Catalytic heater
Moderator: bfadmin
- Dallas Baillio
- Posts: 1181
- Joined: Sun Jul 02, 2006 10:52 pm
On my recent 4 month trip I dry camped (WalMart, Target, Bed Bath and Beyond, etc.) almost every night. On really cold nights of 20 to 30 degrees and sometimes as low as the single digits I used the catalytic heater in the early evening to conserve battery life to be used by my furnace blower overnight. Each day I ran the generator to charge my batteries particularly if I thought I would not be driving long enough to add a charge to the batteries. The down side for the portable catalytic heater is that it used a one pound propane bottle in less than three hours.
Dallas Baillio
2001 26RSB
Born Free Leap'n Lions RV Club Member
2001 26RSB
Born Free Leap'n Lions RV Club Member
The forced air furnace not only uses a lot of battery power, it really uses a lot of propane. The catalytic heater is about 95% efficient, converting almost all the BTU's available in the propane to heating your RV. Compare that to your furnace by standing outside by your furnace vent and see how much heat is wasted.
For those of you who don't spend much time in colder (40 degrees or less) and don't do much dry camping, this really doesn't matter. The 1500 watt electric heater mentioned above works fine. If you do camp in colder weather and dry camp a lot, the catalytic heater is wonderful.
We have used an Olympian 6 heater in all our RV's since 2006 and wouldn't be without one. We always properly provide proper ventilation. In cold weather we run it from the time we get up until the time we go to bed. We may use the furnace We usually don't use it at night. Not so much for the CO which has never set off our CO detectors, but for any possible CO2 buildup. If the nighttime temps do drop into the 20's or lower I do leave it on low and it keeps the inside temps about 45-50 degrees. We do like to sleep in cool temps with lots of blankets. As long as the early morning (6am) temps don't get below 40* we are comfortable.
For those of you who don't spend much time in colder (40 degrees or less) and don't do much dry camping, this really doesn't matter. The 1500 watt electric heater mentioned above works fine. If you do camp in colder weather and dry camp a lot, the catalytic heater is wonderful.
We have used an Olympian 6 heater in all our RV's since 2006 and wouldn't be without one. We always properly provide proper ventilation. In cold weather we run it from the time we get up until the time we go to bed. We may use the furnace We usually don't use it at night. Not so much for the CO which has never set off our CO detectors, but for any possible CO2 buildup. If the nighttime temps do drop into the 20's or lower I do leave it on low and it keeps the inside temps about 45-50 degrees. We do like to sleep in cool temps with lots of blankets. As long as the early morning (6am) temps don't get below 40* we are comfortable.
Re: Catalytic heater
In our BF I "T'ed" off the propane line at the cooktop, ran a copper line over to the edge of the counter by the sofa and installed a quick disconnect connector to operate our Olympian 6 heater on a flexible hose.mockturtle wrote:Has anyone installed a catalytic heater in their BF using a T-connection from the propane tank?
This the 4th RV in 7 years I have installed this setup. For 4 1/2 of those years we were fulltiming.
I'll post some pictures tomorrow.
Re: catalytic heater
I must be missing something here. This 2003 report starts off stating they only know of one heater, and that is portable one operated by a one pound propane bottle. This not the Olympian catalytic heater mentioned earlier.Mel Wilbur wrote:Here is an interesting report regarding this topic. http://cs.cpsc.gov/ConceptDemo/SearchCP ... splay=true
Quote from the report: "At the time the project was conducted, CPSC staff was aware of only one manufacturer selling a small catalytic heater for recreational use. This heater was designed for use with a disposable 1 -pound bottle of propane, which is typically used with camp heaters."
Farther down they state the tests were done in a room about 6'x4'x4'. Pretty small compared to our "large" BF's. Was the report geared toward using the heater in a tent, rather than a RV?
I don't see where this report relates to the Olympian heater.
Other than having used a Olympian heater for 7 years I have no interest in the company making the heater.
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- Posts: 145
- Joined: Wed Jun 17, 2009 9:41 am
Catalytic heater
I've learned a lot! Thanks for the explanations everyone.
Charles / Cape Canaveral, Florida 2013 23FL
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- Posts: 485
- Joined: Sun Jun 20, 2010 9:15 am
Pictures of my catalytic heater:
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- Attachments
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- Be sure to keep the heater covered when not in use. Dust on the heating pad will ruin the heater.
- IMG_7621 (Small).JPG (56.91 KiB) Viewed 10941 times
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- Keep the heater pointed away from the sofa or wood paneling.
- IMG_7619 (Small).JPG (56.18 KiB) Viewed 10941 times
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- Quick disconnect mounted in side of counter
- IMG_7618 (Small).JPG (48.03 KiB) Viewed 10941 times
It works well. The only the knife with a 10" blade has fallen off. There is a pullout pantry with a knife block located at the foot of the rear side bed. However the knife block is at the top and any knife with a blade over about 3" long will not fit. Also it is not convenient to the stove/sink.mockturtle wrote:Thank you so much, Al & Tom. Very helpful!
PS: Al, I see you have a knife magnet!
What you can't see in the picture is that I removed the microwave from over the stove and put in the cabover area above the drivers seat. Then I shortened the the cabinet height by about 4" (that is I raised the bottom of the cabinet by about 4"). Now we can see the stove when we cook. I took out the vent hood. Since it didn't vent to the outside it wasn't of much use. I have plans to make a hood which is vented to the outside, but haven' gotten around to that yet. Maybe next year. Too many other projects ahead of that.
Another interesting video on installation.
Scroll to the bottom of the page.
http://www.goodsamclub.com/rvcentral/Ma ... _campaign=
Scroll to the bottom of the page.
http://www.goodsamclub.com/rvcentral/Ma ... _campaign=
Steve
2011 Born Free 22 foot RSK, rear side (corner) kitchen, E350, 29k miles.
Our first motorhome. Lots to learn. Thanks.
CA/OR border
2011 Born Free 22 foot RSK, rear side (corner) kitchen, E350, 29k miles.
Our first motorhome. Lots to learn. Thanks.
CA/OR border
If you want it portable, and talking about a separate tank anyway,
you might think about this.
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Mr-Heater-MH12T ... 484a3ed8ae
you might think about this.
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Mr-Heater-MH12T ... 484a3ed8ae
Steve
2011 Born Free 22 foot RSK, rear side (corner) kitchen, E350, 29k miles.
Our first motorhome. Lots to learn. Thanks.
CA/OR border
2011 Born Free 22 foot RSK, rear side (corner) kitchen, E350, 29k miles.
Our first motorhome. Lots to learn. Thanks.
CA/OR border