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furnace mounting - blowing air at the water tank & lines


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#1 Vic Harder

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Posted 30 December 2016 - 06:36 PM

Since I have the option of where to mount my furnace when I get to that stage, I'm aware that when winter camping the lines can freeze up.  Lots of good discussion here before.

 

I am most intrigued by the ideas of:

1) a small 5w pad heater under the tank

2) blowing the air at the lines

 

The latter would be easy to arrange since I am still in the building cabinets and layout / design stage, and will be using a Propex 2000 heater for size and placement advantages.

 

Question, would the heater output if blown directly at the water tank lines be hot enough to have to worry about melting them?


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#2 Taku

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Posted 30 December 2016 - 10:12 PM

I doubt it. We have about a 12" run of duct pipe to our outlet with our Propex and it is hot, but not that hot. Maybe if the lines were right up against it, but even then I doubt it would melt water hose.


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#3 Vic Harder

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Posted 30 December 2016 - 11:33 PM

I doubt it. We have about a 12" run of duct pipe to our outlet with our Propex and it is hot, but not that hot. Maybe if the lines were right up against it, but even then I doubt it would melt water hose.

 

Good to know.  And from a Propex user no less.  Thanks Taku!


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#4 nikonron

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Posted 31 December 2016 - 06:01 PM

Be difficult to melt the lines with water being in them.  Ron


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#5 DanoT

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Posted 02 January 2017 - 07:59 PM

When one considers that the low setting on most electric space heaters is 500 watts, it seems unlikely that a 5watt heating pad is going to keep anything from freezing while camping in Alberta in winter.

 

As an experienced winter camper, what I do is not use my water system in winter. Instead I pack water in 4 gallon containers, heat water on the stove and shower using a portable shower.


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#6 rando

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Posted 03 January 2017 - 08:01 PM

I used a Propex HS2000 in my last camper (excellent heater!) and would agree that the outlet air is not hot enough to melt your lines.  The grill they provide for it is thermoplastic and has no issues.   You could split the outlet ducting with a Y and provide one duct straight into the camper, and one with a damper into your utility space.  

 

I also would agree that 5W is not going to do much for your water tank.   The heat capacity of water is 4.2J/gram-C.   Given a small 20L water tank a 5W heater would only raise the temperature 0.2C per hour, assuming no losses.    I think you would need more like a 100W heater to make any sort of difference.   Much better idea to use your furnace to keep the ambient temperature around the tank and plumbing warm. 


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#7 Vic Harder

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Posted 04 January 2017 - 05:42 AM

I used a Propex HS2000 in my last camper (excellent heater!) and would agree that the outlet air is not hot enough to melt your lines.  The grill they provide for it is thermoplastic and has no issues.   You could split the outlet ducting with a Y and provide one duct straight into the camper, and one with a damper into your utility space.  

 

 

Sounds like this is what I will do, since it appears simple and no snags have been mentioned yet.  Thanks!


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#8 Vic Harder

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Posted 11 June 2018 - 10:22 PM

I installed my Propex this spring, and thought I would update this thread with my install.  First, when I built out my shell last year, I was already thinking that I would use the Propex vs the Attwood.  So my cabinets are actually too short to install an Attwood.  The Propex fit was tight, but I had left the perfect spot for it, just above my water tank/pump in a cabinet that also housed the water lines coming in from outside and to the faucet.  Here is a trial placement:

IMG 2307
 
It didn't end up facing that way.  I flipped it over so I had easier access to the propane fitting, and the electronics access panel on the Propex.  The big water line is for filling the tank, the smaller water lines go to the city connection and faucet.  The big brown tube is the heat output from the heater, which feeds down and blows on the water pump and connection lines of the water tank.  The red (and black) electrical wire is for the external solar connector which is at the front of my camper.  Kudos if you can make out an AC wire too, that goes to the external AC plug which ONLY feeds my NOCO Genius 7200 for the rare times I made need to charge the batteries that way.
IMG 2371
 
Here is a pic of the crazy number of fittings I had to use to get the propane line to connect to my 20# horizontal tank
IMG 0046
 
And one mundane one of the routing of the propane line
IMG 0050
 
In this pic you can see the short stubb of another big brown tube that comes up at the back.  This is the air intake line for the heater
IMG 2370
 
With the divider in place, it looks like this:
IMG 2372

 

About that divider... I puzzed over ways to solidly mount the unit, as the space was tight, and the supplied mounting gear wants you to mount the heater with small exhaust and combustion intake lines facing down.  I used a divider board, some T-nuts and universal 1/4" threaded bar to go through the wood of the camper.  Not only do I get a divider so I can still toss light stuff into this space, the heater is very solidly mounted.

IMG 2372
 
Combustion and air intake lines route down through that same area of the camper and are secured against the side of camper wall, facing in opposite directions and far enough apart so as not to interfere with each other as per the install guide.
IMG 2376

 

This is what it looks like now if you open the cabinet door
IMG 0052
 
From the top without the top of this cabinet mounted.  This pic shows the air intake vent I installed.  The air flows in their and then via the big brown tube (previous pic) into the heater.
IMG 2374
 
No pic for this, but I mounted the thermostat at the foot end of the bed, so it can be reached in the morning to crank up the heat.  The fan is a bit louder than I expected, but I'm sure we will like the heat, regardless.  
 
 

 

 

 

 

 

 
 

 


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#9 wuck

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Posted 12 June 2018 - 04:26 PM

 

I installed my Propex this spring, and thought I would update this thread with my install.  

 
Combustion and air intake lines route down through that same area of the camper and are secured against the side of camper wall, facing in opposite directions and far enough apart so as not to interfere with each other as per the install guide.
 

 

Yay! Heat! We've not used our Hawk much in the summer, mainly spring and fall. And, even here in California, heat is nice.

Our old Suburban furnace is pretty loud, so we usually keep it down around 50. I've turned it up a few times in the morning, but then boiling water for coffee makes it way too warm in there!

 

I'm not at all familiar with the Propex unit, but I'm wondering how hot that exhaust gets? 

gallery_6362_1070_1498426.jpg


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#10 Vic Harder

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Posted 12 June 2018 - 06:29 PM

Not very, surprisingly.


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