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Is One 12 Volt Battery Enough To Power An RV Furnace?

by Steve
(Nebraska)

We spent about two months in South Texas snowbirding in our 2007 Select Suite. It was a brand new unit that had been thru a dealer bankruptcy. It only had one battery in it.

On our way home we boondocked in a Wal-Mart but the furnace wouldn’t kick on. Got down to 50 degrees. We had lights, so I am wondering if one battery is enough to power the furnace. Maybe two 6 volts would be better.

Steve


ANSWER: Greetings Steve thanks for submitting your question on our Ask An RV Question Page.

To answer your initial question a fully charged single 12 Volt Marine/RV Deep Cycle Battery should be sufficient to operate your furnace (depending on outside temperature and what other 12 volt accessories you are running) overnight. Would two 6 Volt Deep Cycle Batteries wired in series or two 12 Volt Deep Cycle Marine/RV batteries in parallel be better? The answer is a resounding yes.

To learn more please read the answers I gave to Are 2 Six Volt Batteries Better Than 1 Twelve Volt Battery To Provide Power To Inside Of RV and How Do I Connect 2 or 4 Six Volt Batteries To My 12 Volt RV House Battery System.
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As far as the furnace problem you experienced that may or may not have been a result of your battery. Your house battery may not be receiving a proper charge (you need to check this). Even though the lights in the RV were working it does not mean that the House Battery was charged enough to operate the furnace.

You also did not tell me if the furnace works when you are plugged into Shore Power, if it does then we know it was a problem with the battery, if it does not work on shore power then the furnace system itself may be the problem.

If it were my Trailer I would personally go with two 6 Volt Deep Cycle Batteries as the House Battery System.

I hope this helps.

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Happy RVing

RVing Al

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