Best Heater Ideas for 2017 T@G

Cccjim

We will be taking a trip to New England on September 15th. I have not yet decided on a heater solution for our 2017 T@G should we need heat. I would like to know and if possible see what other have done to bring a little warmth to their T@Gs. Anyone?

ericmooreco

During winter, I use this small pelonis heater which sits on the shelf above the AC, and find campgrounds with 30amp service. This keeps it pretty warm inside, so overnight I have leave the door open to the 5x7 tent which is attached to the door. This is the basic t@g model.

Cccjim

Thanks for the pic. Regrettably, I have the tv at that place.

TennTim

Ha! I would love to get rid of my TV there as well and do this "upgrade." Having a TV while camping makes as much sense to me as pulling a monster trailer and then spend all day outside.

Cccjim

Amen! My wife and I are tv people, especially movies -- and yet we find ourselves going right to sleep without watching it.

ericmooreco

Most t@g owners buy the heater which comes with 100v plug on the back of the unit, see below example. I was not interested in this since I didn't want heat blowing at my feet. There are several discussions on this over on the little guy forum, do a search on "heater" from the LG forum. Probably this time a year a good sleeping bag should suffice, I doubt it will be very cold. We are still getting 80's and 90's out in colorado, its too warm to pull out the heater.

BBsGarage

I was looking at the one that plugs directly into the outlet, but then looked at where my outlets are and think that they are too close to the side walls for me to be comfortable using this one.
I guess it depends on your model of camper.

Cccjim

The one above is what I have purchased. However I'm thinking about making an under the air conditioner shelf for it. Some have said body heat is sufficient in very low temps. My wife is also buying an electric blanket just in case. LOL

Douglas

I bought the handy heater but it set way to close
To my feet and blankets. Got it last year on clearance my electric blanket does a great job
Keeping me and my wife warm

Lightningdon

I also use a small ceramic heater when on shore power. I set it on my slide out tray.

Cccjim

I notice your matress is not pictured. Is there adequate clearing between your feet and the shelf?

Lightningdon

The pull out tray only brings the clearance down about 1.5 inches. We usually have an extra blanket or pillow shoved under there anyway.

WilliamA

As with the Little Guy I had last year, I did an electric furnace installation in my new Tag XL. Here are a few photos:

The line-voltage wall mounted thermostat. The thermostat is a "set it and forget it" affair. I just dial in whatever temp I want and go to sleep. The thermometer above it came with my Tag. I just stuck it on there.

I mounted the furnace in the unused space behind the TV. I got a 4" stand-off mount for the TV to give me some airspace. The furnace is a 110V, 1500 watt electric selfcontained unit. I split the heating elements so that only 1 is on normally. This is plenty of heat for the trailer. In the event it's extremely cold or I need a quick warmup, I wired the second heating element into a timer so I can dial in a few minutes of mega-warm to get things quickly up to temp.

Here's the control for the second "high" heating element. It's currently a 60 minute timer. It's the smallest increment they had in stock at the local hardware store. I have ordered a 15 minute timer to replace it.

I've been using the furnace for about a month now. That includes a 5 day rain/cold fishing trip on the Wisconsin River with my oldest. The furnace keeps things nice and toasty and and DRY and is extremely quiet. It's much quieter than the annoying "triple-vortex-of-deafness" A/C aux fans. I'm mounting them in rubber soon to reduce the drumming and decibels by about 75%. I'll get to it. I doubt they could have increased the ambient noise of the A/C and aux fans by just mounting a lycoming aircraft engine spinning a 3-bladed prop instead.

I built a sheetmetal mounting box/plenum for the heater and screwed that to the backside of the panel that holds the TV on the wall. The only downside is that in order to get at it I need to remove the insipid A/C unit and then the TV. The upside is that I shouldn't ever have to take it apart unless I'm bored. It'd take about 30 minutes to remove. I pulled power from the A/C plug-in. In the process of doing that, I ditched the cheesy A/C plug socket and cut in a proper remodel box with heavy duty outlet for the A/C. Since the heater is hardwired, there's no plug for that. It stands to reason that I won't be using both the furnace and heater at the same time for obvious reasons. The furnace draws 6.3 amps on low and 11.6 amps on high.

I still need to build a fashionable wooden angled cover to go over the hot-air out on the left side of the TV but have put together a nice oak grill for the cold-air return on the right side of the TV. This installation took a bit more work than the LG furnace I put in, but it works just as well and adds tons to my comfort.

Cccjim

Wow! I am dangerous with a screw driver, meaning, handy-man skills = 0. I would not "try this at home"

BBsGarage

Very nice, install looks very clean, mine would be all covered in duct tape.

LuckyJ

@WilliamA , this is a nice set-up!!!

TomD

So cool. But does the timer itself make a sound when counting down? I mean ticking sounds. Or any sound?

LuckyJ

@TomD said:
So cool. But does the timer itself make a sound when counting down? I mean ticking sounds. Or any sound?

Yep, with a ding sound when cooking time is done! Sorry, could not help my self. I have no idea, He will answer to your question I guess.

WilliamA

The timer is a mechanical (clock) timer so it does tick like a clock. Can't hear it unless you're right on top of it. The 15 minute job I ordered is also mechanical but is silent.

Douglas

Wow that's nice wish I had a skill like that! do you have any part numbers

WilliamA

Well, I got my vent covers fabbed up. I used a couple of wooden floor registers I picked up at Menards and then cut them down (please, don't ask me how to do that. They are glued, laminated and nailed together. You have to take them apart to do this) from 15" to 9 13/16". The first one took me over 2 hours, the second one took 20 minutes. As with all surgery, it's knowing where to cut...

The vent covers come in two pieces; the louver snaps onto the sub-structure with plastic snaps. The sub-structure is pretty easy to cut apart and re-glue. The louvers need to be carefully cut/disassembled and then re-glued, then sanded to get the radius back. This one has been sanded. Eagle eyes will notice that the center section is now only one slot from the top.

On this one, you'll see that I've cut and shortened the louver but haven't yet sanded the radius into the top of the cut pieces. It's literally a snap-off affair to get them off. I still need to find a nice piece of finish plywood to replace the backside of the left vent. You can see here that I've used a gnarly piece of dirty plywood on the outlet because the outlet is pressurized, the inlet isn't. I'll run down some mahogany plywood in 1/4" to replace the ugly thing now in there.

Here's the new-new (my third attempt to get it the way I want) TV bracket. This one finally does exactly what I want. It folds in and out, plus swings left and right. Most of the time, the TV will be folded tightly against the vents. Now, to wrestle the wiring into place so it doesn't look like a pile of concertina wire stuffed behind the TV. I've got some stick-on wire loops but just need to apply them.

And no, the timer doesn't ding. But every time I show my oldest son my newest modifications, he mentions that I might be a little too baked by the heat. Hah! What does he know, he drives a Turbo-tuner.....

Douglas, I don't have part numbers, but can steer you in the right direction. PM me.

Enjoy...

RayG_TN

WilliamA , this is the most creative mod I have EVER seen. Great job!!

Perrytrails

I agree, nice work!!

leoreice

Has anyone tried an electric blanket? I was thinking of getting one

Lightningdon

Yep. We use the small ceramic heater to warm the interior while we are up reading or watching a flick. Then turn it off and use the electric blanket when sleeping.

dyhester1948

I have the Handy Heater (350watts) mentioned above that plugs directly into the electrical outlet. Because the two electrical outlets in my T@G are both installed upside down (the D shape opening being on top and the two prong openings in the bottom) means I have to plug in the Handy Heater upside down. I am therefore unable to read the temperature readings on the top of the heater (short of standing on my head) to set the temperature and the connection is not as snug as it should be. Is there a reason why these two electrical outlets were installed in this manner and can I just remove the plate and turn them right side up so that my heater will plug in correctly? The Handy Heater works very well, especially when the temps drop down to the 30's. Being as I am only 5' tall, I have the pleasure of sleeping on that side of the bed and my feet are far away from the heat. i just don't know why the outlets were installed in that manner. I have pulled up several pics of the T@G, zeroing in on the two outlets (the interior and galley) and they are all installed in the same manner as mine (upside down). Thanks

Verna

@dyhester1948, check the rear of your Handy Heater. I can turn the plug 180* on mine so it can be used in either configuration of electrical standards.

Why is the outlet “upside down”? In some newer electrical codes, the upside down configuration is thought to be safer so you will not hit the ground part of the plug when plugging in.

Unofficially, it’s your T@G, and it’s easy to turn it around if it is your preference.

I didn’t ‘t like the A/C unit plug hiding a spare plug, so I pulled some excess cable out of the wall to give enough slack to be able to plug the A/C unit in and uncover the second plug. I would never run a space heater at the same time as the A/C. Sometimes manufacturers must save us from ourselves.

BBsGarage

@Verna said:

I would never run a space heater at the same time as the A/C. Sometimes manufacturers must save us from ourselves.

But what if the AC is too cold and the heater is too hot?

russ1436

We just use an electric blanket. Simple and works great.

LuckyJ

We did used a small ceramic space heater last christmas, it was about -20c so around -4 F but we mostly use 2 down comforter for cold weather. But the blankets get really cold no matter what near the side walls and the foot wall, since no heat reach this area. So I would assume that a matress electric pad would take better care of that.

And yep, I suggest that you do not touch the galley wall with your feet while sleeping, cause you will wake up! Lol

Brent

Propex