Installed a Furnace (Pictures Added)

[astrotrailer]

I hope to have pictures by tomorrow but I was able to rough in a fire up my Atwood 8012II furnace today.
My trailer is only 5x8 so I had to get creative on where to mount it. It is about 24 inches long with the
exhaust vent through a wall so I didn't want it sticking out so far inside the trailer. I thought about mounting
it so the exhaust vent goes out the front wall but decided that would invite too much junk to be blown into
the vent. I looked the furnace over and noticed that the return air is on the side towards the back.
I decided that I will mount it sidewise so the exhaust is on the drivers side of the trailer and the unit fits
on a shelf about 13 inches wide 12.5 inches below my desk on the front wall.

It was about 40 degrees out today I and ran the furnace long enough to warm it up to 70 inside.
The unit used about 1.95 amps when it was on. This is pretty close to the 1.8 amp specifications.
I have a well insulated trailer so I don't think the furnace will need be on that much. Most of the
time 50 - 60 degrees is plenty warm for thawing out after observing stars outside in the 20 degree air.
I am taking my wife to Death Valley for 4-5 days in January so I think she will be happy to have a
furnace. I got the unit for about $350 shipped from AmericanRVcompany.com.

Jeff

[mdvaden]

Please do post the pics when done.

Right now I'm using one of the small Mr. Heaters which has been sufficient. But I recall the reliability of the furnace in our last travel trailer as well.

I'm supposing that you added a thermostat too. Probably one of the more practical advantages of the furnaces.

[Arne]

be sure and put a carbon monoxide detector in your t/d...

[astrotrailer]

Here are the pictures of the Furnace install. I am finished except for permanently routing the propane line.
I am waiting on my propane tank bracket to mount on the front of the trailer.

Here is the Atwood 8012II furnace as shipped. It is long and it was hard to come up with a normal way to
mount it in my 8x5 cargo trailer.



Here is the furnace sitting on a 13 inch shelf that I added under my desk. The outside vent is seen to the
upper left. Added a 5 inch 90 degree elbow to the warm air vent on the right. The cold air return is on
the left.



Here is the front cover ready for the air vent covers. I used aluminum duct tape to finish off the warm air elbow.



Here is the finish front view. I used a couple of plain cold air returns for vent covers.
The thermostat is the white device mounted to the edge of a shelf below my desk light.



Here is the outside vent for the combustion air source and exhaust. I built a rain gutter out of aluminum
angle stock. I used the same type of gutters above my window and door. Its low profile and works well.
The curved corner forced me to mount the furnace a bit away from the front wall to give the vent a
flat surface.



I do plan to install smoke and CO detectors.

I cranked the furnace on for a while to burn off the manufacturing smell.
I go the trailer up to 80 last night when it was about 30 outside. It now
longer gives off any order after the long burn in.

Jeff

[mdvaden]

I've never looked at prices for these before. I saw one of the same brand at one site, new, for $369.

Atwood 8520 IV 20000 btu Furnace Heater

20,000 BTU

No idea if that's too big or small for cargo trailers. Just looking - not ready to buy.

http://www.adventurerv.net/atwood-mobile-products-m-17.html?gclid=CNTmmqqbt54CFSZdagodrUrblw

I noticed your model there too:

http://www.adventurerv.net/atwood-everest-star-8012-furnace-12000-btus-p-8605.html

So ... if these are 12 volts, then the power has to be changed from AC right? What do those gadgets run for cost? Other than that, seem like the thermostat is the other main need, and looks pretty affordable

Your unit was also on sale for $99 here, so the front page said. The enlarge page was higher, but the main page said ninety nine bucks.

http://www.thefind.com/appliances/info-rv-grill

[astrotrailer]

The Atwood 8012II is designed to run at 12 volts using about 1.8 amps
which is the lowest of the real RV furnaces out there. I measured about
1.95 amps/hour. The other units have a higher btu rating that I didn't need
and use more amps to be able to push warm air through longer ducted vent runs.
This furnace is mainly for people who are dry camping away from 110
electrical. If you are at a campground with 110 just plug in a small
space heater. Almost all my camping is in rural Nevada on two tracks roads
away from everyone since I don't do astronomy near other peoples lights.

I have a 130 amp-hour 12 volt battery kept charged by a solar panel
so it gets recharged everyday that the sun shines. The unit uses
12000 btu of propane per hour of running time and creates 9100 btu
of useable inside heat. My trailer is about 5x8x5.5 feet and I calculated
my btu heating needs at about 600-1200 btu. I figure that the furnace is
on about 10-15% of the time to maintain heat when its about 25 degrees
outside. This means that the unit is really using less than .3 amps/hour. A
bottle of 4.5 gallons of propane would be enough to keep the unit running
continuously for about 38 hours or a couple of weeks at a 10-15% duty
cycle.

If you plan to use install this furnace you should install a reasonable sized
deep cycle battery and have a way to recharge it before you use up 50%
of the capacity of the battery. This would mean keeping your trips short
enough, or using the tow vehicle, solar or generator as a method to recharge
the battery.

Jeff

[mdvaden]

So that unit is all you need and then some.

It sure is compact for what it provides.

It was fun browsing a couple of sites last night looking at the heaters and other accessories.

[Geron]

Had an Atwood furnace in an Aliner I had. Thing was so loud I simply couldn't use it and sleep. Coulda been the installation rather than the furnace but check it out first. Maybe I had a bad one.

[astrotrailer]

It may have been the ducting. Mine is reasonably quite but I only have a short 5 inch elbow for ducting.
I don't actually intend to sleep with it on. I mostly want the heat to warm back up while doing astronomy
in the winter. It is also nice to have a warm place to get dressed. We have winter sleeping bags and I would
turn off the heat once I am in the bag. I choose the Atwood for the low amp draw since I don't do astronomy
camping anywhere near electrical or anything else. Camping neighbors usually means unwanted white lights.

Jeff

[BC Dave]

great idea; and it looks like a relatively easy install; I'm thinking of doing something similar;

was it easy to install?

Can you trun that unit any way?

what about heat clearences around the unit?

Cheers Dave

[astrotrailer]

There are 3 wires to the unit, +12 volt DC, Ground and Thermostat. The thermostat
has a +12 volt DC input and feeds the furnace. I ordered a 2 stage rv regulator and a hose
that goes from the regulator to the furnace. I have plywood on all sides of the unit with
about an inch of clearance from the sides and top to the unit. I put a 1x2 inch frame inside
the exterior wall to isolate the rigid foam insulation from the vent. I have a shelf brace
in the middle of the supporting shelf to help support the weight.

The unit is designed to blow warm air straight out the end. I added the 5 inch elbow to
allow me to fit it in a shallower space. The unit isn't designed to be ducted but if you keep
the duct size large enough and length short enough it isn't a problem.

I have about 6 hours into the project. I still need to finish the shelve that it rests on an
put in an access hatch on the side to get to access the furnace. I also need to mount
the propane mount on the front of the trailer. My pictures show how I made it fit.

Cutting the hole in the side of the trailer for the vent is always fun since you don't get a
second chance to get it right. Same as putting in door or window but smaller.

The warm air out off the duct is safer than any radiant type heater. The manual calls for
zero clearances on the sides as long as you use wood next to it. The exterior combustion air
and exhaust makes it safer than anything that burns your inside air.

Jeff

[BC Dave]

.... I got the unit for about $350 shipped from AmericanRVcompany.com.

Jeff

Thanks for the quick reply.

ok you got me intrested but the price I'm sseeing on there website is 425ish not 350 ish shipped how did you get that deal?

[astrotrailer]

$324.99 was the sale price at the time I ordered. I was watching the prices
over a 3 month period before I found a decent sale price. I new what
furnace I wanted and googled Atwood 8012 weekly until I got the best
price. I have seen it mostly in the $400 range.

Jeff

[ravencrofts]

Concerning the Atwood 8012 --our travel trailer is small inside like 8x5 as well how loud is the atwood 8012 for sleeping? do you know anywhere when you were researching to buy it where they had a video of it being turned on in a small space? would you be open to taking a small video of it operating inside your trailer and posting it? Thanks the Ravencrofts we are researching to buy one and no place will let us return it if we try it for noise level and find it too loud. my wife is a light sleeper . thanks again for any reply

[astrotrailer]

My iphone as a sound meter app. I measured 66 db at 1 foot from the warm air vent and
63 db 6 feet from the vent.

We use our down sleeping bags so we turn the furnace down to the 40's before
going to sleep to reduce the furnace run time. This keeps it warm enough to
limit condensation.

I often use ear plugs when backpacking to reduce the wind and stream noise.
I don't think the furnace is any louder than sleeping in the mountains near a
stream. When a bear is poking around my bear can I would rather just sleep
through it.

Jeff