Staying warm this winter?

raylawrence

Expert Expediter
Sounds like alot of safety concerns and additional equipment (fans, detectors, open windows) necessary in order to get a comfortable night or days sleep. The safety concerns seems to still be in question.

All Espar Airtronic series heaters have sealed heat exchangers and are very safe. They are even certified for school bus with 78 kids aboard! No need to carry extra propane bottles or search for propane refilling stations.

That should help you rest more comfortably.
 

Slo-Ride

Veteran Expediter
Not trying to rain on anyones parade here but I Q if the use of some of these aux heater you guys are using are even legal let alone safe.From what I find in the book just a stand alone heater,(MR buddy and alike)are not maybe Im wrong I didnt read the whole regulation on it.Be safe breath well:D

Miscellaneous parts and accessories
§393.77 Heaters.
(b)(9) Combustion heater exhaust construction. Every heater employing the combustion of oil, gas, liquefied petroleum gas, or any other combustible material shall be provided with substantial means of conducting the products of combustion to the outside of the vehicle: Provided, however, That this requirement shall not apply to heaters used solely to heat the cargo space of motor vehicles where such motor vehicles or heaters are equipped with means specifically designed and maintained so that the carbon monoxide concentration will never exceed 0.2 percent in the cargo space. The exhaust pipe, stack, or conduit if required shall be sufficiently substantial and so secured as to provide reasonable assurance against leakage or discharge of products of combustion within the vehicle and, if necessary, shall be so insulated as to make unlikely the burning or charring of parts of the vehicle by radiation or by direct contact. The place of discharge of the products of combustion to the atmosphere and the means of discharge of such products shall be such as to minimize the likelihood of their reentry into the vehicle under all operating conditions.
 
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layoutshooter

Veteran Expediter
Retired Expediter
Man, they need to start using REAL Standard American English, too many comma's in there!! LOL!! I just use my APU and sometimes IdleAire. I would LOVE an ESPAR but they want paid for it and that is out of the question at the present time.
 

RETIDEPXE

Veteran Expediter
I use a $20 elec heater (has a 600 watt middle setting) from K-mart plugged into our 1800 watt generator that will run 5-6 hrs on one gal of gas. Also use gen for small window A/C unit (Hyundai) all of last summer plus battery charger to keep the batt's charged while watching TV and running the fridge and lights. Been doing this for 10 months now and so far so good. Heater and A/C are ample for our 96" AA sleeper.
Yea, i'm cheap i know, and even considered the "Little Buddy" but the indoor combustion part scared me away.
The gen is nice to have also for the engine preheater when needed and never have needed a jump start. BTW, gen is not sine-wave so A/C and heater may not last long but TV & fridge are run thru the inverter. Batt charger is a digital brain 25W Blk & Decker that reduces charge rate automatically when batt is charged and has been working flawlessly plugged directly into gen, cost $75 from Wally World. Also has battery recondition.
APU would be nice someday but for now, the above has been working for us. Just my 2 cents.

All for now.
Doug B.
 

Steady Eddie

Veteran Expediter
Owner/Operator
In our rookie years we had 2 of the propane units 1 was a 3000 and the other a 1500 btu on in a CV....the carbon monoxide detector didn't even go off...the problem was they ate up the oxygen...
thru experimentation we found out what was safe and what wasn't...

The big buddies have a low oxygen cut off...I like that. And the Sprinter has too many gaps to worry about no air flow...lol at 18 below you know zackly where they are.

I called EOM everytime I was there. But they were so backed up I could never get the timing right. So, for the cost of the small unit, got a generator and Heat and more important AIR for summer.
 

OntarioVanMan

Retired Expediter
Owner/Operator
That is an important point Eddie...for a $1000 we have both heat and A/C possibilities....

the EOM for 1700 bucks only gives you heat!
 

chefdennis

Veteran Expediter
iam sittin at the "J" in Walton on a cold rainy night..same as last night and all day today....the big buddy as been on the low setting since i got here and it is nice and toasty..i even have the roof vent open and the fan running on low to keep the heat off the ceiling so i don't have to breath the hot air...works like a champ....heat from the big buddy, 12,000 btu's of ac from the portable roll around one room ac unit (thanks Steady Eddie for the recommendation) and less then $1000 dollars for both....not saying that the espar isn't a good deal or too much money, i just find this way works for me....
 

ebsprintin

Veteran Expediter
I had a propane heater in an apartment I lived in and the fumes made my eyes water and gave me a headache. Other people didn't seem to mind.

Ray, the espar is working great. It sips the fuel and uses very little power. Other than being comfortable it's easy to forget that it's running. A couple times when it was running low and easy I thought it had warmed up outside. Turned the thing off and a little while later I realized it really was cold outside. I still haven't touched the rheostat. When you were setting it up, you said, "You'll probably set it right about here..." We'll see how things go when it gets frosty.

eb
 

OntarioVanMan

Retired Expediter
Owner/Operator
Here you go Mike...it is a Edgestar:

AP12000S EdgeStar Portable Air Conditioner - 12,000 BTU Capacity

And i power it with a Honeywell 2000 Inverter / Generator...it is rated at 2200 surge watts and 2000 continues run watts...it is also CARB Compliant.... in another thread i said it was a Homelite, but it is a Honeywell...


Honeywell Inverters

Darn..the site doesn't want to give out the price till they have you in checkout and I enter my credit card number...argggg

Chef...how much was the generator?
 

Dakota

Veteran Expediter
What about an Edenpure or similiar type infared heater?
Prices have dropped alot, I see em selling for $299 for a 5000btu now
 

OntarioVanMan

Retired Expediter
Owner/Operator
Isn't this the unit mentioned earlier and doesn't it give both a/c and heat at 12k btu?

AP12000HS EdgeStar Portable Air Conditioner with Heater - 12,000 BTU Capacity

Questions though of where you mount it? Do you need an exhaust to the outside (I'd think you would)? Seems like combined with the Honeywell 2k generator it would be quite a solution.

Yes Leo....just have to make an insert for the window...it real easy a caveman could do it...except for maybe the transporter...*L*
 
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