Having recently installed a Camco Wave 3, purchased a dual remote thermometer to monitor the fridge, and having a frigid cold front come through while the camper is parked outside the house so I could do some work on it, the conditions were ripe to test a couple of different heating options. 1995 Northstar TS 1000, uninsulated initially. 1500 watt small cube ceramic electric heater with high/low and thermostat left overnight on high with thermostat set at about 3/4. Outside low temperature 18 degrees. Camper never dropped below 51 degrees. Turned off the electric heater and turned on the Camco Wave 3. Outside temperature 19 degrees. It could only heat the camper to 43 degrees. I installed Reflectrix around the inside of the canvas. 50 minutes later the outside temperature had dropped by one degree and the inside temperature had increased by one degree. I then turned off the Camco and turned the electric heater back on with thermostat set at maximum. One hour later it was 15 degrees outside and 51 degrees inside. Lesson: a 1500 watt electric heater has quite a bit more oomph than a Camco Wave 3 Catalytic heater. If you're going to camp in these kinds of temperatures a Camco 3 is probably going to be inadequate for most people's tastes. I've just turned on my Buddy Heater so it will be interesting to see how it performs compared to the Camco. I'd probably be happy with a heater that could maintain 55 degrees inside at 10 degrees outside or something like that.---edit Little Buddy heater: It was 23 outside and 19 inside when I started the Little Buddy (outside figure is suspect--sensor was in direct sunlight to probably more like 19 inside and outside) One hour later it was 46 degrees inside and 27 outside (again with the same suspicion on outside sensor accuracy. Phone says 14 degrees outside) So the Little Buddy heater is substantially more powerful than the Camco Wave 3.
Last edited: