Furnace Furnace Option - Needed?

What Steve said is spot on. Most people do not need the furnace unless camping in weather of the lower 30s or colder in a "off grid" camping spot. If you have access to electricity where you camp the furnace generally is not needed. An electric space heater or electric blanket does the job nice.

For many of us our camping venues are going to be more conventional campgrounds, whether they be state parks, county parks KOAs or Good Sam Parks. There is generally an electric site option in these parks. But, we see a great number of our customers camping off grid. The customers in the SW and the NW in particular. Any place on the map with large areas of BLM land. Those customers will typically get and use the furnace. There really is no other good heating option for cold weather when off grid other than the furnace. But, you do have to ask yourself if you are going to be doing "off grid" camping in cold weather. Most of us likely won't but plenty do.

And no Randy, the furnace (like the air conditioner) can never be added later. That is a huge point. One needs to look at the big picture what they are going to do with their teardrop forever and ever. Not just how they would have used it the last few times they camped prior to ordering the teardrop. We see many many more people regretting not getting options than getting an option and regretting that choice.

Cary

 

As I was traveling across the country on my way home from picking up the trailer, even though it was May it was cold at night. In Montana we had snow and wind. I was so happy to have the furnace. I did have warm bedding and just turned the furnace on while getting settled into bed and then in the morning to warm things up for getting dressed. That was one of the reasons I upgraded from the tent. I got tired of waking up cold, getting into really cold clothes and facing a cold morning. It is much nicer facing a cold morning after dressing and maybe having a cup of coffee in a warm place.

 

I would second what Pat had to say above. We picked ours up a couple years ago in November and drove home to Oregon. Love to just hit the furnace for a few minutes before retiring and again in the morning.

Heading to Arizona for a few weeks. The air conditioning should be welcome for the same reasons.

I also felt, come time to part with our trailer it would have these options as Cary mentioned can not be added.

Dave

 

The furnace option created much discussion between Missy and myself. While we are both avid hikers and tent campers having camped in many environments she reminded me of the time we awoke one morning in Yellowstone and it was 16 degrees. At two o'clock in the morning we trudged to the restroom finding it occupied by ill prepared campers running the electric hand dryers to keep warm...guess they were taking turns pushing the button to keep the restroom warm! Having "been there and done that" we decided the space that the heater takes is space well used and if we didn't get the heater we would have to replace it with another gadget (which seems like something I constantly am shopping for). So we have opted for the furnace in our build..at least I can return to a warm trailer....Ron & Miss

 

We just bought our 560 ultra (just over a week ago), and we took it out last weekend in high 20's and low 30's temps. We are the second owners, and this camper doesn't have the furnace option.
We had electrical in our site, so I brought a $20 600w ceramic heater. It's tiny, quiet, and did the job for us.
It was cold outside on our first night, and with the windows open about an inch each, it was warm inside. I opened my window to about 3 inches after a few hours (I was hot!).
On our second night, it was warmer outside (quite a bit - low 30s but definitely not freezing) We shut the heater off after about 20 minutes because this time we were both hot (first time for everything)! We had the windows open about 2 inches each and the roof vent open an inch or two.
I should mention that we have a Big Agnes Sleeping System. This is a double sleeping bag rated to 15 degrees Fahrenheit with an integrated sleeping pad (R-value 5). We laid this over top of the standard mattress for a very warm, comfy sleep.
Having said all that, I would really have preferred just to have a furnace. We have owned a few campers over the years and having that option is always appreciated when it's needed.
We are going out again at the end of the month, and it will be colder. We have to boondock because last weekend was the last weekend for services for the season (only un-serviced sites remain open). So, we will forego heat and rely only on our sleeping system.
I'll keep you all posted on how it works out.

We are also looking at options like a Propex hs2211 after CI told us post build install is not an option...
Thoughts?

 

Where did you place the electrical space heater while it was in use?

 

We put ours on the lower folding hatch.

 

Ditto on the folding hatch, for the ceramic.

However, what we find to be a greater limiting factor to our travels, and comfort with the CI, is not sleeping temperature and whether or not we have a furnace (we don't). We can sleep well, at most temperatures, even well into the lower 20's, even if there's no electrical service. Its making and eating meals in those temps, and when the wind is blowing, that causes you consider what external space heating options might work, elevate your comfort level, and extend the trailering season a bit.

 

The only options I regret not getting are the two that I didn’t get! Namely furnace and grab bars! In the areas I camp shore power is a rarity and nobody has ever solved being able to produce heat on 12 volts.

 

I've/we've discovered the same thing. Discussed in an earlier thread, we had out 550 up in the mountains (9000+ elevation), and discovered that the 550 is extremely well insulated. We'd planned for cold, and the 1st night we used a large, his-and-hers sleeping bag, bag liner, and a couple of wool blankets. even with both door windows cracked, we were way too warm. Wool blanket only lasted one night, and even the sleeping bag + liner was too much most nights, even with near freezing weather.

Hats off to Cary && crew for extremely thorough insulation on our trailers.

 

We put ours on the folding lower hatch as well.

 

We have also found that once tucked in for the night we've usually been able to stay comfortably warm through the night, however getting into a cold bed, and waiting for our body heat to convert the cold to comfy isn't the most pleasant experience.
When we know we won't have electric hook-ups we will pack our small relatively quiet Yamaha 2000 watt generator, and about a quarter to half hour before bed time we'll set the ceramic heater on the lower storage door, and turn on the heated mattress pad. A half hour usually is tolerable from a noise aspect, and having a warm cabin, and bed to crawl into is certainly much more pleasant than trying to warm them up with body heat.
We haven't tried the hot water bottle bed warming technique yet, but it sounds (pun intended) like a great alternative to a generator, that we would be interested in trying as well, and a fair bit of savings over either a generator or retrofitting a furnace, if that's even possible.

 

We’ve had limited experiences camping in the cold - low 30s and high 20s. Did that about a month ago in Alaska as the fall was rapidly declining to winter.

We didn’t get a furnace* and we have never missed it when sleeping. We find that blankets and body heat do the trick for such a small, enclosed, and insulated space.

TOTALLY agree with Steve&Karen above: when the low was 26, the issue wasn’t sleeping at night. It was finding the motivation to get out of the cozy blankets to be the schmuck who starts the coffee in the morning.

As it is, it’s a done deal for now. We have 4 inches of snow on the ground and won’t see the grass until April, or maybe May. 560 is tucked away.


*Part of the reason we didn’t get the furnace is bc we camp with the kids in a tent...which means if it is too cold for them to be sleeping in the tent, we won’t be camping.

 

We were avid tent campers and backpackers up to 5 years ago. When we ordered we opted (after much discussion) to get heater and air conditioning and glad.we.did on both accounts. To us it was a decision strictly based on comfort, we have the knowledge and experiance to survive the elements if need be.

The days of being cold and wet, hot and humid are over. The air conditioning is nice while sleeping on hot humid nights and heat is great just before bed and when we get up in morning (dont sleep with furnace running) Glad we spent the extra $, and good for resale.

Found heater great in Banff when it rained for three days and 40 degrees, chance to get out of wet and cold...its during times like this when it's worth the extra $... R

 

We bought ours very-slightly used, but it came with the a/c and the heater. I am very glad we have both. Whether we are winter camping in Yosemite (brrrrrrr) or camping in Arizona (sweaty!), it's so nice to have a comfortable place to lie down, or go sit and read a book or play a game. I have no regrets that we have both.