Community Forums

Unicorn Driver · 12-06-2017, 05:05 PM

Evening all,

According to my Damon Daybreaks manual the furnace will heat the water bay. To test it out I put a remote temp sensor next to the water tank. After 15 minutes the bay was 6F warmer than the coach (it was 28f outside). I will test this for longer over the weekend.

Recently I was able to keep the coach at 70f (30f outside) using 2 oil heaters and occasional use of the furnace.

I have read on here that folk place a ceramic heater in the water bay, can someone recommend one? Also I do not have power in the water bay (nor in any other bay). Would I just run an outside rated extension lead to the water bay from the pedestal or the coach external power point? My problem with that is the door may not seal properly.

Thanks,

Stephen

Mr_D · 12-06-2017, 05:20 PM

Using an oil fired heater inside would not be anything I'd try due to the oily smoke they give off.

Unicorn Driver · 12-06-2017, 05:23 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mr_D

Using an oil fired heater inside would not be anything I'd try due to the oily smoke they give off.

Hi,

The ones I use in the coach are sealed models, they do not have an open flame or give off smoke.

I was wondering about the electric heaters
folk use in water bays.

Cypressloser · 12-06-2017, 05:28 PM

28 F is not that cold, in my world anyways. Monitoring the temperature in crucial areas is always a good idea, we have sensors in the water bay, front basement that covers the water manifold and water pump and the dump valves.
If you have an access door for the water hose that would be an easy way to feed an extension cord in. Whatever you do plug this cord into a GFCI outlet.
In just below freezing temperatures a trouble light with a 20 - 40 Watt incandescent light bulb is often enough to keep the lines open, stay away from fixtures that have plastic sockets as they can melt - I've seen it in fixtures with a 40 Watt bulb installed that were rated for 60 Watt. If you can get away with just a small heat source I wouldn't hesitate to plug it in one of the GFCI outlets in your basement.
Oil filled heaters are in general safer than any other electric heaters but again, 1 or 2 light bulbs may be enough.

Edit: If you have to feed the cord through the access door and leave it ajar and then trying to seal the gap with fiberglass or similar while having electric heat on inside would be a fire hazard and I can not recommend doing this.

FatChance · 12-06-2017, 05:31 PM

I use an electric heater in the basement plugged into a Thermocube because I only want to use it if there is a problem with the furnace. But not all furnaces come back on when electricity is off then back on (as when using a Thermocube), so be sure to test. FWIW, we winter at 7000' elevation so we have figured out what works for us.

Unicorn Driver · 12-06-2017, 05:37 PM

Thanks all,

I had to Google what a thermo cube was.

MSHappyCampers · 12-07-2017, 10:50 AM

This is what I did. Those little 200 watt heaters are perfect for that!

http://www.irv2.com/forums/f258/bay-heaters-149096.html

hilgert · 12-07-2017, 11:07 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by MSHappyCampers

This is what I did. Those little 200 watt heaters are perfect for that!

http://www.irv2.com/forums/f258/bay-heaters-149096.html

That's funny...I have pretty much the same exact heaters and controllers, mounted almost the same way. We mostly use electric heaters instead of the furnace, so the bays could get below freezing otherwise.

Unicorn Driver · 12-07-2017, 11:11 AM

Thanks both, that's exactly what I want.

Just now need to figure how to power them.

hilgert · 12-07-2017, 11:27 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by 1stMH

Just now need to figure how to power them.

You'd use electricity.

Oh, was that not helpful?

I ran a separate 15 amp circuit from my panel. The panel is thankfully right next to one of the bays (so easy), while the other panel is on the other side (not so easy). However, I had the panel apart anyway when I upgraded from 30A to 50A service, and had to run a huge bundle of 50A and extra 20A and 15A lines (while I was doing the work) to the other side through small space with the existing wires (words came out of the wife's mouth that I did not know she knew as she was on the pushing end of this effort).

My next project will be to add a relay so instead of using the breaker I can use a small 12V switch to activate power to them (but for now just flipping the breaker is fine). But I pretty much just leave the breaker on...the cubes only activate when the temp gets below 35°F.

Unicorn Driver · 12-07-2017, 11:29 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by hilgert

You'd use electricity.

Oh, was that not helpful?

I run a separate 15 amp circuit from my panel. The panel is thankfully right next to one of the bays (so easy), while the other panel is on the other side (not so easy). However, I had the panel apart anyway when I upgraded from 30A to 50A service, and had to run a huge bundle of 50A and extra 20A and 15A lines (while I was doing the work) to the other side through small space with the existing wires (words came out of the wife's mouth that I did not know she knew as she was on the pushing end of this effort).

My next project will be to add a relay so instead of using the breaker I can use a small 12V switch to activate power to them (but for now just flipping the breaker is fine). But I pretty much just leave the breaker on...the cubes only activate when the temp gets below 35°F.

It was still funny :-)

MSHappyCampers · 12-07-2017, 01:34 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by 1stMH

Thanks both, that's exactly what I want.

Just now need to figure how to power them.

Our MH had an AC outlet in one of the storage bays that was put there for an outside TV.

Unicorn Driver · 12-07-2017, 01:37 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by MSHappyCampers

Our MH had an AC outlet in one of the storage bays that was put there for an outside TV.

That makes sense:-)

marjoa · 12-09-2017, 06:13 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by 1stMH

I have read on here that folk place a ceramic heater in the water bay, can someone recommend one? Also I do not have power in the water bay (nor in any other bay). Would I just run an outside rated extension lead to the water bay from the pedestal or the coach external power point? My problem with that is the door may not seal properly.

You don't need anything that robust to keep your wet bay warm and protect it from freezing. I would not use a solution like this in our wet bay. Yes, run an extension cord and use a $10 chrome drop light from Home Depot with a 75watt - 100watt bulb. In freezing temps outside, my bay is kept usually in the mid to high 40's.

I've also taken some other wet bay insulation precautions. You can read about them here if you're interested.
http://www.irv2.com/forums/f258/has-...ml#post3873079