57 replies to this topic

[Rockjok]

Yes, you do need to have ventilation with a catalytic heater. I usually open the roof vent slightly and have a window corner open at night. To get the "cross" ventilation required I also leave one of the turnbuckle access holes open a bit.

I also have a couple of household CO detectors in use tho' I'd kinda like to get one of the "stock" ones that comes with a non-shell camper.

Rob

[SunMan]

Thanks for the input everyone. I reckon a thumbs up from Les is all one really needs!! Looks like I'll be marching down this path.

[pvstoy]

Had one in the old Fleet. Worked great as all said above.

But it has no thermostat so it is cranking out the heat. We found we had to turn it off before bed. Then it was cold at morning and took a while to get it going. So we did not fire it up for the short time in the morning. If you had both heaters would be the best but how much room do we have.

[mtn-high]

FWIW, I've yet to have my camper BELOW 4500 ft....live at 7250...and have camped and used the "stock" heater as high as 11K....no problems whatsoever. Ditto with the Refrig/Freezer. Hopefully this will continue!

To show how different we all are... I wish the furnace fan ran all night. I run the small fan on the refrig to keep some sort of noise going all the time...LOL. (my first choice is a raging creek...followed by wind... but that isn't always possible...so the furnace is a Godsend/backup)

mtn

[jrfromafar]

Thought I'd shake the dust off of this thread & get a fresh update - if possible - about heaters. I am familiar with the Atwood furnace - had one in my Burro - it worked great - battery charge was really never a problem for 5 days or less. Over 5 days & the fan was really complaining.

This time around, in my '72 Alaskan, I don't have the room to install an Atwood, and am not willing to pay a great deal of money - so I'm thinking of just getting a Mr Heater - it's half the cost of an Olympian.

http://www.mrheater....?catid=41&id=24

Anyone familiar with them?

[chnlisle]

We liked the Mr. Heater and this too.

[jrfromafar]

I noticed that the Heatmate takes denatured alcohol - isn't that rather expensive? $20 a gallon.

Lol beware - google "heat mate" and you'll come up with all sorts of topics

Edited by jrfromafar, 11 July 2014 - 06:26 AM.

[SunMan]

All I can tell you is that 5 years later my Olympian is still getting the job done. In fact it has exceeded my expectiations. Sometimes you get what you pay for. Ultimately it boils down to how much cold weather camping do you see your self doing?

[caseboy]

i have used the same old olympian for 20yrs in all kinds of rigs-- tent trailers,5th wheel,alaskans(2). mine is free standing and easily portable and packed away.we just use the little colman bottles.we usually set it up on a counter top so it's out of the way. if it's really cold, we leave it on low over night(with co detectors and windows vented. we get about 10hrs on a bottle at low setting.if i remmember right, it cost me 250 bucks way back then. it shows no sign of wear now. i think is was a pretty good investment.

[jrfromafar]

Sun, you were convincing - but when I saw Caseboy's feet toasting - it's a done deal - I'm springing for an Olympian !!