Heat Pump/Heat Strip in Duotherm Penguin

[Blue~Go]

Probably depends on layout, but...

Putting it at the forward end of the aisle, facing aft, would be great. But I never do this because bedding can so easily fall into that space. Plus the forward chair (club chair layout) overhangs the base and gets hot.

So I usually put the electric heater on the floor in the stove or sink area. There is nothing there that can fall or drape over the heater, and I can simply aim it forward if I'm hanging out in the living area, or aim it aft if I want it warmer in the bathroom/hallway area; or of course it will heat the kitchen area.

I wired an outlet to the base of the stove cabinet because I hate wires draping up to the overhead outlets, but that's optional.

[Scott]

On the stove facing forward at a bit of an angle.
A lower position would give better convection, but stumbling to the head in the middle of the night, plus dog, I don't want it on the floor, even though it has a plunger switch for auto-shutoff if knocked over. Honestly, I've only used the space heater a handful of times.

[Skillet]

Stove top as well because I have 2 dogs that travel with me.

[pdemarest]

Thanks, guys. I have some remodels planned like putting in a deeper sink and pull-out faucet, replacing the carpet with some sort of laminate flooring, and doing something with the jackknife sofa to make it more comfortable. Most of these mods will be done by a contractor/cabinetmaker I've used for some home projects so I'll add putting in some 110 floor level outlets to his list so I can use it for a space heater. Our young German Shepard will be traveling with us in the future so the stove top is probably the safest location.

(Blu-Go - where did you tap into the 110 volt wiring to put in those outlets?)

[Colorider]

I use one of those small ceramic, fan driven heaters at 1500 watts when plugged in. I typically put it on the floor right in between the stove and the sink, aimed at the bed while sleeping. I figure this is the most open spot in the living area meaning that the heat source is the furthest from anything flammable. I don't think I've ever needed it during the waking hours so I don't know where it would go if we were moving around cooking or something. I also try to make a hot dinner using the stove (spaghetti) in the evening and boil water on the stove for coffee/tea/oatmeal in the morning. That does a good job at warming up the joint without officially using the stove as a supplementary heat source.

[caconcourse]

(Blu-Go - where did you tap into the 110 volt wiring to put in those outlets?)

Not Blue-Go here, but I installed a 110 volt outlet in the cabinet below the stove, for a built-in vacuum installation. I tapped into the exterior 110V outlets on the side, and continued the wiring from the outlets through a hole in the back of the under-stove cabinet. My vacuum is installed under the club seat, and the cord and outlets are behind the cabinet face, so they are not exposed. I can post details of the vacuum installation on another post if anyone is interested.

Clay

[Blue~Go]

There are a few options for running an outlet to under the stove. I'll lay out how the wiring runs so you can decide how you want to do it. Reason I say it that way is because you may make a different choice than I did. I used the microwave wire; the way Chinook wires, the microwave outlet is dedicated to ONLY the microwave so is fairly under-utilized (especially in my case). Hence I have a super robust circuit for a floor heater. If I (well, someone else) reinstalls a microwave then it will still work fine, but one wouldn't want to run both at once.

So anyway, here are the candidates:

1) The Outlets circuit.
I took this one off my list of choices. Reason is it's the smallest wire they used (14 gauge) and powers ALL the outlets, plus the refrigerator (when on AC) and the TV compartment (also an outlet). But if you wanted to use it that's fine, just be aware of what you are drawing from any of the other outlets (including the outside one) and the refrigerator. The closest it gets to under the stove is where it runs across the outside wall behind the refrigerator (just under the lower vent, above the generator box), and then to the outside outlet (after that it goes up the wall to the overhead cabinets).

2) The Air conditioner circuit.
This is a larger wire, at 12 gauge. I didn't consider this one because to me, the air-conditioner isn't something you want to have to shut off in order to power something else. Granted, if you are using the new outlet for a heater this may not matter, but it just didn't appeal to me (even though I have removed my air-conditioner - I wanted to keep the circuit "sacred"). If you do want to use it, the wire runs along with all the other AC wires along the outside wall, below the refrigerator vent and above the generator box, then up the wall behind the stove, and to a junction box that is behind the microwave (you can see it if you pull out the microwave). This isn't a junction box in the sense of one wire branching into two, but I think was used because they molded the roof part of the Air-Con wire in separately, then needed to join it to the part that travels around to the other side later, hence a junction box. Also I think they may have "pre-wired" this roof wire in Chinooks that did not come with Air-con, so if you wanted to add it later, the roof wire and junction box would still be there.

3) The Microwave circuit
This is another "larger" wire, at 12 gauge. It's sole purpose is to power the outlet that the Microwave plugs into. I decided to use this wire for another "dedicated" outlet near the base of the stove counter (so this wire now serves the one floor outlet, and the microwave outlet). I wanted an outlet near the floor, and to have it be one that wasn't on the already-used-for-darned-near-everything Outlets circuit. As it happens, I've also removed the microwave, but even if I were to put it back, I'd rather just keep track of one thing ("am I using the microwave?") rather than all of the other outlets, the refrigerator, the entertainment area, the outside outlet, etc. Ha, now I'm trying to remember where I put the junction box! Without taking drawers out to look, I think I put it in the cubby area that is aft of the wheel well under the stove. But I can't remember for sure at the moment. Oh, you know, now that I think about it, I probably made the stove outlet do double duty as a junction box. The main thing is just to do it in an electrically proper way, which means a junction box or outlet as junction box (no hidden splices in AC wire).

As mentioned above, all of the AC wires that go over to the passenger side, do so in a clump over the rear door (they are in two wire loom conduits, separate from the DC wires conduit). They stay "high" until they are in the very rear/passenger corner, at which point they come down the wall in the very corner of the closet, go forward and over the generator box (just below the fridge wall vent), and then head up the wall behind (outboard of) the stove area.

4) There are also AC wires that go to the generator and the shore power, but you wouldn't want to use those for probably obvious reasons.

This may be more than you want to know , but I always enjoy the "guts" photos posted by others. So in that spirit, here are some photos that show the basic layout (at least on my '99; but my guess is this didn't radically change on any Chinook with the same basic wiring layout (i.e. at least '97 and newer - but I've seen some photos of older 18+ models with some very similar wiring).

Okay, so here we start with the wiring that goes "across the great divide' - from the driver's side to the passenger side. Here are the three main looms as they pass over the rear door. The large upper one is the DC wiring (would be nice if it were not in such a single large bundle as that de-rates the wire quite a bit but oh well it seems to still work fine); the middle one is AC wire for the generator and microwave; and the lower one is AC wire for the outlets and Air-conditioner. This is accessible by removing the carpet "hump" over the rear door.

Next it continues on at the ceiling/wall junction until it gets to the rearmost/outboard corner in the closet. At that point the DC bundle splits, with some heading straight on across (where it can chafe on the refrigerator fins - something to check), and some splitting downward along the corner. The AC wires all go down in the corner (I think that one AC wire going across to the left is one I was in the process of adding for an outlet by my new hall counter). The thing in the baggie is the inside generator control that's in the closet front wall. So in other words everything on the right half of the photo is rear wall, and the left half is outside passenger wall. This is only accessible by removing the carpet "wall" of the outside of the closet (in my case, having navy carpeting, I was tired of the "black hole" and so will be putting back marine hull liner carpet that is more similar to the overhead carpeting in our rigs - it's such an irregular wall that carpet is more practical than something like wood).

This one is a little messy, as I was starting to "do things," but is the bottom of that same corner, looking down from above. As in the last photo, right half is rear wall, left half is passenger wall. The silver box is the generator surround, sans carpet. Again, this is behind the closet carpet/wall.

[Blue~Go]

Next we have moved along over the generator box to the forward end, and are now behind the stove outside wall (just ahead of where it joins the refrigerator outside wall). The AC wiring has now moved along over the generator box (leaving behind an outlet for the refrigerator to plug into on the outlets circuit), and is going to head up the wall, with the outlets circuit making a stop at the exterior outlet before continuing on.

You can ignore the piece of black "loom" on the left (in the stove area); I think that's the refrigerator drain that I have moved aside. You can also slightly see where the two propane lines come up through the floor (normally behind a false wall that's outboard of the oven). The bent one (used to) go to the fridge and the straight one goes up to the range.

Here is another similar view, but since they are both a bit roughish, I figured a slightly different one might be helpful. Now you can also ignore the red wire - that's the 8 gauge DC wire that powers the DC portion of the refrigerator (I have pulled it over to this position - normally it's above the rear/outboard generator box, where it connects to the refrigerator).

And here is a close up of the back (inside) of the outside outlet. The single black loom looking thing is the stock refrigerator drain tube. It goes out through the floor by the propane lines, IIRC.

[Blue~Go]

And lastly (if anyone is still here ), here is a shot of the top of the behind-stove-wall area. The wall is pulled out slightly to see behind. It looks like kind of a jumble, and is hard to make out, I realize.

There are the wires coming up from below. For reference, that "board" with the square cut out of it is the allowance for the rear (inside) of the "porch light" under the awning. Then when you get into the heart of things up top, there is the Air-con wire leading to its junction box behind the microwave, the microwave outlet feed wire, and the wire going to all the rest of the outlets.

You can also feast your eyes on the somewhat, shall we say "whimsical" application of the insulation foam. This is similarly inconsistent in every Chinook I have seen. Maybe it should be "Cool Autumn Day" foam and not "Arctic Foam." I plan to supplement with either some Thinsulate automotive insulation or some Armacell wherever practical. That said, I try to stay away from extreme hot and cold weather, and I don't expect a four season type RV. It works out okay for me as-is, but a little supplementation where reasonably easy to install won't be a bad thing.

[pdemarest]

These "guts" photos are very helpful - I've used some of them to guide the guys who installed my solar panels, although they were already somewhat familiar with Chinooks. The only problem with all of this is that it gets me going on more ideas for modifications!!