Heated enclosed belly

[hboy1]

I'm shopping some toy haulers from Heartland. I have not owned this brand before. Over the weekend I had a sales rep (from another manufacturer) at the RV show tell me that the under belly is heated from the furnace.

I asked if we used electric space heaters and not the LP gas furnace, is there a fan that can run (without burning LP Gas) that can circulate air throughout the camper including the under belly. Or must the furnace be running to keep the basement areas heated from freezing. The sales rep said that can happen.

Our camper has a fan that will circulate the air through the a/c ducts, not the floor ducts. Is there really a fan on the furnace that can run w/o having the heater on that will circulate warm air to the tank areas?

Has anyone ever had a problem with freezing when camping above 0 degrees with the heated/enclosed underbelly?

Thank you.

 

[danemayer]

Hi hboy1,

Welcome to the Heartland Owners Forum. There's lots of great information here as we have a large number of owners on the forum sharing various experiences.

The furnace blower has to be running in order to push air into the underbelly. That only happens when the furnace is running, with burners lit. The only way I am aware of to use electric heat in conjunction with the furnace is the Cheap Heat device by Comfort Systems. It's an electric heater that can be added to the furnace to allow you a choice of running the furnace on electric or propane.

If you camp in temps down to 0 (F), you'll need to heat the underbelly to keep water running. You should probably also consider tank heating pads on all the holding tanks and heat tape on the fresh water line. If buying a Heartland trailer, look for the YETI option which includes heating pads and heat tape along with extra insulation. You should also consider getting dual pane windows.

 

[hboy1]

Thank you for your info!

 

[GOTTOYS]

My Big Country has a heated underbelly. It consists of a 1 1/2" tube coming off the furnace dumping heat into a poorly insulated holding tank area. I have experienced freezing of the fresh water tank hose at about 15 degrees. It took a couple days to thaw out. I don't think my trailer is much different than most others. They just aren't made to be used in real cold temperatures. For our trips down South in the middle of Winter, I now just carry 5 gallons of water to use for washing, coffee and dumping in the toilet for a flush. I only need to this for a couple days and we're in warmer climates. My concern isn't so much the tanks freezing but the water lines freezing. Then on the other hand, if the trailer is functioning well who is to say the utilities provided by the campground will be working? All of their plumbing is exposed also. Don

 

[JanAndBill]

Coldest we've been in was 13, not fun. You have to run the furnace to get heat in the underbelly. In addition I used a heat lamp in basement.

 

[Lynn1130]

We have been down to 10 F and with the propane heat going and no electric hookups I have found that the only thing that freezes are the low point drains and the fresh water drain. They are all below the underbelly cover and will freeze with the ice working up the drain hose to the T of the lines and stopping water from flowing anywhere in the trailer. If those are covered and insulated the chances are you can make it with just the propane furnace providing heat to the underbelly. I have a Big Buddy heater for the garage for those sleeping there and have ceramic heaters in the basement area that I use with the generator to help keep things warm when it gets too low. I know of no other factory built process to provide heat to the underbelly other than the heat coming from the furnace.

A search here might provide other details as there have been a number of threads about cold weather camping.