Heating cargo trailer and O2

[Tremain4414]

Yeah I’d have to go check, not discounting anyone else’s experiences and definitely don’t have anything against buddy heaters, just sharing my experience which was more than a little unsettling

 

[Geewhiz]

Been looking at brackets and such.

Now I'm thinking maybe mount the heater up higher.
And run the tubing down thru the floor.

Seams like a good solution, although I'm not sure if a long exhaust would cause back pressure issues? I can't say I completely understand how the little buggers work. Also they do make some pretty slick through the wall type exhaust vents if you decide to go that route. Basically how I look at it you have 2 options, run an exhaust outside through the trailer somewhere, or leave a window or ceiling vent open.

@Mike Islander anywhere there is combustion there is CO produced as a biproduct. How much CO is produced and how much it takes to reach a toxic level I dont know, but if you are using a non vented heater in an enclosed area please at the very least get a reliable CO detector.

 

[GoatPackr]

Pellet Stove | Bravo! Canvas Wall Tents

Using Wood Pellets as a low carbon alternative fuel just makes sense when compared to the price and efficiency of propane. Our new Lil’ Timber Pellet Stove produces twice the heat at half the cost.

www.bravotents.com

I've been looking at these. They heat very well and it's dry heat unlike propane.
I think you can get them as a 40k btu size as well as a stove/oven setup.
Most trailer have a pop up roof vent you should be able to run the chimney through. If not they are pretty easy to install or have something put in.

Kris

 

[rayporter]

love my diesel heater but mine will kill a battery in a few hours. so i have to run a genny.

how may hours are you guys getting out of your diesel?

 

[Geewhiz]

love my diesel heater but mine will kill a battery in a few hours. so i have to run a genny.

how may hours are you guys getting out of your diesel?

I’ve got a 10 liter fuel tank and 2 deep cycle batteries. If you put it on thermostat mode obviously it will cycle and with every cycle the glow plug runs which draws a lot from your batteries. That will kill them much faster than just putting it on a setting and just leaving it so it doesn’t keep cycling the glow plugs. If I have it on low I think it would run for 3 or 4 days before it ran out of fuel. If I put it on high it will run for like 15-18 hours. But the limiting factor is fuel not batteries.

The way I’ve got mine hooked up is I wired my cargo trailer to plug into a generator that is obviously outside. So I’ve got outlets and a led shop light inside. Then I plugged a trickle charger/battery maintainer thing into an outlet and hook it up to the batteries. When I get back to the trailer after dark I start the generator so I can use the lights and charge a device or 2 and at that time the batteries get a bit of charge just to top them off. I just let the generator run until it runs out of fuel sometime during the night and that way the batteries always stay topped off. Mine is surprisingly efficient with the fuel usage and I use red dye which is a bit less money.

Also unless it’s real cold like 0 there’s no need to run it above a low or med setting

 

[fmyth]

I'm really interested in the diesel heaters.
But I don't want to mount it to the floor.

Also interested in a nuway but again, don't want to take up floor space can't figure out how to mount.

I'd mount the diesel heater in a tongue box w a larger fuel tank and a 12v deep cycle battery. When you set up camp connect a flex tube to the heat output side and run that under the trailer and up through a hole in the floor. If its really cold you'll probably want to run a second flex tube to the cold air side of the heater and into the trailer. You could charge the battery with a solar panel mounted to the roof of the trailer or a simple stand alone panel propped up against the trailer.

 

[rclouse79]

I tried to google cases of people dying from sleeping with a Mr Buddy heater running in an enclosed space. My search was not exhaustive, but all I could find was one guy who fell asleep in his tent with a sunflower type heater running. He had disabled the built in safety mechanisms.
I watched another video where a guy brought an rv to a fire department. They sealed it up tight as a snare drum and left a buddy heater running with one of the full green canisters in it. When it ran out, a fireman went in with their fancy detectors and it registered zero for carbon monoxide and O2 was fine.
Even though I believe they are safe, I still run a CO detector and don’t sleep with it on. If you are road camping bring a nice mattress and a couple zero degree sleeping bags. Fire up the buddy ten minutes before you want to get up. I have found it is much easier to get my son out of his sleeping bag when it is nice and toasty.

 

[GotDraw?]

Pellet Stove | Bravo! Canvas Wall Tents

Using Wood Pellets as a low carbon alternative fuel just makes sense when compared to the price and efficiency of propane. Our new Lil’ Timber Pellet Stove produces twice the heat at half the cost.

www.bravotents.com

I've been looking at these. They heat very well and it's dry heat unlike propane.
I think you can get them as a 40k btu size as well as a stove/oven setup.
Most trailer have a pop up roof vent you should be able to run the chimney through. If not they are pretty easy to install or have something put in.

Kris

@GoatPackr

To say that pellet stove or wood stove heat is a "DRY heat unlike propane" is a misunderstanding of how the chemistry of combustion works. There is no such thing as DRY heat / WET heat for combustion.

Water is "H20" (two Hydrogen to one Oxygen), whenever you burn something (wood, propane, etc), you are burning a Carbon/Hydrogen chemical chain in an oxygen rich environment (air). So, when you burn something, the carbon molecules and hydrogen molecules in the carbon chain break off and combine with oxygen molecules in the air to create two primary byproducts:

• "H2O"--WATER, which is 2 hydogens + 1 oxygen molecule. This is formed as water vapor/humidity, which will condense on your trailer's ceiling and walls or floor.
• The other by product of combustion is DEADLY. The Carbon molecules from the carbon chain split off and combine with oxygen from the air to create "CO", which is CARBON MONOXIDE. This will kill you, silently as you're sleeping or even while you're awake.

You believe that a wood pellet stove is DRY heat and erroneously believes a propane Buddy heater is "WET" heat. The wood stove exhausts its burned gases and WATER vapor OUTSIDE via its vent/flue. If you run a Buddy heater inside your trailer, the exhaust + water are left INSIDE because the buddy heater does NOT have a vented exhaust to the outside. This means that all the water vapor from combustion AND the carbon monoxide are trapped in the trailer. TRY burning a woodstove/pellet stove inside the trailer w/o venting the exhaust, not only will the smoke stay in the trailer, but so will the the water vapor.

So-- If you use a diesel, propane or wood heater and vent the exhaust outside, then your trailer will stay hot AND dry.

JL

 

[SwiftShot]

A marine propane heater doesnt use batteries. There is also a wood burner on as well.

 

[rayporter]

i have a deer camp with a 10x12 garden building for a cabin. i cut a hole in the floor with a2.5in hole saw and saved the plug from the hole saw. hoses for the big buddy are run up through the hole. the hole provides air for combustion and there is a small vent in the apex of the ceiling.

the plug can be replaced if you screw a 3 in piece of thin metal to it and you will never notice the hole was in the floor with the plug in place.

we have camped in the cabin for 8 years now and ran the big buddy all night most nights.

i made the same system for a horse trailer [ 7x12] for a regular buddy. it has never set off a co monitor. the door leaks air and the hole in the floor for the hose provides air. i am a lot more careful with this heater.

 

[camelcluch]

Would something like this work. Doesn’t use much power and will heat a 10x10 room easy.

https://www.amazon.com/heater-Programmable-Adjustable-Thermostat-Display/dp/B07DCKFJLM/ref=asc_df_B07DCKFJLM/?tag=hyprod-20&linkCode=df0&hvadid=600021219725&hvpos=&hvnetw=g&hvrand=4750273077554599973&hvpone=&hvptwo=&hvqmt=&hvdev=m&hvdvcmdl=&hvlocint=&hvlocphy=9028739&hvtargid=pla-1598031172706&psc=1

 

[rayporter]

I’ve got a 10 liter fuel tank and 2 deep cycle batteries. If you put it on thermostat mode obviously it will cycle and with every cycle the glow plug runs which draws a lot from your batteries. That will kill them much faster than just putting it on a setting and just leaving it so it doesn’t keep cycling the glow plugs. If I have it on low I think it would run for 3 or 4 days before it ran out of fuel. If I put it on high it will run for like 15-18 hours. But the limiting factor is fuel not batteries.

The way I’ve got mine hooked up is I wired my cargo trailer to plug into a generator that is obviously outside. So I’ve got outlets and a led shop light inside. Then I plugged a trickle charger/battery maintainer thing into an outlet and hook it up to the batteries. When I get back to the trailer after dark I start the generator so I can use the lights and charge a device or 2 and at that time the batteries get a bit of charge just to top them off. I just let the generator run until it runs out of fuel sometime during the night and that way the batteries always stay topped off. Mine is surprisingly efficient with the fuel usage and I use red dye which is a bit less money.

Also unless it’s real cold like 0 there’s no need to run it above a low or med setting

i just got 2 new glass mat batts to try for this trailer. the heater [ espar] has a thermostat and does not have multiple settings. once it got below zero and the heater quit about 2 am so i started the truck and let it idle so the heater would run.

i like your idea of letting the genny run out of fuel. my genny holds 3 gal. and will run 24 hr. i have contemplated getting a small cheap predator and doing the same as you

 

[rayporter]

Would something like this work. Doesn’t use much power and will heat a 10x10 room easy.

https://www.amazon.com/heater-Programmable-Adjustable-Thermostat-Display/dp/B07DCKFJLM/ref=asc_df_B07DCKFJLM/?tag=hyprod-20&linkCode=df0&hvadid=600021219725&hvpos=&hvnetw=g&hvrand=4750273077554599973&hvpone=&hvptwo=&hvqmt=&hvdev=m&hvdvcmdl=&hvlocint=&hvlocphy=9028739&hvtargid=pla-1598031172706&psc=1

if you convert 350watts to heat equivalent [BTUs] that is about 23% of what a 1500 w 120v heater puts out. 1500w is 5100 BTUs of heat. so figure less than 1175 BTUs.
my diesel heater is equivalent to 2000 watts, they claim. so it is way over 6000 btus.
a big buddy is a lot more btus. 4000 btus on low and 18000 on high.

 

[GoatPackr]

I think rather than letting the generator run out of fuel it would be easier to just get one with a remote so you can shut it off and restart in the morning without going out in the cold and dealing with gas cans, snow and manually starting.

Kris

 

[Geewhiz]

I think rather than letting the generator run out of fuel it would be easier to just get one with a remote so you can shut it off and restart in the morning without going out in the cold and dealing with gas cans, snow and manually starting.

Kris

What do you think I'm rich? kidding

Mainly I leave it run so the battery continues to charge into the night, otherwise i would only get an hour or 2 of charge which isnt much with a low voltage battery tender. Starting a generator in the morning is the least of my worries if it means I get to sleep in a warm trailer all night.

 

[Beendare]

I just bought a cargo trailer and there is no way I would use a buddy heater inside it.

I am currently looking for a propane heater that vents to the outside.

 

[BCsteve]

View attachment 544727A marine propane heater doesnt use batteries. There is also a wood burner on as well.

I have one of those in my 6x12. It's airtight, draws fresh air from the outside and exhausts gas outside with the double wall chimney. Expensive but was worth the peace of mind when taking my girls hunting.

 

[BCsteve]

 

[BRTreedogs]

Does it require electricity?

 

[BCsteve]

Does it require electricity?

There is a small computer fan to blow the heat around. I have it wired to a deep cycle battery and a solar panel because I also use it for my interior and exterior lights but it's not required for the function of the heater.