Wouldn’t it be lovely to get into a warm, cozy Teardrop sleeper cabin on a cool evening? Or even during the day, if weather turns raw and unpleasant. Well, if your electrical system includes an inverter there are space heaters–tiny just like the trailer–that can warm your Teardrop without breaking your battery’s watt-hour bank!

Maybe it’s because I live in Canada, but I make good use of the shoulder seasons with my little trailer. Otherwise, the Teardrop camping season would be too short for my likes, and as a bonus there’s fewer tourists and travellers about. But camping in April or November also means evenings which cool sooner, more quickly, and temps even down near freezing.

Having my dog Luna along helps generate and share heat once we’re both in(me)/on (her) bed in the sleeper cabin. Yes, I’m being serious. I also use a quality high-loft down duvet and they are awesome at natural heat retention, but that first half-hour or so as the bed warms up from my body heat can be a pretty chilly affair. And sitting up, partly out of the bed, to read or enjoy a glass of wine isn’t particularly relaxing when the indoor air temp feels like a fridge.

To the rescue, I sometimes use a “personal space heater”. There are lots of variations of these but essentially they are scaled-down fan-forced heaters. Small does the trick… you don’t need a whole lot of “oomph” to heat an interior space the size of a tiny Teardrop trailer.

Depending on outdoor temp, I find that 20-30 min of the heater on high is sufficient to take the edge off the cool inside the Teardrop trailer, while 45-60 minutes will get things gorgeously warm and cozy for my entry from the cold outdoors. Once I’m into the preheated Teardrop bedroom, I either turn the heater off or if it’s quite cool and/or windy outside I leave the heater running on low until lights-out.

Teardrop Space Heater Power Consumption

I put my heater on a power meter to measure consumption and it uses about 145 watts on the low heat setting and 220 watts on high, which is very similar to the rating on the product label. I took the readings after it had been running for a minute and stabilized ± 5 watts.

Time in Use	Low Heat Setting	High Heat Setting
20 min	48 wHr	73 wHr
30 min	73 wHr	110 wHr
40 min	95 wHr	132 wHr
1 hr	145 wHr	220 wHr
2 hr	290 wHr	440 wHr

The two-battery off-grid power system in my Teardrop has about 1620 watt-Hours of power in the “bank account” when fully charged (for how to calculate such things see this blog post). So preheating the sleeper cabin for an hour to a luxurious warmth then running the heater on low for another hour while I laze before sleep is only going to withdraw about 365 wHr from the bank. Not bad value!

Is an Inverter Necessary?

An inverter converts 12vDC (battery voltage) to 120vAC (“house current”, like what we plug into the wall at home. (For more about inverters see this blog post.) There do exist 12 volt heaters that run directly from battery power but they are not very powerful. Not that the little mini “personal space heaters” like what I use are powerful either but consider that for a 12 volt unit to create similar output (based on wattage consumption – I am just generalizing for example sake) at the low level (145w) it would be drawing 12 amps, and at the high level (220w) just over 18 amps, so your 12 volt supply wiring would need to be quite robust with appropriate gauge and fusing for that sustained amperage.

Safety Shut-Off and other Features

When considering small heaters for your Teardrop trailer, you will want to determine the power consumption to ensure it is reasonably within the capacity of your battery to supply it. A useful feature is having 2-3 heat levels so you can control how much heat it puts out, and correspondingly how much power it consumes.

I don’t know if any of these little heaters have thermostatic control, and how well it would work in such an application. Mine does not, it is just on/off at high/low, and that works fine for my needs particularly since I am not running it while away from the trailer or while sleeping inside it.

Whatever type and style you get, an important feature is a safety shut-off in case the unit is knocked over. Imagine if the heater were to fall over, face down, onto your bedding… and seeing as Teardrops are essentially a “bed on wheels” bedding comprises most of the surface area inside. Yet surprisingly this simple safety feature does not exist on all mini-heaters. That feature, and wattage, were the reasons I chose the one I did.

What About Electric Blankets?

Electric blankets are another possible option, especially if you don’t have a dog to share heat with 😉 Their wattage tends to be in the 150-400 range, depending on size and heat setting. For me, the luxury is in warming the space not just the bed, but if you use this option please use the comment box to tell us more about it!

Hints & Hacks

• Each heater will have different consumption wattages… the ratings label will give you an idea but to know for certain either put it on a power meter or watch the output display of your inverter when it is running.
• Carry a decent length extension cord so you can connect to hookups when at a campground which provides these, you can enjoy beautiful heat to your heart’s content!

So, that’s how I do things with my Teardrop Trailer but by no means the full story or the best way. What about you? Add your own methods, ideas and experiences using the comment box below for the benefit of all readers.