Using a small electric heater

[J Goertzen]

Howdy Folks. I have a 2003 International CCD. Fairly new to me. For some reason, I can't get the heater to work, no big deal,(no smell of gas leak) I have all Winter to figure it out. The stove and oven work fine. Im not planning on taking it anywhere untill Spring at the earliest. We have some company coming in November for two weeks, alot of company it seems. I plan on using the AS as a spare bedroom for one couple. The AS is hooked up for AC, so the lights, radio, outlets, etc. work fine. I was thinking of putting a small electric heater on the floor, plugging it in to one of the outlets in it. Then setting it to 70 degrees F. Anyone see any problem with this??? I guess my concern is the ability of the AS and its outlets to handle a small electic heater. I will turn off the gas/butane at the "bottles" so to avoid a explosion.?? inside. Meanwhile, I will try to find someone nearby that can get the heater going. I turn on the thurmostate, but the heater just doesn't go on, no smell of gas. Thanks, Jim in Napa Valley

[uwe]

Jim,

I beleive that using a small electric heater is absolutely ok. We have used one for years in our 71 Trade Wind, without ever having had a problem.
Ours was 1500w on it's high setting.

Sorry I can't be of much help with your furnace problem. Best seek professional help with it.

[Bradjun1]

Using a heater is not a problem. We sometimes run 2. You have circut breakers for protection. Stay Warm, Brad

[rseagle]

I use an electric heater, but I recommend placing it on the rear desk or the stove top to keep it out of the way so it won't get kicked over.

[Buttercup]

It might not hurt to do a visual inspection of your circuit breaker panel to be sure there are no hot spots or burning wires there which on rare occasion can happen. Electric heaters can draw a fair amount of current and if used on a regular basis it is worth knowing that the connections in the panel are good. Just a thought.

[balrgn]

We have always used a small heater when camping, hooked into shore power. Saves on propane. (heck your payin for the electricity anyway)

[85MH325]

Jim,

Is the Airstream dealer in Santa Rosa still around at the south end of town? They used to do top notch service work and were really pretty reasonably priced. I had them do some major repairs to my '70 Safari in 1994 and they were just great.

The electric heaters are no problem at all... does your air conditioner have heat strips in it? They work quite well to take the chill off as well!

Roger

[0CarbTwinkie]

We have a 22' CCD. We had trouble figuring out the furnace also.
The Thermostat has an ON/OFF switch which is very hard to turn on.
That is, you have to use a lot of force to push it to the on position.

When standing in front of it the ON/OFF switch is at the top right.
If it is in the right most postion (touching the right side of the case) then it is OFF. Move the Switch to the left, it will click into position.
Then adjust the thermostat slider to the temperature desired.

Hope this helps.

[3Ms75Argosy]

Can you hear the fan coming up to speed? Have you lit the oven burners first to purge the air from the gas lines?

The furnace should try to light three times, and then will power down. If this happens, turn the thermostat off, wait one minute, and then turn it on again. If this still fails to light the furnace, there may be something wrong with your ignitor circuit board. A dealer could help out, or you could send away for a new board and install it yourself.

good luck - keep the family warm!
Marc

[platbr]

We've also wrestled with the furnace vs. electric. Perhaps somebody can answer a couple nagging questions...

1. Is the furnace supposed to be loud? We keep our 19' Bambi warm at night because our 14 month old daughter can't use "appropriate bedding" yet... babies need warm sleepers, and need the temp relatively constant. So we leave the furnace on, which makes fairly loud clicks on startup, and runs pretty loud (the fan, I suppose). My wife thinks something is wrong. I think its just loud.

2. Has anyone found a good "mini" oil-filled heaters? This seems like a good option because there would be no fan coming on/off in the night, which can be loud. We found this one online at Canadian Tire (except we live in the States...) I've not seen anything like it available online in the States. Suggestions?

[3Ms75Argosy]

I think the NT series is a bit different from your furnace (ducted vs. direct vent in the Bambi), but I'm sure they're all pretty similar inside. I just put in a new NT30 series in my 26ft Argosy. It's not what I would call quiet, in in a smaller trailer, I'm sure it would noticible. However, even standing next to my furnace at home is slightly louder than I'd like, but it's downstairs! You could have a dealer look at it - if it's out of warantee, I like Evergreen RV in the Lynnwood area on Hwy 99.

I like that small oil filled electric heater idea. Maybe a trip up to Vancouver might be in order? I see Canadian Tire stores there. I'd love to have one too. What dimentions are it? I know Lowes an HD sell upright oil heaters, but they're about 1.5ft long and 3ft high - probably bigger than you are thinking of.

As an aside, it's nice to see a local AS'er on board - we live in Seattle. Are you coming to the NW ralley at Berverly State Beach?
Take care!
Marc

[overlander63]

Originally Posted by platbr

We've also wrestled with the furnace vs. electric. Perhaps somebody can answer a couple nagging questions...

1. Is the furnace supposed to be loud? We keep our 19' Bambi warm at night because our 14 month old daughter can't use "appropriate bedding" yet... babies need warm sleepers, and need the temp relatively constant. So we leave the furnace on, which makes fairly loud clicks on startup, and runs pretty loud (the fan, I suppose). My wife thinks something is wrong. I think its just loud.

2. Has anyone found a good "mini" oil-filled heaters? This seems like a good option because there would be no fan coming on/off in the night, which can be loud. We found this one online at Canadian Tire (except we live in the States...) I've not seen anything like it available online in the States. Suggestions?

We bought one for our Overlander from Kmart, they are about $40. They are bout 24" tall, and 8" wide, and about 14" long. 600 watt, 900 watt, and 1500 watt settings, plus a thermostat. They also have no open heating elements to catch something on fire. It can still happen, but you really have to work to make it happen