furnace or other?

[penner]

I will be placing an order for a 72" Ocelot shell shortly. I am trying to decide if I should get the " factory" furnace or not. It is something that probably won't get used a lot but I will still want some type of heat occasionally . It seems to take up a lot of room in the camper also.Wondering about other types of heaters some of you Guys might use? Thanks for now.

 

[Wandering Sagebrush]

Go with the furnace. Nice dry heat. At the ATC get together I asked Marty what he would build if doing another camper for himself. It was a shell with furnace. I trust his experience and judgement.

 

[Tuff Guy 62]

I have a Panther shell with a furnace. We don't use it often but it's nice to have when you need it. Get the furnace, you won't regret it.

 

[Alley-Kat]

Ditto on the furnace.

Especially at the time of initial build.
I didn't get one originally and then I got the parts from ATC and put it in later.
Very time consuming, figuring out how to make my installation of the propane compartment (cutting hole for door in the side of the camper), the propane tank mounting, the routing of the propane line and the furnace mounting... to be correct (meeting RV codes) and safe.

Wife really likes to run it for a few minutes before bed time and then again when she takes the dogs outside at 2 am to warm up the inside and then turns it off. Really heats the small interior fast.

I also think it is a great addition... if I ever decide to sell my ATC Bobcat.

 

[Lighthawk]

Blower furnace is really great when you're wet or cold and want quick heat. We use a catalytic Wave 3 heater for quiet warmth with zero electrical draw for colder nights.

 

[Smokecreek1]

I have the same set up as Lighthawk; a stock furnace for that quick warm up and a Wave 3 for that long and slow (and quiet) heat build up.

Smoke

 

[rando]

The furnace is one of the best parts of having a camper. The factory installed one is also about the only way to get dry heat. Aftermarket or portable furnaces (Wave, buddy heaters etc) are pretty much all unvented catalytic heaters, which means all the combustion products, including the water, end up inside the camper. The forced air furnaces vent this outside.

I am not sure which heater ATC is installing, but the newer attwood heater in current FWC campers is surprisingly good for an 'RV quality' (oxymoron?) device. It is quieter and lower power consumption than most other camper furnaces, probably even better than the Propex I had in my last camper.

 

[Ronin]

You'll want to have a furnace. I went without one for years and always wished I had one. I spoke to FWC about retro-fitting one but they insisted that I buy the furnace first and wouldn't tell me what model # I needed ( whaaaat?) so I gave up on them. I used a Little Buddy if I knew temps would be in the 30s, but the flame would often go out whenever the door was opened, plus I just didn't feel comfortable having a co2 generating fire hazard inside the camper. That's just me, and a lot of people use them with no complaints. My current Hawk has a factory furnace and I love having it as I do most of my trips between Oct- April. Seems like the only time I use it is early in the morning just to take the chill off the air. Once I'm up and making coffee the furnace goes off and the heat from the stove keeps the temp just right. Go for a furnace!!

 

[Vic Harder]

The furnace is one of the best parts of having a camper.

I am not sure, but the newer attwood heater in current FWC campers is surprisingly good .... It is quieter and lower power consumption than most other camper furnaces, probably even better than the Propex I had in my last camper.

Whoa. I was looking at putting in a Propex this fall when the camper is scheduled for more upgrades. That's interesting. Can you say more about that comparison Rando?

 

[rando]

My Propex HS2000 was definitely a great heater, and was certainly better designed and built and easier to mount as an afterthought than the Attwood heater in my Fleet. However the Attwood 8012-11 is a little quieter and actually uses less electrical power per KW of heat produced. While the Propex is not exactly noisy, the fact that it is a ducted heater with small ducts and a small burner chamber seems to make both the higher velocity fan and burner more noisy. The Propex made a pulsating jet engine sounding noise, where as the Attwood is more of a hum. The Propex would wake me up at night, where as the Attwood doesn't.

If I were to install one after the fact, I would probably still go with the Propex, primarily because it is so much easier to run the exhaust and intake lines. No need to cut a fairly large hole in the side of your camper. The Samba has lots of good info on the Propex and installing it in Westies.

 

[Squatch]

I have a shell with the stove, furnace combo and a couch.Perfect!

I've rarely run it all night. but a couple of cycles before bed and in the AM are simply luxurious to this old backpacker.

For what it's worth my Atwood draws 2.5 amps when running. 1 amp of that appears to be the solenoid that opens the gas valve.

Gas usage is negligible as well. to the point I consider the 2nd 10 lb tank as just there to run my Little Red Campfire!

A little heat and a hot cup of coffee without leaving the camper in the early morning is a big part of having a camper vs just using the tent. Otherwise save $15,000 and just sleep under a truck cap!

 

[penner]

Thanks for all the replies. Will be going with the furnace.

 

[craig333]

Its great when you make those little mistakes. I should have brought my winter bag, my heavy jacket etc. Of course no one on WTW would ever do that!

 

[DanoT]

I am a furnace fan but for those that want low noise and can get by with less BTUs, a vented platinum catalytic heater like the one made by A&L Industries in Washington , might do the trick.

 

[DanoT]

^^That would be A&L Enterprises in Tumwater, WA.