Electric heat instead of propane?

[thorson]

thinking about running a small electric heater and a generator for when i am sleeping in the new enclosed trailer I will be using as a wheelhouse and a buddy heater during the day if I need more heat. Anyone go this way instead of a built in propane heater?

[deadeye]

I havent heard of anyone doing that before but it would make sense. Its probably less efficient than the propane but it would be safer as far as fumes go.

[theicehooker]

I think that would be quite the heavy draw on the generator unless your thinking on bringing a noise maker on the ice(huge Generator)

[mnboy26]

I use a 1500 watt ceramic heater and a 2000 watt generator im my house. It stays nice and warm. on the really cold days i have the furnace lit and let that kick in if the electric cant keep up, but thats not often.

[thorson]

I need a generator (cpap machine for sleeping) and the money is not in the cards for a generator and a ventless heater. Planning on a nice little 2000 honda. How hard does the 1500 watt heater run your 2000 watt generator? How big is the house you are heating with it?

[Ed Carlson]

I think that is a very smart/safe option for the hours your asleep. The Honda 2000Ei is the critter for this job, and runs as quit as any generator made.

With the electric heater set to med or low the amp draw will be lower, so the generator should not run at peak potential.

[pjhaef]

I think the idea of electric heat is great. The Honda gens that I have used are very quite so I would not think that it would cause any trouble out on the ice.

If you are running a 1500 watt heater you will pull about 12 amps running on full. So you will be running the gen at @ 50% load when the heater is running at full which it wouldn’t once the house is warm. So the little fuel tank on the gen should last you through the night with power left over for the cpap.

[eyebjim]

When I used to race sleds we had a 30 foot insulated enclosed trailer that we set up with 2 baseboard electric heaters and then we also had a blue flame Menards wall mount gas heater of about 20,000 btu. We used a 4500 watt generator and the 3000 watts draw gave the generator a work out but worked well. The heat was not so well. With just the electric heaters it would be fine at warmer temps but at night it got pretty darn cold in there without the gas on. The trailer was huge though.

[heat checker]

we are thinkin about doing the same thing this winter and running either an electric oil heater or a fan one and gonna do some expirementing.

[broman]

One thing to think of is your neighbors on the ice. Generators running all night are annoying while you're trying to sleep.

[mnbuckhunter]

One thing to think of is your neighbors on the ice. Generators running all night are annoying while you're trying to sleep.

Annoying to you - but great white noise to me! ;-)

But yes - I agree, gotta think about the neighbors if you have them.

[JaySt.cloud]

Thorson,

Funny story when you mentioned the CPAP machine. I was fishing with a buddy who sleeps with one of these. Middle of the night I had to go outside for a sec and saw the generator running. In my half sleep half drunk mode I thought, "we don't need that thing running" and shut it off. As I walked back into the house, my buddy with his mask on now almost being suffocated wakes up in a panic wondering what the hell was going on. I think we laughed for 5 minutes after that. He still reminds me of it, and we get a good chuckle.

[cold one sd]

I'm going to start sleeping with my CPAP this winter since I'm tired of waking up during the night from holding my breath. I have a Honda 1000 which shouldn't keep anyone awake using econo throttle and I fish away from everyone anyway. If someone gets close to me I will tell them that I will be running a quiet generator. I see a lot of generators running on the ice anyway. I do have a friend that uses a battery and inverter for his CPAP while hunting and says it works ok for him.

[Surface Tension]

Thorson,

Funny story when you mentioned the CPAP machine. I was fishing with a buddy who sleeps with one of these. Middle of the night I had to go outside for a sec and saw the generator running. In my half sleep half drunk mode I thought, "we don't need that thing running" and shut it off. As I walked back into the house, my buddy with his mask on now almost being suffocated wakes up in a panic wondering what the hell was going on. I think we laughed for 5 minutes after that. He still reminds me of it, and we get a good chuckle.

LOL.

A deep cycle and inverter should be able to run a CPAP all weekend.

[thorson]

thanks for the input guys. One good thing for me is I am in southern iowa so I don't typically get the really cold stuff you get way up north. Hoping I can insulate the trailer so it doesn't take much to heat it at all.

[knoppers]

there are clean burning kerosene heaters also, but you do get the kerosene odor. I use a kerosene heater in my cabin, works great, 23,000 BTU's heats up quikly. I do have a electric radiator heater in the bedroom, that also works good, but takes much longer to get warm, much less BTU's.