Heater for pass through?

[Houndbb]

I’d be more worried about causing a fire with a light bulb in a fixture sitting in the pass through. Unless you put it on a timer, the light bulb isn’t going to cycle on and off. Most socket devices you could easily find warn not to exceed 60w, and even then, if left on, the power cord and plug will get hot. We’ve had numerous ceramic heaters and none have had the outer shell, power cord, or plug heat up when in use. I like the device mentioned by @paphil, but it’s costly if this is the only use you have for it. We already had the remote temperature monitors, just had to fetch them out of our fridge and freezer-excellent purchase, BTW, many uses, and cheap, at $10-15!
N
what is this 100w incandescent bulb of which you speak????

[theburgerts]

I’d be more worried about causing a fire with a light bulb in a fixture sitting in the pass through. Unless you put it on a timer, the light bulb isn’t going to cycle on and off.

We were talking a little bit last night, and actually thought the same thing. While an interesting thought, the bulb setup doesn't cycle on/off. And we wouldn't want to then use another type of timer attached to it to do so. We found some small area ceramic heaters with the ability to set via a thermostat, and we think that will meet our needs.

Thanks so much to everyone for their input. We're new at the FTing, and have so much to learn. But with all the help we get here... we're like old pros! Sort of.

[BB&LAB]

I’d be more worried about causing a fire with a light bulb in a fixture sitting in the pass through. Unless you put it on a timer, the light bulb isn’t going to cycle on and off. Most socket devices you could easily find warn not to exceed 60w, and even then, if left on, the power cord and plug will get hot. We’ve had numerous ceramic heaters and none have had the outer shell, power cord, or plug heat up when in use. I like the device mentioned by @paphil, but it’s costly if this is the only use you have for it. We already had the remote temperature monitors, just had to fetch them out of our fridge and freezer-excellent purchase, BTW, many uses, and cheap, at $10-15!
N
what is this 100w incandescent bulb of which you speak????

Not necessarily since typical work lights have a cage around the bulb which would separate the bulb from making contact with another surface. I addition prudence dictates placing the work light so as not to come in contact with any flammable surfaces or surfaces that might melt from the heat and to this end typical work lights also have a hook to hang it.

[DaveMatthewsBand]

Good morning all. We are FTers, and this will be our first winter as such. We will be wintering in the Albuquerque area of New Mexico.

We've read much about preparing for winter living and I think we're going to be ok. We have our heated water hose, and we're prepared with an extra propane tank. But the biggest question is about heating the pass-thru, specifically by the water control system.

My thought is to buy a small ceramic heater, about 200 watts or so, placed near the control system, and set to keep above freezing. We did something similar during the winter for a hot water heater in a 2nd home we owned in the poconos, just to keep it from freezing and not wanting to drain for the winter months.

Are we on the right track? Any suggestions or thought is helpful.

Thanks!!!

Sent from LB's phone using Tapatalk

Just use a chicken coop heater.
This one is simple to use, has a built-in thermostat and it won't burn anything it touches, not even animals!
You can actually touch it and it feels hot but won't burn your hand so it won't burn anything else. Keeps the area around it at about 45F.
You can even mount it to the wall so it doesn't take up space.
Heck, technically you could mount it to the inside of the compartment door and run the wire up along the frame, or mount one to each compartment door, so you get heat from both sides with no cold areas in the compartment and since it is mounted to the door it swings up out of the way each time you open the door. Crazy idea but I don't see why it wouldn't work.
Here's a link to that heater:

https://amzn.to/2lN0Oxd

Or you could do what I did, was use a Thermocube combined with a tiny ceramic heater.
I have a short extension cord plugged into the outlet in the storage compartment and at the female end of that cord I have a Thermocube plugged in. Then I have a small ceramic heater plugged into the cube and leave the power for the heater turned on all the time. When the temp inside the compartment reaches 35F the thermocube allows power to the heater. When the cube senses an ambient temp of 45F it shuts off power to the heater. We try really hard not to camp in areas that will ever get this cold, but last year during our first winter after going full-time (in our first camper) when we were trying to get down south for the winter, we stopped off at a casino to rest for the night and since we were at about 6,000 feet it got a little nippy. Temps outside dropped to the single digits, but because we had this setup, we never experienced any issues with the water lines behind the Nautilus.
Here's a link to the heater and cube:

https://amzn.to/2ni9Jan

https://amzn.to/2lJjePn

While you're at it, you also might want to invest in some wireless temperature sensors.
We have the display for this one on the fridge so we can glance at it and see the temps in both the pass-through and the front compartment where our batteries are.

https://amzn.to/2nhWx5j

[theburgerts]

Or you could do what I did, was use a Thermocube combined with a tiny ceramic heater.
I have a short extension cord plugged into the outlet in the storage compartment and at the female end of that cord I have a Thermocube plugged in. Then I have a small ceramic heater plugged into the cube and leave the power for the heater turned on all the time.

I am amazed at what exists out there! I really like this idea. Thanks!!!

[orbiker]

Just use a chicken coop heater.
This one is simple to use, has a built-in thermostat and it won't burn anything it touches, not even animals!
You can actually touch it and it feels hot but won't burn your hand so it won't burn anything else. Keeps the area around it at about 45F.
You can even mount it to the wall so it doesn't take up space.
Heck, technically you could mount it to the inside of the compartment door and run the wire up along the frame, or mount one to each compartment door, so you get heat from both sides with no cold areas in the compartment and since it is mounted to the door it swings up out of the way each time you open the door. Crazy idea but I don't see why it wouldn't work.
Here's a link to that heater:

https://amzn.to/2lN0Oxd

Or you could do what I did, was use a Thermocube combined with a tiny ceramic heater.
I have a short extension cord plugged into the outlet in the storage compartment and at the female end of that cord I have a Thermocube plugged in. Then I have a small ceramic heater plugged into the cube and leave the power for the heater turned on all the time. When the temp inside the compartment reaches 35F the thermocube allows power to the heater. When the cube senses an ambient temp of 45F it shuts off power to the heater. We try really hard not to camp in areas that will ever get this cold, but last year during our first winter after going full-time (in our first camper) when we were trying to get down south for the winter, we stopped off at a casino to rest for the night and since we were at about 6,000 feet it got a little nippy. Temps outside dropped to the single digits, but because we had this setup, we never experienced any issues with the water lines behind the Nautilus.
Here's a link to the heater and cube:

https://amzn.to/2ni9Jan

https://amzn.to/2lJjePn

While you're at it, you also might want to invest in some wireless temperature sensors.
We have the display for this one on the fridge so we can glance at it and see the temps in both the pass-through and the front compartment where our batteries are.

https://amzn.to/2nhWx5j

Ed
Do you have this Lasko 106 My Heat Personal Ceramic Heater? Does it have a quiet fan with maybe 100 cfm?

I'm looking for a new small ceramic heater.

In our Momentum; we had an oil filled heater in the basement area. I set it for around 65 when we were camping in cooler weather. It kept the basement warm plus the floor in the bedroom and bathroom. The Solitude has plumbing in the front storage and bathroom plumbing in the rear storage. I think a fan heater behind the storage wall would heat the front and push some to the back (the back is higher and heat rises).
I like to barely suspend whatever heater to avoid a tip-over. KEN

[DaveMatthewsBand]

Ed
Do you have this Lasko 106 My Heat Personal Ceramic Heater? Does it have a quiet fan with maybe 100 cfm?

I'm looking for a new small ceramic heater.

In our Momentum; we had an oil filled heater in the basement area. I set it for around 65 when we were camping in cooler weather. It kept the basement warm plus the floor in the bedroom and bathroom. The Solitude has plumbing in the front storage and bathroom plumbing in the rear storage. I think a fan heater behind the storage wall would heat the front and push some to the back (the back is higher and heat rises).
I like to barely suspend whatever heater to avoid a tip-over. KEN

Amazon doesn't offer the exact model I use but it is virtually identical to the one I linked. I don't use this setup when traveling so having a tipover switch isn't something I've considered but these little portable units normally have a couple screw holes for mounting them so I'm sure you could find a way to do that.

I bought a 200-watt unit because I wanted something with very little current draw since I would be using it while dry camping and didn't want to run my batteries down.
Since you would be heating a much larger area and you'll more than likely have electrical hookups (not dry camping) you could go with a higher output unit, like the Amazon basics model which is 500-watts. Like this one: https://amzn.to/2mWVckh

I doubt these little fans would move much air in an open air setting like an office, as they claim, but in the confined space of an RV storage compartment they do pretty well. If we are in a campground and it is going to drop below freezing overnight I just skip using the thermocube and leave the little heater on all night. I got up one morning that had dropped below freezing and went to the fridge to check the temps for the compartments and they never got below 49. Then I forgot to go turn it off and the compartment reached a high of 80 degrees, while the outside temp was 59, which I thought was impressive. But again, my tiny Reflection has a much smaller compartment than your Solitude, plus I had the compartment about 3/4 full of gear. The heater was positioned right behind the Nautilus system and my wireless sensor hangs on the wall next to the door on the other end, so the heat apparently circulates pretty well.
The display records the highest, lowest and current temps with each wireless sensor.

[Ra&Ta350]

We’ve wintered over for three years using only the furnace and electric “fireplace”. 5*f has been our low. No problems knock on wood. I’d send a photo but can’t figure out how to attach.

[DaveMatthewsBand]

We’ve wintered over for three years using only the furnace and electric “fireplace”. 5*f has been our low.
No problems knock on wood. I’d send a photo but can’t figure out how to attach.

It looks like you are not a site sponsor (paying $12/year) so I don't think you are able to
attach photos or even view photos that site sponsors attach to their posts.
As a test, can you see the photo I've attached below?

[suitcaseisfull]

Here’s the small heater I put in. Has the over heat and anti-tip. Plus. It aims upwards slightly so you can put it at one end and will blow up towards the other. https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B07FF...b_b_asin_image

I would also recommend getting some foam board for the plastic trays that are in the openings to the pass through. It’s thin plastic and will rob heat. And, it helps block off mice from getting in.