Winter RV heating options
Keep your RV cosy in winter with heating choices: diesel, gas, electric, or combo heaters. Enjoy warm and memorable journeys.
Winter is generally the time when RV owners from the southern states pack up their rigs and head north
While not a consideration for everyone, winter touring can be pretty enjoyable if you are prepared with the right clothing and have an adequate heating system.
These days, RVs and caravans are very well insulated, constructed of composite sandwich panels in which a thick layer of foam is sandwiched between layers of fibreglass or other material. You’ll also find that the windows fitted tend to be double-glazed, which helps keep the heat in. And most RVs or caravans have at least a basic bathroom/ensuite facility so, there’s no need for a midnight dash to the loo in freezing weather.
There are really two choices for the fuel source for air heaters, LP gas or diesel. Each has its advantages and disadvantages and sometimes for practical reasons (like the fuel source), there isn’t a choice. Both LP gas and diesel are widely used and considered safe, as long as the heater and associated pipework complies with the relevant standard. A retro installation which can often be done fairly easily.
Let’s take a look at these and some other heating options.
Diesel-powered
Diesel heaters use diesel as the fuel source for creating and distributing hot air.
Diesel heaters are a cost-effective option if you have a large area to heat or spend a lot of time in cooler climates.
In Australia, there are several manufacturers of diesel-fired heaters include Webasto, Eberspacher/Airtronic/Dometic, Truma and Autoterm. All make air heaters, but some manufacturers such as Truma produce models that double as water heaters as well.
Diesel heaters work on the principle of diesel fuel being injected by a fuel pump over a glow pin that has reached a temperature of around 500 degrees Celsius. At that heat the burning cycle is self-perpetuating, and the glow pin is no longer needed. All the burning happens in the burn chamber, but all the noxious gases are expelled to the outside air and the internal heating effect happens by passing fan driven air over the heat exchange fins.
Diesel air heaters can be installed both in new vehicles under construction and in many cases, as a retro installation in older RV or caravans. Diesel heaters give a slightly more even heat and work well overnight but initially take longer to warm up. Another consideration is that you will always need to carry diesel fuel with you on your travels.
Gas-powered
LP gas heating is much quieter than diesel but can be more expensive to run. They work in much the same way as diesel, in that air for the heater's internal combustion process is drawn from an external intake pipe (usually through the floor) and passed into the heater's combustion chamber. It's mixed with LP gas and automatically ignited heat up the large surface area of a heat exchanger.
One of the advantages of gas air heaters occurs more in caravans than RVs. There’s usually a gas cooker, LP gas fired water heater and sometimes a three-way fridge, so most of the gas infrastructure is already there. If a diesel air heater is added, it needs a separate fuel tank. In a diesel engine motorhome, the fuel supply is already there and it’s just a matter of tapping into the main tank.
Several manufacturers, such as Truma, make combo water and air heaters. For the most part, these are LP gas-fired, and they can be a great space saver, something necessary in smaller RVs. We’ll touch on some of the other benefits below.
If the temperature drops under 2 degrees Celsius, as it can in parts of Australia, the butane part of the liquid gas mix (60 per cent butane – 40 per cent propane) will not vaporise well. The heater will only burn propane and you won’t be able to heat your RV once you’re left with only with butane in your gas bottle. And there’s always a risk that your gas bottle will run out when you least expect it or want it!
There are quite a few regulatory requirements for the installation of gas appliances and some travellers prefer to minimise the use of LP gas appliances, so diesel becomes a more appealing option.
Electric
Electric heating requires you to have access to 240V power hooked up at a caravan park or similar or have a system in your RV that will convert your high-capacity lithium battery power to 240V, which many do these days.
A blow heater, reverse cycle air conditioner, even a Dimplex-type column heater will all be effective if you have 240V power.
A problem with reverse-cycle air conditioners is that they act as heaters up to a point – that being when ambient temperatures are above four or five degrees Celsius. Below that, they do an excellent job of blowing cold air and not much else.
Underfloor heating is an unobtrusive way to use electricity. It can be built in or added by slipping a purpose-built membrane under the floor mat.
Whatever option you choose, there’s no need to hibernate over winter.
Combined air/water heaters
Combined air/water heaters are useful in smaller caravans and motorhomes and there's a considerable cost saving over purchasing separate water and air heaters. A bonus is that some high-end combo heaters have an option for a heated towel rail, something beneficial on cold winter days.
Truma makes a combination water heater and air heater with a choice of either LPG or diesel.
The bottom line is that there’s no good reason for not to enjoy wintertime RV travel wherever you happen to be.
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