To heat or not to heat?

[Jhiner1978]

I'm doing a complete reno on a 67 AS and was just laying out things in the AS and was thinking about the furnace and if it's needed. I live in Omaha, NE and don't plan on camping in the winter. I was also going to be installing a small wood stove in the future.


Wouldn't that be enough to take the edge off in the spring or fall? Do I really need to "waste" the extra space? I was reading a post here where a guy said he never used his heater and it got me thinking.

[David F]

If you are not going to be doing much boondocking, just carry a small portable electric space heater to "knock the edge off". I added a/c to my '67 Caravel with a heating element and it is more than enough to warm the trailer. When boon docking, I plan on buying a catalytic propane heater and placing on the floor.

[StoawaySalor]

Originally Posted by Jhiner1978

I'm doing a complete reno on a 67 AS and was just laying out things in the AS and was thinking about the furnace and if it's needed. I live in Omaha, NE and don't plan on camping in the winter. I was also going to be installing a small wood stove in the future.





Wouldn't that be enough to take the edge off in the spring or fall? Do I really need to "waste" the extra space? I was reading a post here where a guy said he never used his heater and it got me thinking.

Did you decide to remove your heater? I didn't decide to look into this until the other day when I pulled out the curbside bed and the PO had drilled a bunch of holes into the ducting. I have zero intention of using the heater, too. I live in Eastern WA where summer temps skyrocket above 100 regularly (except this year, we're having a glorious break from droughts and excruciating heatwaves). When I bought my AS the PO wasn't even sure if the heater works so that's a minimum of 4 years of it not being ran and I don't feel like even trying.

And I'm with you, no overwintering and if there happens to be a winter stay for me there's going to be extra sleeping bags and an electric heater plugged in. What was the difficulty level for the extraction?

[HiJoeSilver]

I've got one of those small 1500watt ceramic heaters. It has kept me warm down to just above freezing. I don't hesitate to use it when I'm paying for a campsite and electric is included.

Furnace was good for when boondocking on many occasions.

When I'm long term and have to pay for electric separately I tend to use the furnace when it's very cold outside. It distributes heat a little better.

I consider it keeping down the electric bill, but the electric heat is more efficient than an rv furnace. Where I long term it costs $.21/kWh which is a bit steep but the campground gets commercial rates.

[AWCHIEF]

Future owner might like heating. Personally I would not even consider buying a trailer without working heating and AC.
However you are signing the checks so do whatever you want.

[Jhiner1978]

Originally Posted by StoawaySalor

Did you decide to remove your heater? I didn't decide to look into this until the other day when I pulled out the curbside bed and the PO had drilled a bunch of holes into the ducting. I have zero intention of using the heater, too. I live in Eastern WA where summer temps skyrocket above 100 regularly (except this year, we're having a glorious break from droughts and excruciating heatwaves). When I bought my AS the PO wasn't even sure if the heater works so that's a minimum of 4 years of it not being ran and I don't feel like even trying.

And I'm with you, no overwintering and if there happens to be a winter stay for me there's going to be extra sleeping bags and an electric heater plugged in. What was the difficulty level for the extraction?

There was no need to remove the heater because I have been doing a frame off renovation. I'm still going to cover the outside heater holes with the old caps and I ran the 12 volt lines and will probably run a lp gas line as well just in case. I also plan on Pittsburgh no in a small wood stove. https://cubicminiwoodstoves.com/coll...ini-wood-stove

[StoawaySalor]

Originally Posted by AWCHIEF

Future owner might like heating. Personally I would not even consider buying a trailer without working heating and AC.
However you are signing the checks so do whatever you want.

No future owner on this trailer. Removing all the gas on this and switching over to electric and having solar, slow as she goes.

[polarlyse]

We don't do a whole lot of cold weather travel but do need some heat once and awhile. Our AS has the whole house furnace but we have only used it to try it out. When electric is available we use a small cube heater and that works great even when it's pretty darn cold out. We also use the AC/heat pump and that also works well if a but noisy. I'm just now in the process of installing a built in catalytic heater. It's mounted in one of the cabinets and vented to the outside. So in the fall we'll see how well that works. But in a friends Airstream it functions very nicely.