Heat Strip Conversion Kit

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DearMissMermaid

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Dec 26, 2009
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on the move USA
I just recently became aware of the electric  heat strip upgrade kits for ceiling air conditioner units.

Has anyone installed this?

Have you used it?

Do you like it?

For me, it sounds like a dream come true. I am looking into it further, but did a search here and couldn't find a thing on it. I am just curious if anyone has one and what they have to say about using it.
 
Had heat strips in our last coach and used them to take the chill off first thing in the morning. Ours were installed by the manyfacturer, but installation looked quite straightforward.
 
Been several years back but yes I installed two in the overhead units. As Tom said they did help some. Be aware that they are the same as a small ceramic heater (1500 Watt) except that they are in the ac unit instead of on  the floor. They did distribute the warm air better as the ac has a much stronger blower.

If I remember right it was fairly easy to do. Just install the hearer coil and replace the thermostat.

I also installed a hot-rodd in the water heater to save propane.


 
Not much advantage over using a small portable heater, though. It is still limited to about 1500 watts  (5600 btus). The upside of the a/c heat strip is that the heater is out of the way and doesn't have to be stored when not in use. The downside is that you can't move the heat closer to where you need it and the heat starts out at ceiling level and pretty much stays there, rather than rising up from near floor level.
 
I bought a panel(?) heater at Lowes a while back..something like $60 ..and installed it on the back of the bench seat in the entrance way of the coach...no fan..just radiant heat and pulls about 4 amps...gets hot enough to be uncomfortable to the touch but seems safe enough..it's about 24"X24" and stands off of the surface about 1" ...takes a bit of the chill off that area..
I have had electric heater strips in the roof A/C units and agree the heat never seems to get to the floor.. and of course amps are amps... we only have 30 to play with..


I will probably move the electric panel heater to the bathroom as there are no heat vents there and install a vent-less wall heater in it's place.

George
 
The mica panels are radiant heaters - they warm nearby objects more-so than the air.

Be careful in a bathroom - the tight quarters make it easy to bump an arm or hand into the hot panel.
 
THANKS  for the info.

I think the heat strips would work well for me.  My 1500 watt ceramic heater is always in the way. I drive my RV on day trips and one less thing to put away or tie down means faster time to get on the road.  I end up using the fan  from the overhead AC unit to push the heated air around from the ceramic heater, so it seems silly (to me) not to have the heat coming straight from there to start with and eliminate the movable ceramic heater.

Not sure why folks are having trouble directing the overhead fan air or heat. My overhead AC unit has fins and whatchamacallits  that enable me to aim the blowing air where I want it.  Of course my RV is small without a cathedral ceiling.

As for floor heat and bathroom heat, I already have 2 of the tiny 200 watt heaters that do magic.  One is permanently attached in the bathroom to keep it toasty warm, the other little one I use to warm up cold feet or defrost the freezer.  It's so small, it's never in the way really and it fits in any cabinet or drawer quickly.

My current 1500 watt ceramic heater is compact, but doesn't fit in any of the drawers or cabinets except the outside basement or I can tie it to the table leg when I drive, but no matter where I put it, it's in the way and it has one more filter to clean...  so I am thinking this overhead heat strip would be perfect for my little old wheel estate.

I think any which way you look at it, there is NO one perfect heat system, but rather a combination of heat systems that make the coach overall comfy. I try to avoid extreme cold weather anyhow, but being an island girl, I do get cold real easily.

Most of my winter months are in sunny Florida with electric included so cost wise, electric heat is wonderful. I already installed the electric hot water option and that works fine. Wheeeeeee!
 
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