CheapHeat electric grid heater to supplement propane furnace

Wayne

Wayne

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Today is the first time I have seen the product called CheapHeat.

Add-On System — RV Comfort Systems

www.rvcomfortsystems.com www.rvcomfortsystems.com

It's simply an electric grid heater that is put in-line after your propane heater. The purpose is to heat with the RV park's electricity rather than your propane.

There would be some modification to your existing ducting past your propane furnace and probably wouldn't work for every install.

The premise of using the park's electricity, instead of your propane is a sound idea. We carry an electric heater and the fireplace already has an electric heater. We used 3000 watts of electric heat almost continuously while we were in Fort Collins last winter. It definitely cuts down on the propane usage and expense.

The key is that you must be in a site that doesn't have a meter, else it's far cheaper to heat with propane.

The grid heater would have been nice in the Airstream, but since our 5th wheel has a heater in the fireplace, there wouldn't be much of a point in adding another heater.
 
I'm starting to look at the heat strip add-on to our AC unit for much the same reason.

We just finished our first 20# bottle of propane this weekend, over a year and a half on the first one. Total of 31 nights of camping. Granted, we're probably going to keep going through this winter, so I expect to use more, although from this weekend, it looks like we might be able to get by with our 300-watt and 1500-watt space heaters. They were actually able to get it too warm in the camper and that was with a window open and the maxxair on low.

I do use the outside propane hookup for the grill and propane fire pit as well, and I usually will turn the gas side of the water heater on when we're doing showers since that turns it into almost a tankless unit. We've never run out of hot water when both sides are running on it.
 
We used over 200 pound of propane when we were in Fort Collins for a month last winter. That was with the electric heat running almost non-stop!
 
Wayne said:
We used over 200 pound of propane when we were in Fort Collins for a month last winter. That was with the electric heat running almost non-stop!
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Good lawd.

Yea, I don't think we'll be doing any of that :). I don't go outside if I can help it when its that cold, so I'd rather be at home than in a little metal box. :)
 
Wayne said:
It was only -16F two nights in a row with daytime highs below 0F. That's an adventure!
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'Only'

Reminds me of the time I toured Publix's deep freeze facility not far from here. We were just going to pop in and look and go right back out. They insisted I put on a big coat. I thought 'how cold can it possibly be?' It was the middle of summer outside, so edging 100 degrees. I forget what it was inside, -32 is stuck in my head though. We were only in there maybe 60 seconds, but that was the most brutal cold I've ever felt in my life, almost indescribable for me. Boggles the mind, huge facility with robots doing most of the work.
 
ctechbob said:
I forget what it was inside, -32 is stuck in my head though.
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The coldest air temperature I saw growing up in Iowa was about -32F. Try doing chores when it's that cold and imagine the livestock trying to stay warm. It was brutal.
 
I think I'm going to pull the trigger on adding the electric heat to mine. $130 and some wiring changes and I'll be golden. The new thermostat that Coleman sent me will work both the electric and gas in an interesting way.

I think it is worth it. Will get the space heater out of the way and integrate everything into the thermostat.

Basically when the 'stat calls for heat, it starts off on electric, and then if it runs too long and the temp doesn't rise, or the temp drops, it will fire the gas.

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The text in the image refers to the electric heat pump. Do you know if the electric grid heater will be treated the same way as the heat pump, as in strikes and losing its primary status?
 
Far as I know, it treats it the same since you use the output for either option, with no changes to dip switches or options.


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Turns out 'Heat Strip Ready' in Coleman speak is a little more involved.

You also have to replace the control box, which isn't a huge deal, but really their statement just means 'there's a place to mount one'.

Pretty typical these days. Ordered the parts today. Both available on Amazon for $130 out the door for both. Of course there will be a writeup and some pictures. The Mach series is pretty popular so it should help someone somewhere making the decision.
 
Wayne said:
We used over 200 pound of propane when we were in Fort Collins for a month last winter. That was with the electric heat running almost non-stop!
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that's about normal if it is below freezing.. heating a RV is like heating a beer can.
We stayed in my Cedar Creek for a year in FLA... and we had a cold snap that lasted about 6 weeks
and I think I went thru a 30 pound propane bottle in less than 2 weeks.

people do stuff to make it a little better like skirting the bottom
but realistically the best thing to do if RVing in the winter is to head south
 
MSCH said:
the best thing to do if RVing in the winter is to head south
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In the past week, I have driven past many RV parks in the midwest that are mostly full of what appear to be full-timers. I can't imagine heating an RV all winter in the midwest. Brrrr.
 
Wayne said:
In the past week, I have driven past many RV parks in the midwest that are mostly full of what appear to be full-timers. I can't imagine heating an RV all winter in the midwest. Brrrr.
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I can't imagine temperature controlling one anywhere full time. There's a house in my neighborhood and one down the street that both have conventional trailers outside that people are obviously living in. I can't imagine their power bills in the summertime to keep those things cool.

Same with winter, I'm sure they're running electric most of the time, but man, what a power bill that would be.
 
ctechbob said:
I can't imagine temperature controlling one anywhere full time. There's a house in my neighborhood and one down the street that both have conventional trailers outside that people are obviously living in. I can't imagine their power bills in the summertime to keep those things cool.

Same with winter, I'm sure they're running electric most of the time, but man, what a power bill that would be.
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yeah, we spent more than a year living in my Cedar Creek, on the eastern edge of the Everglades in a place called Everglades Holiday Park.. Cedar Creek only had 1 ac unit... basically AC unit was running 100% of the time and would be lucky if the trailer was below 80 degrees anytime in the daylight hours, and the trailer was in the shade... lucky for us the electricity was part of the lot rent.. that is why you want dual AC's in a fifth wheel if you are in a southern climate.

FWIW Everglades Holiday Park was where the Gator Boys filmed, if you ever saw that TV show... they dont have a campground anymore.. its here if you are interested in knowing where it was. https://www.evergladesholidaypark.c...qA2JlLp0v7xWix_8L1aRPViQCNNOphJBoCZksQAvD_BwE
 
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