Just wondering. Has anyone done a comparison of the electrical consumption of the roof AC heat strip vs a small electric space heater?? Which consumes the least amount of electricity?
I can heat my entire little house with the modern ceramic 1300 wat space heater.( I use solar gain also) It must draw about 12amps max doing quick math. I would think that the BTU transit loss from the strip will be a lot more loss = a lot more consumption for the same space thermal increase . .
You could simply run a amp meter on your gen and read at the heat strip and space heater. Or simply read at the gen output lines. Read the neg line if easier ..
My bet is on the space heater for a 6pack .
Plus, why subject yourself to the noisy A/C blower motor when small space heaters are practically silent?
All resistive heating elements are 100% efficient, along with any fan or motor inefficiency will show up as heat. Space heaters at floor level may provide the most comfort as it's hard to get heated air from the roof unit forced down to the floor level. Any fan that blows on the insulating boundary layer at the ceiling is less efficient. Sucking the hot air that floats to the ceiling and blowing it downwards is efficient. Any air flowing thru the very poorly insulated roof system is bad unless it's a heat pump ands it's above about 40. Short and sweet best solution would be a portable with a strong fan discharging downwards, hanging down about 4-6" to the intake. Expect to save upwards of $2 a day with setup. your electric rates may vary as I only pay a straight 7.54 cents per kwh
The ducted heat strips in our ceiling units work great and function on the thermostat well.
Plus they work at any temp. Did not like heat pumps as we are true all weather users and they cease to function as was posted below 40 and do little below 50 or so.
Just another backup system
The trouble with any 120 volt heater or ac heat strip is you are normally limited to 1500 watts. With resistance heat, that is just over 5000 btu's. Good in the 40's or 50's but any lower than that, furnace, aqua-hot, or heat pumps are necessary, unless you coach has some super insulation. My little 34 ft has a 35000 btu furnace and it does a good job, but the blower uses lots of power. I use a portable 10000 btu propane heater when dry camping if I do not want to use furnace or aquahot.
[I do shut it off when sleeping.]
Heat pumps are non op in cold weather
FWIW,
Those little ceramic heaters do a great job. I used them in Breckenridge several years back and they really took care of most of it. I had little ones in the basement and bigger ones inside. Yes had the propane furnace on primarily as a back up to them. The campground paid for the electricity whereas I paid for the propane. I also did not want to run out of propane as it was cold outside and I did not want to move or go through refilling. I did not use the overhead AC strips. They were on in the event they were needed (but set at a temperature to not activate unless the others failed). In really cold settings, I think it is good to have several backups for heat. I don't like being cold. Best of Travels.
My conclusions confirmed,everyone. Thanks!!
Dometic Ducted Heat Strip Kit - Air Conditioner Parts - Air Conditioners -... (http://www.dyersonline.com/dometic-ducted-heat-strip-kit.html)
Notice wattage.
I recommend electric floor heat. Works well all by itself down to 40 degrees or so, down to mid-30s if the humidity is low. I've been comfortable with the floor heat and one AC heat strip down to 20 degrees. Any colder than that and the furnace needs to run.
I miss the heat strips we had on our Dometics, no big deal, but nice dry heat. We also carry two liquid - filled radiators that work very nice overnight when the propane furnaces would keep us awake. ^.^d
Comparing heating with roof air and space heater to me is like this:
We can heat coach with roof air OR space heater.
We can ONLY cool coach with roof air.
Replacing a worn roof air is a lot more money than replacing a space heater.
So cost comparisons for us always favor space heaters.