electric infrared heaters question

[oderus1671]

Hey all, I am ready to buy an infrared heater for the misses to stay in her 'work house' this winter, a 22' Surveyor. She is in the Durham area of NC, so winters are fairly cold there. Ive been looking at the Edenpure's, but was wondering if there are other brands that you folks use and trust as far as safety. I would rather spend more $$$ on a safe, better heater than a $20 Ace Hardware brand ceramic. The heater will be ran on a heavy duty, probably 14 or 12 gauge extension directly to the power pedestal thru the slide out.
Heres the real kicker...
She is currently working the night shift, 6pm to 4am, which obviously means she wont be home during the coldest hours of the day. Im extremely leery of using a space heater unattended, but cant afford to heat with the propane heat only. What are the heaters ya'll use that can do the job of effectively supplementing the LP heater, while maintaining safety?
I plan on doing some other stuff to increase heating efficiency, like underpin the bottom (somehow!!), heated water inlet hose, 'pillows' in the roof vents, and plastic/insulating drapes over windows.
So any advice ya'll have in this area would be SOOO appreciated!!
Also, have questions on how much power (amps) the pedestal can supply the TT at one time. We are currently on the 30 amp hookup, but there are 2 available 120 outlets in there as well as the big 30amp plug. Can I plug the heater and heated hose to these outlets and not overload the pedestal? Thanks so much, and look forward to ya'lls responses!
Chris

[TURBS]

Northern equipment has all heaters on sale !



http://m.northerntool.com/northerntool/index.do

[OldCoot]

Originally Posted by oderus1671

Hey all, I am ready to buy an infrared heater for the misses to stay in her 'work house' this winter, a 22' Surveyor. She is in the Durham area of NC, so winters are fairly cold there. Ive been looking at the Edenpure's, but was wondering if there are other brands that you folks use and trust as far as safety. I would rather spend more $$$ on a safe, better heater than a $20 Ace Hardware brand ceramic. The heater will be ran on a heavy duty, probably 14 or 12 gauge extension directly to the power pedestal thru the slide out.
Heres the real kicker...
She is currently working the night shift, 6pm to 4am, which obviously means she wont be home during the coldest hours of the day. Im extremely leery of using a space heater unattended, but cant afford to heat with the propane heat only. What are the heaters ya'll use that can do the job of effectively supplementing the LP heater, while maintaining safety?
I plan on doing some other stuff to increase heating efficiency, like underpin the bottom (somehow!!), heated water inlet hose, 'pillows' in the roof vents, and plastic/insulating drapes over windows.
So any advice ya'll have in this area would be SOOO appreciated!!
Also, have questions on how much power (amps) the pedestal can supply the TT at one time. We are currently on the 30 amp hookup, but there are 2 available 120 outlets in there as well as the big 30amp plug. Can I plug the heater and heated hose to these outlets and not overload the pedestal? Thanks so much, and look forward to ya'lls responses!
Chris

We've used the Edenpure for 4 yrs and feel it is perfectly safe. When it gets cold enough to have freezing or below freezing weather in the Concord, NC area before we go to FL or after returning, we run the Edenpure and just the furnace blower to circulate the heat (I added a separate switch for the furnace blower that doesn't engage the burner). Have never had a problem. I added a separate 15A circuit in our 5ver, when we had the other tt, we ran a 12 ga extension cord out the side of the slide like you're talking about. I would go for a 12 ga extension just to be safe.

[oderus1671]

so with the edenpure, did you feel safe enough to run it unattended? This goes against everything I know about electric heaters, which is kinda my quandry. Thanks again for the response!

[OldCoot]

Originally Posted by oderus1671

so with the edenpure, did you feel safe enough to run it unattended? This goes against everything I know about electric heaters, which is kinda my quandry. Thanks again for the response!

When we are home in Concord, it is essentially unattended as it is sitting in front of the garage and the heater is running sometimes for 3 or 4 days without us going in the trailer. I am not the least bit worried about it. I feel totally save with it, but have reservations about the propane furnace running unattended.

[oderus1671]

Does anyone have experience with the Duraflame electric infrareds? Ive seen them at Northern Tool...good price, but Ill spend more $$$ for a better unit if need be.

[oderus1671]

OK, next item on the list...
We've got a 22' Surveyor, which is roughly 160 sq.ft. What would be the minimum sq.ft. electric infrared heater needed for this? I kinda figured that the sq.footage a heater actually heats is subjective to lab testing, but what about REAL WORLD situations? Should I go with the 300 sq.ft Edenpure "personal model"or go for the gusto and go with the 1000sq.ft 'standard' Edenpure? Basically, how much should I 'expect' a heater to heat in real life? I dont want it so hot in there that the misses has to go out in the snow to cool off!!!

[fast murray]

We use a 1000 watt Eden Pure heater when it gets cold. I'll use it this weekend for sure. I have never used the furnace in our camper because I'm paying for power at the campsite no matter how much I use, and I don't trust an RV propane furnace. The pedistal should have plenty of power to serve 30 amps for your trailer with the 2 outlets being on separate circuits assuming there at least 3 total circuit breakers in the pedistal (1-30A & 2-20A).

[OldCoot]

Originally Posted by oderus1671

OK, next item on the list...
We've got a 22' Surveyor, which is roughly 160 sq.ft. What would be the minimum sq.ft. electric infrared heater needed for this? I kinda figured that the sq.footage a heater actually heats is subjective to lab testing, but what about REAL WORLD situations? Should I go with the 300 sq.ft Edenpure "personal model"or go for the gusto and go with the 1000sq.ft 'standard' Edenpure? Basically, how much should I 'expect' a heater to heat in real life? I dont want it so hot in there that the misses has to go out in the snow to cool off!!!

We got the biggest one and usually ran it on low unless it got real cold like it did in FL 2 or 3 yrs ago and then ran it about 5 or 6. It has 13 levels of heat and we usually ran it on 3 or 4, 7 or 8 will run you out in our old tt which was 8.5' x 31'.

[jtstromsburg]

I do like our edenpure as well, but used an oil filled electric radiator style heater while the camper sat in the driveway all winter. It was great and worked well.

[oderus1671]

has anyone used the duraflame heaters? look like basically the same principal, but are a bit cheaper. compared side by side to the edenpure, theyre virtually identical. is there a reason for this???
funny, the edenpure reviews online are a mixed bag of hate and love, but the duraflames are mostly good reviews. am I missing something here? I just want the SAFEST, most effective heater for the misses in her 'work house'
Thanks for all the replies!