Ventilation and CO2

[brett13]

Well, I though I'd be the newbie to ask. At least the info will be here for someone to search on.

When sleeping with the furnace on, how much ventilation do you use?

I know it vents outside, but the campers are pretty tight, so I imagine a little ventilation is warranted. Even without the furnace if the camper is buttoned up for chilly weather, you could conceivably use up O2 breathing (or for humidity reasons). Which window/vent do you open and how much?

 

[benburnett]

venting camper

I always recommend cracking the vent a little at night when you go to sleep. The heater you don't have to worry about but I have a story of a couple that closed the camper up tight one night and was unable to light a match in the morning until they opened up the vent.

 

[pvstoy]

If it is cold enough to run the heater at night I will open some of the two roof vents. What moisture we are producing breathing combined with the heater's hot air will vent out the roof. This leaves less moisture inside on the walls.

 

[NJTaco]

If opening a side window, make it the side opposite the furnace, to keep from drafting the exhaust through the camper.

This is assuming a vented furnace, not the Mr. Heater type. If using a Mr. Heater (or other non-vented heater) by all means open windows and vents. Better yet, don't sleep with it running.

 

[simimike]

I aways sleep with a roof vent open, if only just a little bit. I haven't slept with the heater on because of the noise. If it is so cold that I need the heater on all night then I move to a lower elevation. There are some nice catalictic heaters on the market these days but I like the idea of a vented heater should I need to run it to stay warm.
If it is above freezing I open the rear roof vent and the side window to get air moving. I've found that this give me fresh air without a draft on me in the top bunk. If I need more air I adjust the front vent over the bunk. NJTaco has a good point about which windows to open and which not to.

Cheers,

Mike

 

[canterburyfour]

As long as you are not using the stove or oven for heat and your furnace is exhausting to the outside you do not need to leave any windows or vents open.

Most of our camping the last 3 years has been in the Winter.

 

[craig333]

I usually leave the roof vent cracked open. The heater is noisy, but when I hear it kick on it makes me happy I'm not outside in a tent

 

[DLN]

Craig,

I couldn't agree more, half the reason we bought the camper was to stay warm at night and especially in the morning. We always crack the vent at night for the fresh air flow.

 

[Sam]

Front sliding window makes for a nice vent and is protected from the weather, as are the hatches for the turnbuckles.