I'm planning a camping trip in November, but I don't have a heater, and I really can't afford to spend $250 on one right now. Is it safe to run a freestanding gas heater in the closed-up camper? Do you need to ventilate it? Are there other options? Sorry this is such a basic question. I welcome all ideas and suggestions.
Buy yourself a small ceramic heater (Walmart, etc) that runs on 125V house current. It will cost you 25-30 dollars and will keep your camper warm. When we went to St Paul, MN to get Tallulah Belle, the first night homeward bound we stayed in Iowa, in 34F temp with rain drizzling, and our small ceramic heater kept the inside warm and cozy, even with a broken dinette window covered with cardboard. Cheap and convienent, no open flame to worry about.
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Post by universalexports on Oct 5, 2013 17:44:43 GMT -8
check out the "buddy" or big buddy propane heater from wal-mart, indoor safe, Automatic low oxygen shutoff tilt over protection, adjustable temp uses the small 1 pound propane bottles and they fit inside it, I have 2 of them.
with any type of heat you need a small amount of ventilation, it's like 1 square inch for each thousand BTU's or something like that, I forget.
I second universals suggestion. We camped in a 101/2 pickup camper last winter in Pullman, Wa at about 20 degree's. We had the big buddy with 2 bottles. It worked great and we were cozy all night. The neat part was the 2 bottles lasted all night on the low setting and did the job. Good luck
I personally like electric heaters, cheaper to buy and cheaper to operate. Propane heaters that are unvented always leave a taste in my mouth even with a vent open. Propane just keeps going up in cost. I am going total electric in my unit, safer and cleaner of course I plan to do very little camping off grid.
I purchased a ceramic heater for 35 bucks at that WMart store that I loathe so much and it works great!!!! And if your camper has a gas light, you'll be amazed at how much heat those suckers throw as well.
Post by gonekayaking on Oct 7, 2013 8:16:08 GMT -8
I think for occasional use the lil buddy is fine, heats the trailer up pretty fast, and then turn it off until needed again. We only need it once in a while our here in CA and it's been great. And if you are dry camping an electric heater (as suggested) sucks way too much juice from the batteries.
One thing you should know about the Buddy with the low O2 sensor is that they don't work above 7000 feet asl.
7000 feet??? Holy Toledo, the only time I go over 7000 feet is when I am flying to work pffshore! Living here at sea level in South Lousiana, we tend to forget that places with elevation DO exist elsewhere...
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I was in Colorado for a month straight and the lowest point there is 7000 feet. I was camped at 8500 feet and used my little Sport Cat propane heater for cold nights in the tent. This was during the month of June and July and I still needed the heater up there about half the time.
God grant me the strength to restore the trailers I can, The courage to strip the parts off the ones I can't, And the wisdom to know the difference...
We have the big buddy propane heater and last November I had to get up in the night and shut it off because it was so hot in the camper it worked that well in 35 degree weather
we had stayed at 2 campgrounds that week and the first one had electric/sewer hookups and we used a small electric space heater there and it worked great to
Yes and with the electric heater you most likely will wake up the next morning. I just don't like portable gas heaters in anything tighter than a tent.