Heat strip on 2nd air conditioner

[joekath10]

We just purchased a 2009 (new) 3605rl Montana. We had a 2nd air conditioner added for the bedroom. I see from reading alot of postings that this was a good idea. We were advised to have the dealer add a Heat Strip to the 2nd air conditioner to take off the chill in the mornings. Any comments on this. Looking for pros or cons.

[Texas5er]

I added a 2nd AC in our 3075 and glad we did. I also had a heat strip added. By the time we were able to use the heat strip the coach was out of waranty. I don't think it was put in correctly because there is very little heat. Perhaps I need to have someone look at it, but I very seldom camp in cold weather. I use a ceramic electric heater when it gets too cold.
I would probably order another heat strip but would make sure it works correctly and puts out some heat.

[bobsals]

I added a heat strip to our primary AC for the same reason. What a mistake that was! The amount of heat it produced compared to the noise of the AC blower was not worth it. Used it once and never again. Got a decent ceramic heater and never looked back.

[bncinwv]

We had the heat strip installed on the previous second AC. It worked fine on chilly mornings, but is only good for a 5-10 degree warming effect. We opted not to have it on the new rig. We may have used it a total of about 4-5 times. The advice to spend the money on a ceramic disk heater or similar is very good advice.
Bingo

[emdavis]

we have heat strips in both ac units. I would not have then add again. We get more heat from the fireplace. hope this helps you

[joekath10]

Thank you for all your insights. We do know that the heat strips are only meant to cool 5-10 degrees and the amount of heat produced is relative to a 1500 watt hair dryer. We do not camp in the winter weather but do enjoy spring and fall so we thought with the fireplace and heat strip, we wouldn't have to use the furnace as much.

[azleflyer]

The second A/C is a good addition, however the heat strip is not worth the money in my opinion. Ceramic heaters are our choice.

[c214dick]

Ditto on our heat strip being a waste on our 2nd AC. We use our little heater w/o anywhere near the noise.

[sreigle]

I added the heat strip to our front AC. Our dealer told me not to expect much heat. It seems there is a lot of airflow with a small amount of heat, which means that airflow is just barely warm. It does seem to help a little on cold mornings if you don't walk into the airflow.

[billhoover]

quote:Originally posted by sreigle

I added the heat strip to our front AC. Our dealer told me not to expect much heat. It seems there is a lot of airflow with a small amount of heat, which means that airflow is just barely warm. It does seem to help a little on cold mornings if you don't walk into the airflow.

We did the same thing...it's good for the AM chill, but does not put out much heat.

[joekath10]

Thanks for all the opinions and input regarding the heat strip. We took delivery of our new 5th Wheel last week and tried the heat strip. It will be enough to take the chill out of the air in the bedroom and that is what we were looking for.

[sreigle]

I have to amend my earlier comments about the heat strip. Recently I broke the louver on one side of the ceiling unit. While we were having the rig serviced (wheel bearing repack, check brakes, etc) we had the dealer put in a new ceiling unit. He commented he found some insulation from somewhere up there was partially blocking the airflow past the heat strip.

Now, it puts out quite a bit more heat. I'd still like to have a very low fan setting to reduce volume so that heat coming out of the unit seemed warmer but at least now it really does feel warm. We even had to turn it down the other night as it was getting too warm upstairs.

I can now say I am pleased with the performance of the heat strip. This is in a 15k Coleman Polar Mach low profile unit but I'd think the heat strip performance in all brands is pretty similar.