Ceramic space heater and Electric blanket ?

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Sunsets67

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Jun 18, 2014
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Just wondering if any of you had use both and would it be cheaper on electricy rathen than your furnance?  We are looking into getting a new fifth wheel, I am sure they run good but I am trying to see what would be cheaper for cost.

How safe are they to use?


Thanks!

 
It's unusual to be charged for electricity unless full-timing in a campground, so operating costs of electric devices will be less than the propane furnace. Read zero.

Heaters are very safe if used properly. Keep them away from combustible material and don't overload the circuit. Just like home.
 
Forgot to mention, we will be living full time at one spot, as my husband still works, we want to down side from our home to a fifth wheel.
 
If you are paying a monthly or seasonal rate for a site, you may well be paying for electric usage. But an electric blanket is usually always cheaper than heating the entire RV. Or at least the blanket will enable you to keep the furnace at a lower temperature setting.
 
I look at the cost of propane in the area I will be staying in for the winter then make my choice to get out the space heater or use the furnace based on that and whether I will be charged extra for electric. One problem that pops up though is freezing pipes in the bay when the furnace is off the space heater does not heat the bay. I use a heated mattress pad so I can keep the thermostat turned down at night. I did get an electric fireplace for the living room last year I like the look.
 
Many electric blankets do not work on RV electricity because of the sine wave.  We replaced ours with an electric mattress pad that works much better.

ArdraF
 
We have an electric blanket and have never had any issues.  We also use an electric heater. The furnace makes two much noise and wakes me up during the night.
 
It's not the electric blanket but the control for it.  If the control is electronic, it most likely will fail on a MSW inverter.  A purely electro-mechanical control will usually work OK.
 
An addition to Ned's comment is that there are blankets now that use a transformer/converters to change the voltage to about 18 volts DC and those work well with the MSW inverters.  We have one and it works great.
 
I make my decision on how to heat (Ceramic or Furnace) based upon who is paying for it..  Normally, I do not pay for electricity (Included in site) so.....

If you are paying for it there is a formula.. Someone can tell it to you.

If you are not paying for shore power: Ceramic heater
IF you are paying for shore power: Compare Electric Blanket to Propane furnace
NOTE that furnace may also heat water system to prevent freezing.

IF you are BOONDOCKING... things get complex. because you have to figure out the cost of the Generator for recharging the batteries to heat that blanket.

Also as Jim and Ned noted.. Many electric blankets have been totaled by MSW inverters..

Regarding inverters in general:  There used to be a rather long document on Xantrex's web site "Things that might not work properly on MSW inverter power" or some such title.. INcluded Electric Blankets, LED night lights and a lot more stuff, All manner of audio/video/radio gear (Televisions for example) timers, digital anything....

No such list exists for True Sine Inverters.... because the only thing that wont work with them (Applies to MSW as well) is "Devices needing more watts than the inverter can produce"
 
Absolutely cheaper than furnace (wastes about 25% of the heat in the exhaust).  But be careful especially these chinese heaters today they are plastic junk and running them on hi setting often stinks of toxic spilloff into the air. I use a couple of oil heaters along with a small ceramic heater and also a quartz heater is really fantastic. Get different types.

Another option is a catalytic propane heater (you have to create a connection from it from your propane tubing system) but with type heater it's like running your oven and you HAVE to leave some of your windows cracked a bit which sort of defeats the purpose. But it makes for a great booster of heat for mornings or when it gets really cold.

I don't trust sleeping under an electrified blanket but hey that's just me. And they're pretty expensive. But you still have to keep your pipes from freezing (yes on the inside too).
 
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