Catalytic Heaters from Vintage

[dudebb]

Hi group,
Vintage Trailers is offering catalytic heaters on sale. They are propane with no pilot and no flame or fan (no electrical wiring). They are relatively flat and I would mount it on the wall as you enter the trailer on the left. Does anyone have any experience with these heaaters and can you let me know the pros and cons??
Thanks,
George

[balrgn]

Originally Posted by dudebb

Hi group,
Vintage Trailers is offering catalytic heaters on sale. They are propane with no pilot and no flame or fan (no electrical wiring). They are relatively flat and I would mount it on the wall as you enter the trailer on the left. Does anyone have any experience with these heaters and can you let me know the pros and cons??
Thanks,
George

From what I have seen they work pretty darn good, I am thinking of getting on to supplement the new furnace I just installed, and to take the chill out on those damp cool mornings. The price is really good!

Here's the link:

Vintage Trailer Supply - Vintage travel trailer parts and supplies!

[sigv]

Originally Posted by dudebb

Hi group,
Vintage Trailers is offering catalytic heaters on sale. They are propane with no pilot and no flame or fan (no electrical wiring). They are relatively flat and I would mount it on the wall as you enter the trailer on the left. Does anyone have any experience with these heaaters and can you let me know the pros and cons??
Thanks,
George

I have two in my 63 tradewind; a 9000 BTU up front and a 3000 BTU in the bathroom.

Let me tell you - these units pump out the heat. I have used them on the last few nights with temps dipping into the low 40's.

The only disavantage is that you have to have a window open and I have heard they are not very effecient. Also has no thermostat.

The main advantage is it requires nothing but propane - no fans/batteries, etc.

If I were to do it again I would only buy the 9000 unit - it heats the entire trailer a-ok.

[CanoeStream]

Hello George -- Only your furnace will route warm air along the floor with your plumbing if doing any camping with temps below 25 degrees. So rely on the furnace if it's getting really cold at night.

[dudebb]

Thanks for the replies, Hadn't thought about the plumbing issue. Now just need to ask the better half if we plan on doing any winter camping!

[Excella CM]

We have a cat in the Excella. The main advantages are no power consuption when boondocking and silence anytime. It keeps things comfortable in above freezing temperatures, especially at night when we get waste heat from the gas light. For what it's worth, I wouldn't camp without one.

[uwe]

The disadvantage of most catalytic heaters is that they do deplete oxygen.
Without a stream of fresh air, they will soon rob all the oxygen from the inside of the trailer, making it very dangerous for sleeping humans.
I love mine, and use it whenever it gets a little chilly. But I would never go to sleep with it left on. I use a small electric heater when it's too cold to sleep with just blankets.

[juel]

We have one in the Argosy. It works very well, but you do need to have an oxygen supply. We have also had a plug installed on the circuit formally dedicated to just the air conditioner unit. In the winter we plug in an electric heater because the AC wouldn't be used. This allows us to use an otherwise unused power source without worry of tripping a breaker when our electric water heater comes on. We have had no problems with the catalytic heater even when sleeping in the Argosy.

[prhamilt]

Check out the Reddy Heat (spelling?) brand of catalytic heaters. They have a model that has an oxygen sensor built in that will shut down the unit if oxygen levels drop. The info. on vintage supply site says 1 sq. inch of vent/1,000 btu input with a low vent on one wall and high vent on another wall.

I will be looking at them this week at the Fleet Farm store here in Minnesota. They have models running from 9,000 - 30,000 BTU input. I used a portable 9,000 BTU model last weekend in my 61 Safari and it was only adequate at night with temps in the high 30's.

[wingfoot321]

Cat heaters are great for boon docking, walmarts, etc. where no elec is available.
Camping world just sent some literature and were having a sale. They have Olympic brand in 4000,6000,8000 btu's.

We have a 6000 in the trailer and it will heat about half the trailer just fine on medium setting with a small window opening. I plumbed ours with 200psi flexible tubing from the local propane dealer. I cut into the frig line and put a brass tee inline.

We have a second carbon monoxide sensor in addition to the factory unit and neither have ever gone off.

They were advertising $269 for the 6000 and I think $289 for the 8000btu.

We also carry a small electric heater as well.

[azflycaster]

Cat heaters do not produce Carbon Monoxide. The do however deplete the oxygen in the trailer. We always open a vent or two when we use ours.

[DreamStreamr]

The Vintage pricing for heaters seems pretty high but I like the heater's appearance. These heaters they are offering do not seem to offer any advantage over the Olympian models and are priced substantially higher than Olympian models of same heat output rating. We found ours on a great sale price at Camping World, $100.00 less than Vintage Trailer Supply is asking for same btu (6,000 btu/hr).

[Mikethefixit]

Our '77 Overlander has a cat heater although we've not used it yet to camp because we have just had the trailer 2 weeks. I have however had it fired and it does put out a trememdous amount of heat. It also is mounted on the bulkhead to the left side of the door above the register for the furnace.
Roger