Tradewind furnace

[FreshAir]

We just won the eBay bidding on a '65 Tradewind. It is in really good shape but needs a furnace. The original furnace was removed by a former owner. on the openning sealed inside but the outside vents remain. The furnace placement is at floor level under the kitchen sink. Any suggestions to the BTU s I will need and suggestions to make and models.
Thank you, Neil

[lewster]

Congrats on your winning bid! How big is your TW? If you figure the cubic feet, I can tell you how big (BTU's) you need to heat it. The other consideration is how you are going to use it. If you plan to do a lot of cold weather camping, it might be a smart move to go a size bigger to keep the Toaster.....toasty

Also, do you have any preference on brand.......Suburban or Atwood? I have favorites, but I don't want to influence your decision..........................

[markdoane]

The original furnace was 24,000 Btu input, 20,000 Btu output

[Darol Ingalls]

I've just finished my '65 Tradewind. I installed a 30K BTU Suburban furnace. It warms the trailer up quickly and does not run for a long time. Smaller units will work fine, but in colder weather they will run longer thus draining battery power. You can mount the Suburban furnace on the original furnace mount to make use of the under-floor ducts. I bored two additional holes in the sheet metal furnace base and ran metal downspout section under the bed area and forward through the kitchen cabinet against the wall next to the floor for a 2" heat vent pointing toward the front of the trailer. The original floor vent outlet turns up and vent out the front end of the kitchen cabinet. The other original floor vent heats the bathroom. Works very well.

[FreshAir]

Thanks for the furnace suggestions. I think I will wait for cool weather as the bathroom has and auxilary wall propane heater. The previous owners said it did warm up the trailer sufficiently. However I find that the orginal furnace was a Suburban 24000 BTU. I like the suggestion of a 30000 BTU furnace. We will see.
Neil

[sigv]

I have a 63 Furnace that needs a new furnace as well.

Has anyone figured out a way to have the outside part of the furnace be aluminum - I find that the newer furnaces really look out of place (from the outside)?