One night running the heater and blower

[SoonerWing03]

I'm not sure what battery I have on the camper but I am sure it has the original battery (I'm at work or I would go look). It's a 2017 Cruiser RV - MPG 2400BH and has a 30,000 BTU heater. We have not been brave enough to try any dry camping yet but was thinking about it tomorrow night. We are going to be traveling to Colorado for a long weekend and I was hoping to take off Thursday afternoon and drive about half way and then finishing the trip Friday morning.

My question is this, I believe it will get down to around 50 degrees Thursday night and am wondering how long I will be able to run the furnace on that original battery. Will it make it through the night if I set the thermostat st 60 - 65 degrees and don't use any lights or any other power? We will have full hookups at our campsite in CO so it will be fully recharged the following day.

I have read about the catalytic heater option with low oxygen shut off but I just can't pull the trigger on that with my wife and 3 boys in the camper. I'm sure it would be fine but I just can't do it.

[K3WE]

janstey58 wrote:
The OP even posted that the furnace never even ran, after the fact. LOL!

Yeah...the thread sort of went the wrong way. But it was also no-win.

He indicated his batteries were old- and there comes a point where turning on the furnace even once won't work.

Were the forecast temperatures pretty mild- Yes. Is it possible he might have wanted a little heat and been bummed not to have it- Also yes.

Should he have gone out and bought two new ones JUST FOR THE SLIGHLY COOL NIGHT? No...

Should he have gone out and bought two new batteries BECAUSE HIS OLD ONES WERE SHOT? Probably. If he wanted to be cheap- maybe only one battery...but agree with your comment!

[janstey58]

The OP even posted that the furnace never even ran, after the fact. LOL!

[DanielCulp]

janstey58 wrote:
At 50 degrees I would have the windows open and enjoy the cool air. Or just use extra blankets and take off the chill in the AM when you wake up. Just other options.

I would have done the same thing.

[pianotuna]

What to do about condensation?

The cause of the condensation is the walls are below the dew point temperature. If the walls can be made warm enough the problem disappears. Running a fan to circulate air may help to raise the temperature on the surface of the wall.

One other solution is to reduce the relative humidity inside the RV.

The easiest way to do that is to open a roof vent a bit, find the furthest window from the vent and open that a bit. An electric heater near the window will improve that and keep you warmer. I'd suggest a low wattage radiant type, or a small oil filled (if the oil filled can be on a shelf so the air from the window passes over the fins.)

I know opening a vent and window when it is cold seems counter intuitive, but it does work. The colder it is outside the better it works.

Another possible solution is an electric dehumidifier--but the cooler it is the poorer they work. They are generally energy hogs, some what bulky and definitely noisy.

[2112]

SoonerWing03 wrote:
Went with 2 group 24 batteries for the short term and just strapped them down good. Set the thermostat to 60 and the heater never once kicked on.... go figure. Lol.

Better to be prepared and not need it than have an angry wife. Glad you got it all sorted out.

[time2roll]

OP did mention catalytic heater option that most certainly will produce water vapor.
Cooking, bathing, breathing will also produce significant humidity.

[Boon_Docker]

cavie wrote:

Boon Docker wrote:

way2roll wrote:


One note, open a bath roof vent or something. A by product of LP burning is water vapor and will drive up the humidity in your RV.

No need to open a vent. Running a furnace does not produce water vapor inside the trailer.

Yes it does. We must run a 30 QT dehumidifier with the heater on or watch the water slide down the glass onto the walls. We don't open a vent.

No it doesn't produce water vapor inside the trailer.
If the furnace itself produced water vapor inside the trailer you would die from the CO that it would also be producing.
You have got something else going on that is producing the humidity.

[ktmrfs]

cavie wrote:

Boon Docker wrote:

way2roll wrote:


One note, open a bath roof vent or something. A by product of LP burning is water vapor and will drive up the humidity in your RV.

No need to open a vent. Running a furnace does not produce water vapor inside the trailer.

Yes it does. We must run a 30 QT dehumidifier with the heater on or watch the water slide down the glass onto the walls. We don't open a vent.

well, the water is NOT coming from the furnace or you have a real safety problem. the furnace or WH combustion is seperated from the inside venting. Same as a house, it goes up the vent stack. so NO water vapor goes into the living area. If combustion air is exhausted into the living area CO poisoning is a REAL possiblity.

Now the stove/oven will emit water vapor into the living area, but NOT the furnace or HWH.

What you are likely experiencing is air circulation from the furnace fan causing air near the dew point to hit the windows, and then condensing.

Unvented cat heater stove/oven another story. They do put water vapor inside the trailer. Slightly less than gallon of water for every gallon of propane burned.

[ktmrfs]

bikendan wrote:

rvshrinker wrote:
How do you run the microwave and outlets without shore power? What is an inverter?

normally, you'd need an inverter generator.

but if you have a big battery bank and a big inverter, you might be able to run the microwave for a few minutes.

to run the outlets, the inverter would have to be wired into the RV's 110v AC electrical side. this would not be an easy task.

an inverter inverts 12v DC battery power to 110v AC power.
most just use an inverter plugged into the 12v cigarette lighter socket and plug a tv or electronic devices into the inverter.

I have a 1000W inverter wired directly to the battery bank then to a transfer switch in my system. The inverter transfer switch provides power to the microwave circuit, the outlets for TV etc. but NOT the AC, HWH, Fridge or converter.

As for running the microwave for a "few minutes". In reality I could run the microwave for an hour or so before running down the batteries. I run a panasonic true inverter microwave set to 50% power (1000VA) when using the inverter. Draws about 90A. On a 220AH battery bank that translates to about an hour of run time accounting for the AH on a high draw. Typically it is used for a few minutes at a time to warm vegies, DW tea, my coffe, etc. or warm up a meal at a rest stop.

[cavie]

Boon Docker wrote:

way2roll wrote:


One note, open a bath roof vent or something. A by product of LP burning is water vapor and will drive up the humidity in your RV.

No need to open a vent. Running a furnace does not produce water vapor inside the trailer.

Yes it does. We must run a 30 QT dehumidifier with the heater on or watch the water slide down the glass onto the walls. We don't open a vent.

[bikendan]

rvshrinker wrote:
How do you run the microwave and outlets without shore power? What is an inverter?

normally, you'd need an inverter generator.

but if you have a big battery bank and a big inverter, you might be able to run the microwave for a few minutes.

to run the outlets, the inverter would have to be wired into the RV's 110v AC electrical side. this would not be an easy task.

an inverter inverts 12v DC battery power to 110v AC power.
most just use an inverter plugged into the 12v cigarette lighter socket and plug a tv or electronic devices into the inverter.

[rvshrinker]

How do you run the microwave and outlets without shore power? What is an inverter?

[ktmrfs]

typical furnace draw is 8-10 A. at 50F my guess is that with the thermostat set to 60F, yoau might have 4 hours run time on the furnace overnight, more likely 2 hours. Thats between 16 and 32-40AH, about 50% or less of a 12V battery. you will likely make it.

FWIW In our 35ft trailer at temps in the 40's at night I set the thermostat at 45F and the furnace does not even come on. It will run for 2 hours or so in the morning to warm up the trailer.

For us the furnace is noisy enough to wake us up when it cycles, so unless it gets real cold it doesn't come on at night.

As a comparison I have 440AH of 6V batteries. We can dry camp for 6 or so days running the furnace as needed in colder weather, (2-3 hours day on teh furnace) along with a CPAP, and lights and occasional TV and using the microwave on inverter to heat vegies etc. before the batteries are at 50%.

[SoonerWing03]

Went with 2 group 24 batteries for the short term and just strapped them down good. Set the thermostat to 60 and the heater never once kicked on.... go figure. Lol.