Community Forums

RVFunlovers · 03-13-2023, 03:50 PM

We have had a few cool nights in Ellijay Georgia north of Atlanta.
I have tried using my fireplace and floor heat on electric.

It looks like we are keeping about 33 degrees difference through the night from outside to inside.

My fireplace has temp sensors but it reads locally and to warm the coach you have to set it higher than you really want it. I set it on 80.

I am not sure which temp sensor my floor heat uses. Or if it uses all of them. I set it on 72 and I think the electric side of the aqua hot has ran all night on cool nights.

Overall though the floor heat on electric and the fireplace are keeping the coach comfortable with weather getting down in the upper to mid 30’s.

We turned on a little electric heater in the bathroom just in the morning. And we turn on the Aquahot diesel for showering.

I am not sure what others are experiencing but overall I am impressed with the coach staying comfortable. I am ok not using diesel. We are paying for the power as part of our camping, it maybe better for the environment to use electric, and it is definitely quieter because it is near silent.

Of course we would rather Georgia just get back seasonal temperatures.

bevandtomH · 03-13-2023, 04:49 PM

Not absolute, but was told using electric only floor heat(zone2) can be effective to low 50°’s.
Below that, I don’t think the electric side can provide enough BTU’s to really keep you warm.

You are doing better than what have heard.

Road-Chi · 03-13-2023, 06:18 PM

Agree that in cold weather, you often need the diesel turned on for the aquahot. Without the diesel, the system can't keep up, especially if there is hot water demand too. We typically run electric during the day, then switch to diesel in the evening as our hot water demands increase (showers, washing dishes), and the outside temperature decreases.

Sent from my SM-G991U using iRV2 - RV Forum mobile app

RVFunlovers · 03-13-2023, 07:24 PM

I think the fireplace is doing a chunk of the work.

This fireplace seems warmer than the fireplace we had on the 2017 but they are likely the same wattage.

No doubt if it gets Michigan cold out diesel is needed.

It is 39 out right now and we are toasty.

777 Driver · 03-13-2023, 07:33 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by RVFunlovers

I am not sure which temp sensor my floor heat uses. Or if it uses all of them. I set it on 72 and I think the electric side of the aqua hot has ran all night on cool nights.

Hal, on my floorplan, there's a temperature sensor about 3" above the floor just forward of the sliding door that separates the front living area from the mid-section of the coach. It's just above the kick plate for the Dirt Devil vacuum port for sweeping floor debris into.

That's the sensor for the floor heat.

Take care,
Stu

RVFunlovers · 03-13-2023, 08:35 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by 777 Driver

Hal, on my floorplan, there's a temperature sensor about 3" above the floor just forward of the sliding door that separates the front living area from the mid-section of the coach. It's just above the kick plate for the Dirt Devil vacuum port for sweeping floor debris into.

That's the sensor for the floor heat.

Take care,
Stu

Thanks Stu. Thanks to you I learned something new.

I have the same sensor. Just a few niches above the dirt Devil connection. I have walked by that sensor countless times and not noticed it. Middle of the coach makes since.

That seems low for a temp sensor but maybe because it is heat only it is low.

I have a sensor about 4.5 feet off the ground for the middle HVAC directly above the floor heat sensor.

777 Driver · 03-13-2023, 09:14 PM

One other thing about floor heat...normal body temp is ~98.6F. If you touch a surface that is below ~98.6F, it will feel cool to the touch. For the heated floor to feel warm to bare feet, it's gottabe warmer than 98.6F.

Take care,
Stu

RVFunlovers · 03-15-2023, 07:31 AM

I gave the fireplace and electric floor heat only a try last night in Perry Georgia. It is unseasonably cool here in Perry for mid March. We are on 30 amp only electric.

The fireplace and electric floor heat are pulling combined amps in the 20’s. So we have enough capacity for the refrigerator / TV and that is about it.

It was in the low 70’s in the coach when we went to sleep. Outside was mid 40’s. But the temperature really dropped overnight down to about 30 by 7 AM. I am sure it the temp would have started that low we would have needed the diesel Aquahot all night.

When I woke at 7AM the bedroom was 66 but the front of the coach was down to 63. I kicked on the diesel side of the Aquahot, turned off the electric side of the Aquahot, and turned my little bathroom ceramic heater on 1/2 power.

Overall we did fine on electric only 30 amp on a fairly cool night. We don’t mind the coach a little cool when sleeping. We are racked and stacked in the FMCA parking area so not blasting our neighbors with Aquahot fumes more than needed is not a bad thing.

During the day Mother Nature is heating the coach so power use is not an issue.

What I want to try on a future cool night is fireplace and Aquahot electric heat in the coach only. Not floor heat but electric only furnace heat. I don’t think I have ever tried this and I don’t know if this will be more efficient. What we like about the fireplace / electric only floor heat is how silent it is.

CaptainYARRR · 03-15-2023, 07:51 AM

Electric is pretty disappointing for the AquaHot. If I were in your situation, I'd be blasting the fireplace and have another decent corded electric heater elsewhere.

RVFunlovers · 03-15-2023, 08:31 AM

I might give that a try as well. Just run the fireplace and an electric heater in the back when on 30 amp.

So far I am surprised how warm our coach stays running the fireplace and the electric floor heat.

We planned to go to Georgia to get away from the cold. But we all know how plans go……

dchrismer · 03-28-2023, 03:37 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by RVFunlovers

We have had a few cool nights in Ellijay Georgia north of Atlanta.
I have tried using my fireplace and floor heat on electric.

It looks like we are keeping about 33 degrees difference through the night from outside to inside.

My fireplace has temp sensors but it reads locally and to warm the coach you have to set it higher than you really want it. I set it on 80.

I am not sure which temp sensor my floor heat uses. Or if it uses all of them. I set it on 72 and I think the electric side of the aqua hot has ran all night on cool nights.

Overall though the floor heat on electric and the fireplace are keeping the coach comfortable with weather getting down in the upper to mid 30’s.

We turned on a little electric heater in the bathroom just in the morning. And we turn on the Aquahot diesel for showering.

I am not sure what others are experiencing but overall I am impressed with the coach staying comfortable. I am ok not using diesel. We are paying for the power as part of our camping, it maybe better for the environment to use electric, and it is definitely quieter because it is near silent.

Of course we would rather Georgia just get back seasonal temperatures.

The electric elements only give you 20,000btu of heat and the diesel is around 50,000btu. My Newmar doesn't have a thermostat but just a 1-10 scale and I can keep my coach around 68 when it gets around 30 degrees outside

Ricci · 03-28-2023, 04:34 PM

Hi - A 1500 watt electric element yields a little over 5000 BTU's/hr. If you have an Oasis with 2 element then the output is slightly over 10,000 BTUs. Our AquaHot with one element are half that.

Tom

tunasalmon · 03-28-2023, 07:57 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by RVFunlovers

We have had a few cool nights in Ellijay Georgia north of Atlanta.
I have tried using my fireplace and floor heat on electric.

It looks like we are keeping about 33 degrees difference through the night from outside to inside.

My fireplace has temp sensors but it reads locally and to warm the coach you have to set it higher than you really want it. I set it on 80.

I am not sure which temp sensor my floor heat uses. Or if it uses all of them. I set it on 72 and I think the electric side of the aqua hot has ran all night on cool nights.

Overall though the floor heat on electric and the fireplace are keeping the coach comfortable with weather getting down in the upper to mid 30’s.

We turned on a little electric heater in the bathroom just in the morning. And we turn on the Aquahot diesel for showering.

I am not sure what others are experiencing but overall I am impressed with the coach staying comfortable. I am ok not using diesel. We are paying for the power as part of our camping, it maybe better for the environment to use electric, and it is definitely quieter because it is near silent.

Of course we would rather Georgia just get back seasonal temperatures.

I have never winterized my entegra emblem. I have Lux WIN 100 plug in thermostats that plug in the wall sockets. The rear bath and water bay are on the same circuit. I put a 300 watt ceramic heater in the water bay and a 750 watt heater in the rear bath. I plug a 1500 watt heater in the washer/dryer outlet. I plug a 1500 watt heater in the front dash computer outlet. lastly I plug a 1500 watt heater in the microwave outlet. i set them all for 45 deg F if it is 20 or above and70 degrees if it is as low as from 19-6 degrees (the lowest we've seen in our area. Keep the doors for the bat and kitchen cabinet doors open.

We recently camped in 20 degree weather and set everything at 70 degrees plus turned on the 1500 watt fireplace set at 75 degrees (because it always shut off lower than set. It maintained a perfect 70-71 degree temp throughout the motorhome. If I'm paying for 50 amp service, I'm usig the power I'm paying for,

At home I keep it plugged into my own 50 amp service. My power bill is no more than the cost of winterization and the Motorhome is always ready to go.

I also keep the AC units set at 82 degrees.

The day before we travel, I set either heaters or AC to 72 degrees so when we get in in the morning everything is "perfect temperature" and ready to drive.

I also have a remote temp. sensor in the water bay, front and back of the MH, as well as one in the freezer and fridge. I check the remote monitor in the house each morning and evening to make sure everything is working as expected.

It's a rather small cost for extreme comfort!

sacrcflyer · 03-29-2023, 07:15 AM

In my opinion most of us spent 500k or more on our coaches and Entegra cheaped out using the Aquahot 450 , our previous coach had the 600 and we had plenty of hot water and electric tile heat that would run you out of the coach and was hot in 30 minutes.I wish they would at least let you have that as a option when you buy new as I would have paid for it. Big difference In the 450 and 600 as it has 2 elements.And a tremendous difference in tile floor heat and equal distribution of heat.