Best RV Heater: Staying Warm When the Mercury Drops

The Camco Olympian Wave-8 is one of the most phenomenal catalytic heaters on the market. For starters, it’s constructed extremely well, many people have said this product has lasted them ten years and more without any significant problems.

The product can be wall-mounted or used as a portable unit, but you’ll have to purchase the legs separately if you choose to use it as a portable version. It works extremely well, and the BTU output can be adjusted to anywhere from 4,200 to 8,000. This is perfect in case you’re using it in a smaller area of your RV. 

With that being said, the Wave-8 is more of a supplemental heater since it’s only going to heat about 230 square feet efficiently. It might not heat the entire RV, but it’s going to warm whatever room you’re in with no problems.

The Lasko Ceramic is an electric portable space heater considered more as a “personal heater” because of its small size. It measures 5.7 x 3.7 x 9 inches and weighs only 3.5 pounds. However, it’s a 1500-watt model, so it’s going to heat your personal space very well. This is another RV portable heater that is more of a supplemental unit than the main event. 

The Lasko CD09250 has an adjustable thermostat. While the specific temperatures aren’t marked, it shows a series of circles going from small to big, indicating less to more temperature. You also have the option of adjusting the fan speed. You can choose fan-only (no heat), or you can set the fan on low or high. It also has some decent safety features like overheat protection and a cool-touch exterior. 

It’s a durable little product that will keep you nice and toasty when it’s chilly outside. Keep in mind that it is a tower model, so you may have tip-over issues if you drive around curves wildly, but as long as you secure it well, it should be okay.

This fantastic little personal product has a lot of similarities to the Lasko ceramic heater, but one big difference is that it has the tip-over safety feature. This feature, along with the slightly lower price, has made the Comfort Zone our best budget choice.

The Comfort Zone has two fan speeds and an adjustable thermostat with bars that go from small to big, indicating more to less temperature. It measures 6.5 x 5.75 x 10.25 inches and weighs a little over six pounds.

Like the Lasko, it has a minuscule carry handle, but it does have a stay-cool exterior that makes it safe and comfortable to carry. As with all ceramic heaters it has overheat protection and has been tested and approved to many global standards, including UL, ETL, SAA, CE, CSA, and NOM.

As can be expected for the price this product doesn’t have the highest quality of parts. Don’t confuse this with performance though as it does work very well. It just may not last as long as other models.

This 1,500-watt electric space heater is in a different category from the last two models in our list. It has many outstanding features, the most obvious being the convenient oscillation of the tower. This helps to spread heated air evenly around the room. Oscillation is excellent for RV electric heaters because it makes the unit a lot more effective for space-saving.

Another great feature of this product is the built-in timer which is especially handy for when your RV isn’t connected to shore power. Since it’s digital, it has a multi-function remote control making it convenient to turn off and on and to control the settings. It also has a bright, user-friendly digital display panel so you can quickly tell what settings you’ve chosen.

Other impressive features include the overheat protection and the cool-touch exterior. It measures 7.2 x 8.6 x 23 inches and weighs about eight pounds. It’s not as compact as the other RV heaters listed so far so you’ll have to make a little extra room. However, it does work superbly and won’t break your budget.

Mr. Heater products are known for being some of the safest heaters for RVs on the market. They are well constructed, have decent warranties, and have plenty of built-in safety features. It will automatically shut off in the event it is tipped over, the pilot light goes out, or for low oxygen levels. If you have children or pets in your RV, this may be the best heater for you.

This model’s radiant heating system efficiently keeps you warm by transferring heat to the surface of objects (like yourself) rather than by heating the air. The Mr. Heater F232000 has dimensions of 7.7 x 13.4 x 15 inches and weighs about nine pounds. It can be used at either 4,000 BTUs or 9,000 BTUs.

What we were most impressed with though was the thoughtfulness of the design. The product has a strong, folding handle that stays cool to the touch. It also has a swivel-out regulator so you won’t have difficulty in connecting your propane tank or canisters. The design is comfortable, convenient, and trustworthy.

This is a fantastic, high-quality product for anyone needing a portable heater for RV travel. It is one of the oldest and most popular brands of RV propane heaters around. Its longevity on the market is a testament to its outstanding quality.

This is an electric oil-filled heater that, when heated, radiates the warmth out into the room. The oil container is sealed, so you don’t need to worry about refilling it. You simply turn the product on and let it work.

We loved the design of this model. It has a more modernized sleek look to it than your typical old-school radiator. While it’s a compact size for a wheeled radiator model at 5.9 x 13.8 x 24.9 inches, it’s a bit on the heavy side weighing 23 pounds.

The most important point about this model is that it works well. It’s only going to heat the room you use this heater in, but it will have that room toasty in a relatively short amount of time. It also automatically monitors and adjusts to the optimal temperature.

With that being said, this might not be the best choice if you have curious children or pets around. The radiator rings get hot, creating a burn hazard for anyone who touches it.

If you’re in the market for something more potent than the previously mentioned RV heaters, this furnace produces up to 30,000 BTUs to heat your entire RV. While most users say that it feels more like a maximum of around 22,000 BTUs, this is still enough to keep your RV warm and cozy in freezing cold weather. The unit measures 24.4 x 14.6 x 14.6 inches and weighs about 40 pounds. This is a small RV furnace, a bit more compact than usual for a furnace model, but it makes the furnace easier to work with.

This furnace has a high-quality construction that most likely will last for a very fair amount of time. It’s made with an all-metal housing, steel gas manifolds, and even a chrome-plated vent cap. All-round this is an excellent investment for any large RV.

This product is the larger, stronger version of the previously mentioned, more portable propane Mr. Heater Buddy. It has all the same safety precautions as its predecessor; auto shut off when tipped over, if the pilot light goes out, or for low oxygen level detection. This model is a bit larger at 18.5 x 18 x 11.4 inches and only weighs around 11 pounds.

And while the smaller version works very well, this version has more firepower. The Big Buddy produces up to 18,000 BTUs for superior warming ability in a portable camper heater. 

It has a battery-operated fan that is optional to use. However, without the fan, it functions as an infrared heater, which works well but takes longer to warm your space. While we don’t mind that the fan is battery powered, we are concerned with the fact that it doesn’t use your RV’s battery. You must purchase D-size batteries separately. These batteries typically can run down fast.

This is truly a remarkable electric RV heater, which is why we chose it as the best portable heater for RV living. Instead of oscillating, it simply blows the hot air out 360-degrees. You can also program it to blow the warmth in any direction that you choose to in 180-degree increments. It’s packed full of great features such as an included wireless remote control. We also love the fact that it has an LCD screen with bright numbers so you can easily see the screen from across a room.

In particular, we wanted to point out the safety features. This heater has an all-around cool-touch exterior, including the handle. Given the heaters ceramic heating element, it has overheat protection, as well as a 360-degree tip-over protection feature. This model has a sturdy, broad base, so it’s not easy to tip over anyway.

As powerful as this heater is, it’s still very compact. It measures 8.9 x 8.9 x 17.21 inches and weighs only 5.3 pounds. The only thing we didn’t like was that the manufacturer doesn’t give a specific BTU rating for the product. However, it uses up to 1,500 watts to get started, and it’s known to warm up a space up to a few hundred square feet with no problems.