Cold weather heating, your preferred choice?

[Scamron]

Any advice about adding a furnace at Sportmobile North a year after receiving a new van without the furnace? How much should I expect it to cost? Could Camping World add one just as competently and near the same cost?

[Viva]

I don't have advice specifically for having one put in, and of course there are many reasons it may "have" to go one place or another, but from my experience..... think about where the heat will come out and what you might have in front of it.

My SMB had an RB-30-ish layout (aisle/gaucho), with full height cabinets in the back. The furnace was in one of them, just below the refrigerator. This wasn't the best for two reasons. One, heating the area just below the refrigerator....; and, two, the air blew straight over to ... the closet! To make things worse, I often stored a tub of things there, which of course precluded running the furnace.

Starting from scratch, I might have been able to figure out a better spot (I bought it used).

[boywonder]

Originally Posted by Scamron

Any advice about adding a furnace at Sportmobile North a year after receiving a new van without the furnace? How much should I expect it to cost? Could Camping World add one just as competently and near the same cost?

If you look elsewhere you will have additional heater choices.......Is your van gas or diesel? Do you have propane on-board?

[tlg]

Boywonder, I too am looking at installing a heater post build. Have found using a Mr Buddy to be insufficient and cumbersome. Was looking at mounting the Propex HS2211 under the van and was curious what you thought of your Propex in terms of functionality and capacity to heat the van. I'm not looking for a sauna but would like enough heat to keep things relatively comfortable when camping in freezing temps. Separately, I don't have propane so would need to add that as well.

[Scamron]

boywonder, I have a gas powered van, bought new spring 2014 and received from SMB North in October 2014.

[1der]

Gas powered vans should consider the Espar B2 - gasoline version of the diesel D2.

Gas also has access to the Truma Combi.

[boywonder]

Originally Posted by tlg

Was looking at mounting the Propex HS2211 under the van and was curious what you thought of your Propex in terms of functionality and capacity to heat the van. I'm not looking for a sauna but would like enough heat to keep things relatively comfortable when camping in freezing temps. Separately, I don't have propane so would need to add that as well.

Well, mine is completely installed but I have not yet filled the propane tank. The tank needs to be purged before the first fill so I need to find a place that can do this like camping world......if anyone has any suggestions around So Cal I'm all ears.

Scamron: Do you have on-board propane?

If you want a propane heater, I'd suggest a Propex, no large holes in the side of the van...no holes in the side at all actually. There are also a couple of gasoline powered units that 1der just posted above me. These don't need a propane tank (obviously) but will need the van gas tank dropped and modified for the fuel source for the heater. SMB does not install the gas Espars but they are safe and work great from what info you can find around the web.

[TAlvarez]

I have a Mr. Buddy that I have run in my van. It sets off the CDO sensor which isn't good.
I too am looking for an alternative to heat my rig without installing a complete gas fueled unit.
Are there any 12v alternatives out there that can be run off a 2000W inverter and will actually heat the place up?
Thanks for the help.

BT

[daveb]

An AC ceramic heater can be used but pulls huge amounts of battery power through an inverter. There is a reason why fuel powered units are attractive to campers where shore power isn't available.

[TheLetterJ]

Originally Posted by TAlvarez

I have a Mr. Buddy that I have run in my van. It sets off the CDO sensor which isn't good.
I too am looking for an alternative to heat my rig without installing a complete gas fueled unit.
Are there any 12v alternatives out there that can be run off a 2000W inverter and will actually heat the place up?
Thanks for the help.

BT

How long can you run it before setting off the CO sensor? I too have a Mr. Buddy but have never run it in the van. We use it to "pre-heat" our converted box trailer (which has roughly the same interior volume as our EB van), so have never run it for more than 10-15 minutes at a time. We usually have the side door wide open when it's running too, so it has never got the chance to set off the CO detector in the trailer.