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Mr Heater Vs Olympian Wave: 21' Sunrader


Hoonah

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I have a 21' Sunrader, 1991, bathroom in the back. The furnace conked out about a month ago. I am not planning on fixing the furnace until spring so need something to tie me over, then supplement the furnace when I get it working again:

  • Mr Heater vs Olympian Wave. Which one is safer? I have 3 dogs and will plumb the heater into the LP then would like to place it in the bathroom doorway? It seems the Mr Heater is ginormous and I am not exactly sure where I would put it where the dogs' tails wouldn't catch on fire, also I don't want to do the Buddy mod. I am leaning towards the Wave, but don't know what size to get. Obviously I would prefer to get the Wave 3, small and less expensive - but if it doesn't heat the space it isn't worth it. Any ideas? Does anyone use either of these at elevation? I did a lot of research and, basically, don't want to drop the large pile of money on the Wave, but on the same note I want something that works, is safe with dogs, and isn't going to take up half of the living space.
  • Does anyone know - the furnace was making an awful screeching noise. Is that the bearings or the fan off balance?
  • Do folks use their furnaces when not hooked up to power? It seems the furnace fan really drains the battery.

Thank You!

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which Mr Heater unit do you mean? we have both the fit-on-top of 20-lb-bottle model and the Buddy. former is a dangerous nightmare, waiting to brand passers-by or start a fire. buddy is great....safe, fuel efficient, convenient, but designed for disposable cylinders and we've never tried it with the adapter to big cylinders. it might not be up to heating the space you're talking. have you looked at the "Big buddy"?

screeching noise is usually dry bearings, esp if it goes away after a bit. fan imbalance will show up more as vibration, and is not likely your issue: fans don't imbalance themselves unless something gets in there, like a dead rat (had this happen with my Taco....felt like dash was going to shake itself apart.)

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I have a 21' Sunrader, 1991, bathroom in the back. The furnace conked out about a month ago.

  • Mr Heater vs Olympian Wave. Which one is safer?
  • Does anyone know - the furnace was making an awful screeching noise. Is that the bearings or the fan off balance?
  • Do folks use their furnaces when not hooked up to power? It seems the furnace fan really drains the battery.

Thank You!

My choice would be to fix the OEM furnace. Much safer with kids or dogs around in the confined space of an RV. But yeah, that's not what you asked.

As to using the OEM furnace off of battery power? That is the only way I've used mine and never had a low battery issue. Draws around 6 amps when on and how often is that? Maybe 1/4 the time in cold weather? If so, 12 hours of heating uses, on average, 1.5 amps per hour. A typical "house battery" can power that for four days with no recharge. The screeching sound is likely from dried out "Oilite" bushings in the blower motor.

I just took an Olympic Wave 8 out of my RV (it was in it when I got it). Certainly does not heat near as well as the OEM furnace. I cannot imagine trying to heat my RV with a smaller one IF in real cold weather. When I camped with weather in the high 20s - my Suburban NT16 furnace with 12,000 BTUs of heat was perfect. The Olympic Wave 8 makes around 8000 BTUs.

If I had to pick a portable LP heater -my choice would be the Mr.Heater Big Buddy. Cheaper then the Olympic, better parts availability, a lot more heat, and less venting required. One down-side it this. Mr.Buddy needs some extra parts to hook it up to your main propane tank that has a regulator on it. The Olympic does not.

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I have a Olympian Wave 6 here you can have for $25 if you want it. It lights up (pilot) but won't "take off." I think it needs a $15 thermocouple but cannot swear to that. The company does not sell parts and that is one thing I really do not like about them. The thermocouple is available aftermarket. But everything else is expensive and from them only. They regard the heater as a "sealed unit" and insist all repairs are done by them by sending the heater to their factory. I know of several that failed from bad catalyst pads and it was over $150 to repair. They are known for that. I've yet to hear of a Mr.Heater doing that, but if it did - they sell parts. By the way - ever looked at a Procom? Big but very reliable.

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You've gt to be realistic and not expect 3000Btuh to heat as well as 16000Btuh. :)

To be fair - a 16,000 BTU heater makes 12,000 BTUs of heat. An Olympian 8 heater makes just a little under 8000 BTUs of heat. That's as close as they get I think. The OEM furnace is 75-80% efficient, and the Olympian is 96% efficient according to the numbers - but. The OEM furnace does NOT require a window or vent open. The Olympian requires at least 24 square inches of cold air coming in and that not something I want when trying to stay warm. Considering the need for an open window or vent - I doubt in real use that the Olympian is any more efficient then the OEM furnace. Oddly the large Mr.Heater "Big Buddy" that makes 18,000 BTUs of heat only requires 18 square inches of open window or vent.

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I have a Olympian Wave 6 here you can have for $25 if you want it. It lights up (pilot) but won't "take off." I think it needs a $15 thermocouple but cannot swear to that.

Forget the $25. If you want it - you can have it for free as long as you pay the postage. It lights up fine when you hold the pilot button in. As soon as you release it - it shuts off. My guess is a $15 thermocouple. Worst-case - a $150 repair by sending it to the Olympian Heater crooks at the factory. From what I've been told - their standard repair is to just install an entire new catalyst pad and charge $150.

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