Does anyone have a picture of the furnace in a 1981 Burro camper?

by Robert
(Maple Grove, MN USA)

I bought a Burro camper less any appliances. I'm trying to find out what kind of heater was in the Burro and if I could see a picture as to how it was set up. Thanks

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Does anyone have a picture of the furnace in a 1981 Burro camper?

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Jun 14, 2010
 Small Heaters in TT's
by: wil

Sorry, no photo - just a description. Mostly, these very small travel trailers (TT's) had a Hydro-star propane heater which also required a battery and a thermostat. Usually installed in the hanging locker (closet) with the vent through the side wall or under a rear-mounted banquette or bench. They worked fine, although they had the tendency to cause lots of condensation in an already condensation-challenged space. Usually in the 9,000 to 12,000 btu input range, they put out between 6,000 and 9,000 btu's. I haven't seen anything but the 12,000 btu units available new for quite some time. They are designed to take their combustion air directly from the outside.

Often, folks didn't give heaters nor air conditioning a thought in these small plastic boxes on wheels until that first long trip into the woods or mountains where they discovered that these things are freaking cold at night. Likewise, that first 4th of July weekend often brought the realization that these freaking boxes are like an oven in the sun! Hence all the used units you will see with window AC's stuck on any which way. As well as the relatively large number of propane catalytic heaters mounted on the fronts of the kitchen cabinets (easy propane access and probably the only place to get the desired 3 foot of frontal clearance).

If you can stomach the idea, I strongly urge you to go the combined AC/heat pump route, mounted on the roof and requiring no make-up air. Fewer condensation (on the inside) issues in either mode, requires AC power so no boondocking, other than with GOOD friends, as people like me will shoot you in your sleep if you run a generator for very long. The small catalytic heaters will take the chill off but make-up air at the rate of a square inch of net clear opening per 1000 btu's input. For the smallest Olympian, that would be a 1" x 4" stove vent or a roof vent left open.

I suggest you visit the Vintage Trailer Supply (www.vintagetrailersupply.com)to get a better idea about what is currently available to assist you as you go about reconstructing the interior.

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