temps. wireless gauges are available.
the propane furnace keeps the compartments above freezing. when on shore power/genny, we use 3 750 watt box heaters in the coach. we use a 100w trouble light in the middle and aft water compartments. we found that the fwd water pump compartment stays toasty when the water heater is on with the electric element or propane. otherwise, i would use an additional 100w trouble light.

[yudamann]

I, too, tired of tripping breakers with heaters. I ran a separate 30 amp circuit just for room heaters, 2 new dedicated outlets. I use separate 30 amp plug into the pedestal along with our 30 or 50 amp house plug for this circuit. I also ran a circuit for bath room to wall mounted 400 watt baseboard radiator to keep everything toasty in there. This circuit is on the washer/dryer 15 amp circuit that we do not use. Use only quality UL listed heaters. I use CG electric rather than my propane when possible.