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Old 12-07-2017, 11:11 PM   #1
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Space Heaters - what's best?

Hi guys!

I'm living in the motorhome over the winter and I just got my propane sorted out so I have lots of that. The idea is to use the furnace as the primary heat source but when I go to sleep I close off the bathroom partition and shut off the furnace. So it gets a bit cold at night. So what I've been doing is running one of the oil-filled heating units on low through the night. It's silent so that's good and it works pretty well but it's also large and a bit cumbersome.

I was out looking at space heaters today and found ceramic ones and infra-red ones - among others. This brought to mind some questions, for instance, which ones are more efficient from an electrical point of view? Also, given the application, which ones are quiet?

There was a nice infra-red unit there, complete with remote control and it looked good and was not large. But I didn't know if it made noise or not or if it was efficient. I'd love to hear others ideas and opinions on my situation before I buy something to replace the oil heater I borrowed.
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Old 12-08-2017, 02:31 AM   #2
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We have two $20 heaters from Walmart. They move the heated air throughout the coach and have worked fine for the past 12 years.

You don't want an Infrared heater because it only heats through electromagnetic radiation. So it would only warm what the radiation hits, not the air.

We had an oil filled and got rid of it, big and didn't move the air.
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Old 12-08-2017, 08:38 AM   #3
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Like Arch I like the cheap heaters with a fan .
Theoretically 1500 watts is 1500 watts but people will have their preferences
of what they like .
Fifteen 100 watt incandescent light bulbs will put out the same heat but you might
have trouble sleeping
Cheap actually works as well as expensive , efficiency is pretty much the same .
The only way that I know of to actually get more heat per watt is with a
heat pump , they are actually more efficient but cease to heat as the temp gets
too low outside .
Safety would be my first concern and I believe your oil filled heater is pretty high
on the safe list .
Especially in an RV where things are close you have got to be cautious about the
surroundings .
Be sure heaters have safety features in case it gets tipped over .

Ray
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Old 12-08-2017, 09:25 AM   #4
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I really like the oil-filled radiator type heaters. Here is why:

First, they are quite. Absolutely no noise and they put off a tremendous amount of heat.
Among portable heaters, they are probably the safest.
If you really have a need to move the heat, you can place a small portable fan (which we always have with us anyway) on either side of the heater to blow through the radiator to direct heat across the area.

As mentioned before, the oil-filled radiator type heaters are bigger than the small portable ceramic heaters, but, IMO, the benefits listed above out weigh the size issue.
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Old 12-08-2017, 09:58 AM   #5
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Arch Hoagland View Post
We have two $20 heaters from Walmart. They move the heated air througho

I know people who Swear by Oil Filled, Me I swear At 'em (Too big and bulky)

I like the 20 dollar (though for political reasons not the Wal*mart, but I'll overlook that) I usually go to Big Lots or Ollie's or some other deep discount store.

I like Ceramic heaters cause they are usually smaller though just now I have two Ceramics, one hot wire (20 bucks at Big lots) and one quartz not working (It is a 750 Watt "Fireplace" and likely has a connection loose.

ONE WORD OF CAUTION.. I am now seeing others saying this too.

In most RVs.. I would not trust the wires at 1500 watts. I have smelled hot wire running that and others have had burned connections and outlet failutes. I am not aware of any fires but some of the damage photos I've seen suggested it is possible.

I installed some special circuits

Two of 'em are 15/20 amp House type recepticals, contrasting color, each has its own circuit breaker (one 15, one 20 amp, what I had open in the box) adn 12ga wire wrapped around a screw.

These outlets have "T" shaped neutral slots.

The 3rd is two 15 amp duples (one GFCI) in the kitchen, they share a 15 amp breaker, again 12ga wrapped around a screw and tightened.

These can haul the load no problem.
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Old 12-08-2017, 10:07 AM   #6
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The first thing that got my attention was shutting off the furnace at night. That removes heat from the water bay and runs in the floor. You are asking for freeze damage on a cold night.

The nice thing about heaters is that they are essentially 100% efficient. We use a carefully placed small cube heater. Don't want it heating things it might damage.
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Old 12-08-2017, 10:27 AM   #7
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Quote:
Originally Posted by nothermark View Post
The first thing that got my attention was shutting off the furnace at night. That removes heat from the water bay and runs in the floor. You are asking for freeze damage on a cold night.

The nice thing about heaters is that they are essentially 100% efficient. We use a carefully placed small cube heater. Don't want it heating things it might damage.
I was going to remark the same thing. Set furnace to maybe 50 or something, but I would never shut it completely down. Space heater might keep one warm enough in bedroom, but basement and plumbing behind cabinets could freeze up without furnace on.
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Old 12-08-2017, 11:14 AM   #8
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We use a Vornado space heater. It is virtually silent and does a fantastic job at distributing the warm air. When connected to short power, I use it instead of the roof heat pump. Our lower compartments are heated by the rear bedroom furnace only and we like to keep the bedroom on the cool side so we have that heater set really low. I always keep a smaller electric space heater down in the wet bay to turn on when I see the compartment temps drop below 35 degrees.

One word of caution besides the other words that have been mentioned. Be very careful of plugging into a "Inverter outlet". Some electrical heaters do not play well with inverter modified sine wave current, and can burn out quickly. Same goes for Crock Pots, electric blankets and other heat producing devices. I tried to use a electronically controlled space heater once while we were driving. That sucker let us know real quick it did not like that MS current!
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Old 12-09-2017, 06:07 AM   #9
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Here is an article evaluating different heaters

https://www.your-rv-lifestyle.com/best-rv-heater.html
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Old 12-09-2017, 09:38 PM   #10
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As always - excellent help - thanks everyone!

I agree with your concerns about having the furnace off at night with respect to possible freezing. As such, I turned it down to 50 tonight and we'll see what happens. I too like the oil heater but the bulk of it is not nice. Keeping things off the floor seems to be the order of the day to maximize the space available.

To that end I decided to try something new - a Mica Panel Heater. Apparently you can hang it on your wall and I'm thinking this would be ideal in the bedroom. I don't need much heat at all (probably the lowest setting on half-power) and the unit is supposed to be silent and no lights. Most of the people that bought one really love it (from the reviews) and it seems to be used to heat RV's and cold spots in houses etc.

This is it => Mica Panel Heater HMP1500 by De'Longhi if anyone is interested. If I can actually get it up on a wall it would be ideal. If not, it's probably better than the oil heater with respect to bulk.

Also, thanks for the info on the inverter sockets. I too have seen some weirdness with those sockets. I'm only on 30 amp power but it's a good 30 amps. I just changed over to propane for my primary heat and since doing that I'm now free to use things at will without blowing breakers. It seems getting rid of the ceramic space heater and the oil filled heater has given me a lot more leeway.
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Old 11-09-2018, 01:09 AM   #11
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Just my two cents...

I have a 40' X 40' X16' shop. I have used a wood stove for years. When I was building parade floats ( up to 10) a year I used about 8 chords of wood. Now that I have retired I use the wood stove to "recycle" the junk mail and the household paper that would go to the dump to get buried. I just installed a new heat pump in my house and am now installing the old electrical furnace in the shop.
I will be placing the furnace on a platform suspended from the wall so the "air box" on the bottom of the furnce will be at 7 feet above the floor & in one of the shop's corners. This will allow the air from the furnace to blow in 3 directions. It will also allow the furnace fan to circulate the heat from the wood stove if the junk mail gets to darned heavy by just using the "fan cycle" on the thermostat.
As I only want to take the -FROST out of the air, I do not think it will cost to much to operate. I only want the temp at about 60 deg. F. unless I am painting or some such thing.

As I just had knee surgery last week, all projects are on hold for one more week.
Then it is "look out shop and AS".

I will post some photos when I get it up and running.

I am using the old electric furnace over a propane fired furnace for 2 reasons.
1: I already have it
2: Propane cost is higher than electricity https://10carbest.com/best-garage-heaters I filled up my propane tank for the house hot water heater in July and it is costing me $75.00 per month for a total of 11 months total. And that is just for hot water. I am looking at a new electric hot water tank soon. When I built the house I wired & plumbed it for both electric and propane water heater, kitchen range, furnace. And a free standing stove for when the power is out , maybe 2 times a year.

My power bill , even when the shop was running was only $250.00 at the highest. Now only $130.00 and under. Summer months only $80.00 or so. And I have a 2500 gallon pond system that runs 24/365 and runs about 3,000 per hour through the filters. The pond's cost is $8.92 per month now.

Just some suggestions and one good video, that I hope will help. Good Luck

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Old 11-09-2018, 06:31 AM   #12
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When we had a heat pump system installed in our home, it has the advantage of heating domestic water using the waste heat from the pump. For 10 months out of the year I usually turn off the electricity to the water heater and just let the waste heat from the pump do its job.
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Old 11-09-2018, 09:26 AM   #13
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Quote:
Originally Posted by nothermark View Post
The first thing that got my attention was shutting off the furnace at night. That removes heat from the water bay and runs in the floor. You are asking for freeze damage on a cold night.

The nice thing about heaters is that they are essentially 100% efficient. We use a carefully placed small cube heater. Don't want it heating things it might damage.
Learned hard way small white cube heaters are not motorhome friendly They short out and melt and catch fire if you forget and run them off the msw inverter. I put it out quick but it stunk up coach for days. MOST heaters and elect blankets are not inverter friendly.
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Old 11-09-2018, 09:42 AM   #14
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Quote:
Originally Posted by TRebel View Post
I really like the oil-filled radiator type heaters. Here is why:

First, they are quite. Absolutely no noise and they put off a tremendous amount of heat.
Among portable heaters, they are probably the safest.
If you really have a need to move the heat, you can place a small portable fan (which we always have with us anyway) on either side of the heater to blow through the radiator to direct heat across the area.

As mentioned before, the oil-filled radiator type heaters are bigger than the small portable ceramic heaters, but, IMO, the benefits listed above out weigh the size issue.
Ditto.
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