Quest for a heater

[tvoneicken]

I happened onto this old thread of mine and thought I'd post an update. We love the Dickinson heater. We haven't camped in freezing weather and I doubt that it could heat our 23FB on its own in such a situation. But we do often camp in the desert where the temps go down into the 40's at night. In those cases it works real well. We don't actually miss the lack of a thermostat, we typically set it to something appropriate before going to bed and it murmurs away all night taking the edge off the cold. In the morning I crank it up again to bridge the time 'til the sun warms the trailer. We're very happy not to have to use the awful furnace :-).

[ALUMINUMINUM]

THE COZY CABIN
When researching these little heaters, with their low BTU listings, keep in mind that if your original Airstream 25,000 BTU furnace rattles ON 25% of the night, and is OFF 75%, a small 6,500 BTU marine heater whispers safely throughout the night, providing the same amount of warmth.


Bulkhead Marine Heaters have very few parts to fail. They vent exhaust directly outdoors, have oxygen depletion and flame out sensing, use no electricity, have Piezo ignition, are virtually silent, a cast iron cook-top, and it's cute as a button. Re-purposing the 7cu ft of space, that the old Airstream furnace occupied, into Drawers was very helpful to my GT's kitchen plan.


Clearly,this type heater isn't going to blow heat to below floor tanks for the winter season. If the trailer has below floor ductwork, perhaps a quiet fan to circulate room temperature to the tanks when needed can be configured. Many of the small trailers either don't, or marginally heat the tanks. My 1968 GT never had black tank warming ductwork, so a gallon of antifreeze in the black tank and a splash in the shower drain-trap has to suffice in an anticipated overnight freeze. My GT's freshwater tank is in cabin temperature above floor in the forward bed-frame.

Since the products of combustion exhaust out the flue to outdoors, there isn't the water vapor issue that a catalytic heater creates. I certainly don't think that anyone will argue that a catalytic heater is safer, but true, they are a dime cheaper...

I'm good with three-season camping in the GT, so a Marine Cabin Heater is perfect.. The link is to an illustrated install and performance review...


http://www.airforums.com/forums/f427...ew-126474.html

[Hittenstiehl]

Alimuminum that is a very nice clean look.