Furnace on/Slides in...okay?

[AMA2054]

Real new to RVing. I have a 2003 Mobile Suites that I keep in the mountains of NC on a permanent site. I stay in it frequently. I keep the furnace (Zone 1) set at 53 when I am away. This weekend I brought the slides in to keep the leaves and snow off of them. Is it okay that I run the furnace with the slides in? :?

[Stripit]

Many do when they run down the highway with the furnace on, I don't see it would be an issue.

[AMA2054]

Many do when they run down the highway with the furnace on, I don't see it would be an issue.

Thank you for the reply. Just curious, how long cold the furnace run on the batteries down the highway?

[billr]

Full day driving should be ok on a low setting as long as you have charged batts. One batt may do ok, two would be better for longer run. I have run ours for several days while on the road, hooked up to power at night for re-charge.

Easy to run it out of propane though if it gets real cold out. It sucks it up pretty good.

As Stacey said, no issue with slides in.

Bill

[porkchop]

My guess is that hooked up and driving down the road you would be limited by the amount of propane before the batteries, but that is just my guess. The furnace does not draw that much electricity and I think the alternator would keep up.
The one limiting factor to running furnace with the slides in is that the heat registers will be covered. Some heat will still get in and the basement will stay warm but you will probably be OK. I'd make sure the propane tanks were full because the effeciency will be poor due to no air circulation.

Bill

[AMA2054]

Very good information. Thank you all.

[wingnut60]

We have used the furnace set at the lowest temp (40d) when traveling in very cold areas--does just fine. Doesn't seem to use a lot of propane, and the trailer was livable when we stopped. Made one run a couple years ago for 8 hours at 7d and did just fine.
The truck alt should be able to keep up with fully charged batts and the furnace; if the batts are low, then you might have a problem.
Joe

[rjohnsonnm]

Your original question was about storing your MS during cold weather. I have been storing mine for 8 years now with the slides both in and out with the thermostat set on minimum (40 degrees). I also keep a 100 watt halogen light on in the basement (The kind that is sold at Lowe's & Home Depot for mechanics.) While I do drain the tanks and open all the water faucets, I have yet to "winterize" with antifreeze. I live at 5500 ft elevation in Albuquerque, NM and it occasionally gets down to 5 to 10 degrees at night. Sometimes the heater comes on but neither the living space nor the basement get below 38 degrees. (I have a thermometer that keeps track of lows and highs.) So far, no problems with the furnace airflow because the door side slide-out lifts up off the floor when it's in plus air goes to all of the other vents. By the way, I put a couple small (1/4") holes in the solid duct that runs through the basement to the front of the bedroom to allow a little airflow into the basement. I also open the sliding door in the basement where the water piping is and point the halogen light toward the piping. The flexible ductwork also adds heat to the basement, but only if the heater is on. So far, after eight years I have had zero problems (just talking about this topic, not other issues).