Using a humidifier in trailer??

[DianeScraps]

We are currently doing our 2nd 'driveway' test of the trailer.

One of the things I noticed in our first (which was just one night) is that the forced air heat really bothered my eyes and sinuses. We have baseboard heat in the house, so this isn't something I've had to deal, other then hotels, in about 10 years.

So we pulled out a warm air humidifer and set it up on the range last night, while it seemed to help, and the kids noticed a difference, once we went to sleep in the 'main' bedroom, I noticed it didn't seem to help in there. My dad mentioned putting a humidifer in the bedroom on the floor, but there is so little floor space in there already, I am considering using the TV shelf (though we haven't used it for a TV, just for hitting our heads on when it is down).

Also we are worried about possible damage to the ceiling from condensation.

Has anyone made any modifications or accomodations to deal with the dryness of the air?

Thanks!

Diane

[Steve Collins]

Our experience has been that if you are running the furnace without opening a roof vent or two and cracking at least one window, the humidity from your breathing will build up in the trailer. If it's cool enough outside, that humidity will condense on walls, ceilings, and especially windows and the aluminum window frames.

In other words, most of us have the opposite problem in cooler weather. We increase ventilation to keep the humidity levels down and to prevent condensate. You will hear all kinds of stories about folks being woken in the middle of the night by a steady rainfall on their head because of condensate.

Before you spend any money on humidifiers, you may want to experiment with decreasing ventilation a bit and see if the humidity comes up to a more comfortable level. Adding a humidifier or two will put so much moisture into the air that you'll then want to increase ventilation even more.

You are right to worry about condensate working its way into ceilings and walls so over-humidifying is not the answer.

The hot air furnace, when working properly, can't add carbon monoxide to the air in the trailer. It simply warms the existing air in the trailer and circulates it via the ducts throughout the unit.

I am also wondering if there might not be some foreign material in the heater or heat ducts that is giving off something that you find irritating.

[Honda03842]

We don't like the gas heater.

In both our trailer and motorhome we prefer a small rather quiet electric heater. We typically don't run it at night because we use an electric blanket when sleeping.

We find the gas heater noisy and capable of sucking down propane at a high rate. The small electric heaters are very inexpensive.

[dkasten39828]

It usually doesn't get as cold down here as it does up in YOUR part of the country, but does get into the 20's and 30's frequently in the winter and we camp year-round here in the South. I have only cranked the furnace ONCE since we bought the 2499 last year and that was more of a test than anything... it got HOT FAST. We stick with our electric heater.

With temps in the mid-to-upper forties, we used a single ceramic space heater and kept the camper comfortable, especially for sleeping. Neither of us likes it too warm at night. I never even had the heater on it's highest setting. We had no condensation issues using the electric space heater. Besides, when camping, I'd rather use the electric we've already paid for than use up the LP we gotta buy.

I agree with Steve about the possibility of some dust and such in the heating vents. It might be a good idea to clean those out much like you would in a house.

I am convinced that we could do quite well at colder temps using only the spacce heater and will hopefully have an opportunity to TEST this theory in January 2010 when we visit High Falls S.P. in Georgia over the MLK weekend. If last year was any example, we'll get sub-freezing temps. This will be the first time we will have used the coach in that kind of weather.

[Honda03842]

In our little rig we have seen temps in the 20's overnight for a number of days without any problem simply using our electric heater. While we're sleeping we set it so it comes on if the inside temperature goes below 40 or so.

On the coldest nights it seems to come on around 5 AM. When I really wake up I turn the heater on Hi to bring the temperature up for breakfast.

Once we start cooking the temperature leaps up.

I wouldn't mind the gas heater if it wasn't so loud.

It does have the ability to quickly heat the rig, faster than an electric heater. If we return late on a cold evening, the heat always off when we're gone, we have turned on both the gas and the electric to quickly bring it quickly up to temperature.

As to humidity, in our small trailer, too much humidity is the problem. We usually get moisture on the windows when ever we're cooking. It just means it's hard to see outside some time. Part of our problem is we have a little space and the same amount of cooking as the bigger rigs.