DieselDodd

I have a 94 holiday rambler motorhome with a 5.9 cummins and were planning on heading south after christmas from Iowa and the front engine heater don,t work very well when its cold out. I was wondering if it is safe to run the propane furnace while going down the road to keep the cabin worm?
Thanks, Rod.

GAmes

The only thing I would worry about is the flame blowing out.

Clayten

Fix the heater, don't run propane on the run.
KABOOM!!!!!!!

n2moto

Do ya run your refer on propane when you're driving? No problem running the heater just turn it off when you're gassing up.

Totallyrad

Just a thought, if the heater doesn't work well when you're driving but does when you're idling, you might not have a thermostat in the cooling system.

AUGIE DOG

DieselDodd I believe I would flush the system and put a new thermostat in. Make sure the air diverter is working properly. You might want to back flush heater core in front and check mid way if there is one also. Sometimes a vehicle that large has two cores like a bus. I personally would not run propane heater while in transit. That is just my former firefighter training in me saying NOT A GOOD IDEA! No matter what others think or say. Good Luck and enjoy the warm weather!!

Utundra

In my Lance Camper I have left the furnace on in temps that were -10 F. The camper is winter camping capable and the only way to keep water from freezing is to keep the furnace running. Like n2moto says, turn it off when fueling. With that said there are no occupants in the camper so no carbon monoxide or leaking propane issues to think about. I also can't imagine the engine heater alone could keep the inside of a motor home at comfortable temperatures when outside air is very cold.

And finally I found this, http://blog.rv.net/2009/08/rv-doctor...ile-traveling/

Good Luck!

AUGIE DOG

Good info Utundra! The question to be asked of DieselDodd is are you the original owner of said rv.If so then he should be confident of his lp system. If not I would get it checked or get vehicle heat system working properly. As I said in earlier post check and see if you have an auxiliary heater core about mid way on motor home.If not I would imagine you could add one into the system which would eliminate use of lp heater. All school buses in colder climates have an auxiliary core mounted usually under a seat. That is an older version. I would guess they have engineered them to be hidden by now.

DieselDodd

Thanks for all the information. I think the thermostat and heater core is working as it should as there is good heat coming out of the heater core for the front heater as well as the rear heater in the bedroom and the engine temp gage always shows around 180* The problem is the motorhome is just too large to heat comfortably when too cold out and going down road allows so much heat to escape. The heater seems to keep up with temps above 30 or 40 degrees, but when temps are in the 20,s and below it just doesn,t heat up in the coach. As far as the lp system leaking the dealer that i bought it from last summer did a leakdown check on it and it checked out ok. Thanks again, Rod

traindrv

My RV furnace has a draft inducer built into it which forces the exhaust gases from the furnace, with the draft inducer I would have no problem running the furnace while moving.

pevaguy

The only problem I see with using the propane for the furnace or refrigerator while in motion is that in the event of an accident there is the chance of a gas line getting damaged causing a leak and fire/explosion hazard. Other than in the event of an accident, I see no more risk of using propane in motion than while set-up camping. Of course turn off any flames or pilot lights when in the area of any fueling gas or propane. Hope you have a warm and safe trip.

1-2-3

A heater running while underway won't make a gas line full of propane any more dangerous than having the heater off and a line full of propane. if it's gonna blow, then it's gonna blow, regardless of the heat being on or off. I say run it.

reblerider20

i would run the heater on fan only and let it circulate the air it might help the chill or hang a curtain behind the front seats depending on the rig and if you have a rear veiw mirror (some rigs dont have them)

cLAYH

I see no problem with it as long as you have a proper CO/Propane monitor in the motorhome. The furnace has a safety in it so that if it flames out the flow of gas is shut off.

A better option is to install a second water heater like a self contained bus heater unit. Just tee off the heater lines and run the lines to the back where you install it, just pop it up thru the floor. Run 12v for the fan and its done. Insulated the lines would be good idea to minimze heat loss. A coworker has this on his slide in camper(it is permanently mounted in the truck).

We also used to have an old cargo van that had a pretty good 12V space heater fan in the back.

DieselDodd

One thing i notice with my motorhome is that when i turn on the gas valve from the tank it leaks around the valve pretty bad until the valve is all the way open and then it stops leaking. Do these valves back seal when wide open all the way since i have no leaking in this position?