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how to install a furnace in an enclosed trailer

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turbolover

Enduring the heat till Braap Season
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Pictures? Throw up some pics to help understand what you are trying to do.

Are you putting the heater on the floor in the front of the V? And the jack is interfering or what?

Why don't you mount it to the ceiling or on one of the side walls?
 
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sledjunky3

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Dec 4, 2007
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Beautiful B.C.
Sorry my last post was confusing. I am looking for a spot to mount the propane tank outside. Was going to put the tank on the tongue by having another jack welded to the side of the tongue. i have a cargomate trailer with a top wind jack. there is not enough room between the jackshaft and the start of the v.
 

skibreeze

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I have a smaller 4 place with a low ceiling so space is a premium. I decided to mount my furnace in the floor.

Made a steel frame to hold it, plywood and foam insulated before dropping in the furnace.

IMG-20110106-00005.jpg


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The 2 vents that touch are the return, the other is output and there is another farther forward for output also. I just have to make sure that when working on the sleds to make sure that the sled is not near the vents, dropping something would be a pita.
IMG-20110110-00013.jpg
 

turbolover

Enduring the heat till Braap Season
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Sorry my last post was confusing. I am looking for a spot to mount the propane tank outside. Was going to put the tank on the tongue by having another jack welded to the side of the tongue. i have a cargomate trailer with a top wind jack. there is not enough room between the jackshaft and the start of the v.

Is your trailer an over the wheel model?
I have an under trailer frame mounted tank that I bought for mine and it hangs too low for mine. You could mount that under the side and not worry about moving the jack.
 
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sledjunky3

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Dec 4, 2007
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Beautiful B.C.
The trailer has wheel wells and rides lower... For those guys who have mounted their furnace inside on the flat, and used a 90 degree bend in a pipe to vent it outside, what did you use for the vent pipe?
 
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sledjunky3

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Dec 4, 2007
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Beautiful B.C.
well i have to say operation "trailer furnace" was a complete success! i have a mount made for the bottle to sit upright infront of the "V" moved the topwind jack back to the side of the tongue where the door does not fold down, and mounted the furnace on a custom built rack inside. All in all it cost me about $800 - $1000, but will be worth it when i turn it on for the first time! thanks for all the tips everyone has posted, it definately helped my install!!
 

turbolover

Enduring the heat till Braap Season
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useless without pictures!!!

Great glad we could help another sledder out.
Post up some pictures let the rest of us see how it turned out.

For your question on the exhaust outlet. I used some prebent tubing that I got from SLP. Just cut it to the bend I needed and welded the straight onto it for the right length.
 

Keith517

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Nov 26, 2007
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Here's how I mounted my heater and bottles in my trailer. I then have a cover that goes over the bottles and also have 2 2" vents in the floor.

What type of heater is that and how do you like it?
 

Sage Crusher

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I have a 25,000 b tu heater in my Mirge Trailer- it doesn't heat the 28' enclosed very well at all- is there a way I could increase/replace the wall heater with a higher BTU rating- and what is the best to go with?
I see some heaters that are 25,000 btu output with 30,000 input.
I am really confused on waht to replace it with.
I have frame mounted horizional LP tank- and 12 DC (2) 6 volt batteries to run the power.. This is a factory installed unit from Mirage when I ordered the trailer- but the heat output is less than desirable, and Mirage wants a arm and a leg to upgrade it.
When I ordered the the trailer in 2006- 25,000 was the largest avaiable from Mirage..

Thanks for any help[\
S\C
 

gunnerthesnowman

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Forced air heater

This is my set up in my 38 foot haulmark , the walls and roof are insulated , the floor is sprayed line X on top with 4-6" spray foam on the underside . The furnace is 45000 btu , one outlet tubed in for boot dryer mounted on wall , you can park 4 snow covered sled in there , hang your gear up and set furnace to 70-75 , and the floor is dry in the morning , the 40lb under floor propane tank will last 4 days/nights with outside temp. at -15.
 
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Mister907

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Dec 7, 2008
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ANCHORAGE ALASKA
This is my toybox about an hour after I picked it up
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OK so I got my furnace installed.
It is an Atwood 8940 ACLC (110 AC 40,000 BTU)

I bought the heater off of EBAY. (didn't realize it was an AC model until after I bought it.) I've got an inverter so I can run it off of the generator or battery power.

IMAG0010.jpg


I mounted it on some brackets inside mounted directly to the wall struts.

I just used a 2 1/2 hole saw and cut a hole through the sidewall. I used some prebent tubing to kick the exhaust sideways and vent it through the sidewall.

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I had to get some starter flanges from STATE TRAILERS (local rv parts store, its awesome ALMOST as good as goin to a sled store) to hook up to the furnace box. It was setup for a floor duct. I made a closeoff plate and ducted it out through the sides of the case in the holes already made there. Just had to remove the round close off plates. You can see the aluminum close off plate on the left side and the starter flanges here.

IMAG0015.jpg


I used some reducers (4" to 3") and some furnace duct 90* elbows I got at Lowes. Then I got some Plastic pipe (3") and hung it up with the white plastic carpenters strap. I used self tapping screws to hold all of the joints. (Not sure but have heard of the heat softening glue and having problems with the glued joints coming apart, so they are all screwed together)
I vented everything down to the floor and used 90* elbows to turn it and direct it across the floor. I also mounted my thermostat over by the door, that way I can reach in and turn it on without having to crawl over things to get to it. (Not too close don't want it to get a blast of cold air every time I open the door.)

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I still have to make and mount some cabinets in the front. I plan on having a small tank that I can use for weekend sled trips and being able to drop the propane hose outside to be able to hookup to a big bottle for longer camping trips in the summer.
Its still a work in progress but WOW heat is nice. 40,000 BTUs will heat it up to 65* in a few minutes then it just cycles for a few minutes to keep things nice and toasty. I have a plug on the house I can keep the trailer plugged into but have a little 800W generator that will run the lights and heater. (already tried it out) I also have a bigger generator to run a fridge and everything else in the summer.

I'm open to suggestions on things if you can see where I need to improve something. So whada ya think guys?


i think i would box those pipes out so they dont get hit and jarr the heater unit too badly. easily done with some 2x2's screwed to the wall and ply wood, or if i had the $$$, diamond plate panels. you could cut some holes in the bottom of the boxes for the heat to get out and install some grilles that open and close to heat separate parts of the trailer if needed. nice job.
 
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sledjunky3

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Dec 4, 2007
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Beautiful B.C.
"Her"?

Are you using anything other than the single 12V battery in the front of the trailer to power the stereo, furnace and lights?

only one deep cycle for now... will see how she goes. i only use the stuff in the trailer when i am gearing up and at the end of the ride, when i can turn on my truck to charge it while everything is i use. If it drains it i will throw in two 6 volt golf cart batteries.
 
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brian_moreau7

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Nov 9, 2008
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What size of Power Convertor is everyone using on there Furnace Installs? I Plan on mounting my Suburban 34,000 BTU Furnace in my trailer soon, And am Curious what everyone is using for Convertors?

45 AMP?

55 AMP?

75 AMP?

100 AMP?
 

jsledder

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You can't honestly be implying that you have a 2006 model Mirage trailer that is still road worthy?? I thought they all fall apart and are nothing but junk...?? (sarcasm alert) Just bought one so I hope that's not the case.

Is that a forced air RV furnace or one of those blue flame wall mount heater things? I would say an RV forced air such as the Atwood 30-35k btu would be the ticket, I'm working on installing a 40k in my 6 seater as we speak.
 
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