Electricity vs gas.

Russellvh

Senior Member
RV LIFE Pro
Joined
Feb 28, 2022
Messages
268
Location
The Colony, Texas
I was wondering if someone could share some experience. I try to avoid below freezing weather but not 100% possible. I have an electric fireplace / heater and a propane furnace with duct work in the under the floor area. Use full hookup in parks.

How can I set the furnace thermostat so that I am warm inside, mostly, from the electricity but be sure the pluming is safe?
 
We often get close to, or down to freezing temps, early and late in season and we keep the furnace set at a lower temp, say around 60F and the electric fireplace set higher, at around 70 so that most of the heat comes from the fireplace and furnace only kicks in if the area around the thermostat gets too cold. Our 40 footer has the fireplace and furnace almost at opposite ends, so it works.
Although approved and has some built in safety features I have a thing about not using the fireplace at night, so turn it off and rely on the furnace and extra blankets at night to keep warm enough. First one up in the morning turns the fireplace back on.
 
We often get close to, or down to freezing temps, early and late in season and we keep the furnace set at a lower temp, say around 60F and the electric fireplace set higher, at around 70 so that most of the heat comes from the fireplace and furnace only kicks in if the area around the thermostat gets too cold. Our 40 footer has the fireplace and furnace almost at opposite ends, so it works.
Although approved and has some built in safety features I have a thing about not using the fireplace at night, so turn it off and rely on the furnace and extra blankets at night to keep warm enough. First one up in the morning turns the fireplace back on.
Thanks for the help. We, also, like getting under blankets and leaving fireplace off overnight.
 
You need to be sure the furnace runs fairly often, since I have not seen accurate thermostats on either it is trail and error. I have found settings where the furnace runs occasionally during the day and more at night, for only nights below freezing.

This was almost ok but the back half of the camper still froze on two nights last fall, most nights were below freezing for two weeks. I will probably turn the fireplace off at night next time when the forecast is below 20 and see if it helps. Luckily our main bath never froze and no damage was done.
 
I was wondering if someone could share some experience. I try to avoid below freezing weather but not 100% possible. I have an electric fireplace / heater and a propane furnace with duct work in the under the floor area. Use full hookup in parks.

How can I set the furnace thermostat so that I am warm inside, mostly, from the electricity but be sure the pluming is safe?
If your furnace isn’t running, there’s no ductwork providing heat into the underfloor areas. Some RV units have ductwork venting in and around some water systems and plumbing. If you insist on making an electric heater (fireplace or standalone) your primary heat source, and override your furnace thermostat, your underfloor vents won’t protect anything for you.
Plumbing freeze ups can be costly and damaging.
 
I've learned on my camper once the temperature gets below 30 the fireplace will not keep up with a set temp of above 72 or so, it will just run continuously.
I then just set the fireplace to 78 or so and my propane to 72. That way the fireplace still does not ever shut off but the propane heat kicks on and gradually cools down far enough to kick on even with the fireplace still running.
I bet my propane heat was running half the night without the fireplace still going. By keeping the fireplace on continuously it runs about every 30 minutes or so down to the lower twenties. Will be testing the higher teens here in a few days by the looks of it. :)

I've also done 101 things to insulate, keep heat in and improve air flow to cold spots in my camper.
 
At the very least leave cabinet doors open at night in the kitchen area and bathroom. Use a standard extension cord or old-fashioned trouble light with an incandescent bulb and place it in your water bay.
 
Your little electric space heater and fireplace are likely 8,000 btu or so units. The main furnace is 40,000 btu's or more.

So setting the electric units at 78 degrees and the furnace near 70 or so the pipes will stay warm.

Folks who have 4 or more electric heaters often get a surprise one morning when the water does not work, Thought they were saving money.
 

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