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Hi Girls,

I am thinking about one of the tabletop fireplaces for my RV (http://www.woodlanddirect.com/Fireplace ... Fireplaces). Has anyone used one of these in an RV? Any thoughts on using such inside an RV?

Thanks in advance for any advice, thoughts or ideas.

Barbara

I travel with animals and don't like open flames.....I figure it is just an accident waiting to happen.

In a small confined space I would think you have to be very careful of fumes and gases from an open flame. If I'm not using my propane heater I will sometimes use a small electric heater but NEVER leave it on when I'm not in the rig.

I love these things and have thought about buying one. I used to have a portable fireplace that used the gel fuel cannisters but there was a firebox to protect them. I would be very reluctant to use one of these indoors. If it was knocked over somehow, the gel fuel would spill/splatter all over and catch everything on fire. I would only use one outside. They do put out decent heat tho.

FYI...the gel fuel that these use has no odor or smoke so it can be used indoors - very carefully!

Don;t know how to contact you ,retired happy, but I live in Hunt and have just joined the forum and would like to meet up and talk with you. Pamela

retiredhappy wrote:In a small confined space I would think you have to be very careful of fumes and gases from an open flame. If I'm not using my propane heater I will sometimes use a small electric heater but NEVER leave it on when I'm not in the rig.

Barbie - it's not the odor or smoke. All combustion consumes oxygen, so the fireplaces as well as the propane furnaces both require some sort of ventilation to avoid suffocation.

I agree this would be kind of scary in an RV. Don't know that I would want one on a table in my house either.

Humm...the only flame (fire) I want in my rv is from the gas stove! I would be concern of safety, i.e. a fire!

Interesting thread; gel fire places are new to me so I had had to do some reading! Turns out the gel isn't combustible so no concern re oxygen. Lacking a real fireplace I think I would be tempted in a house; but not an rv. As much as I love candles, I don't burn them in my rig either. Ummm though now that I'm thinking about it, maybe a candle on the picnic table would be nice!

There are fireplaces in rv's. Now I'm curious as to what they use.

As to electric heaters, I leave mine on when not in the rig ... have no problem doing that. They are so much better than they used to be.

I think the RV fireplaces are all electric heaters with faux flames that look pretty real. You can have the flames "with" or "without" heat.

I think our fireplace is like most that come in RVs. Electric light bulbs create the illusions of fire and a small fan and heating element creates heat like a space heater. Enough to take the chill off.

mtngal wrote:Interesting thread; gel fire places are new to me so I had had to do some reading! Turns out the gel isn't combustible so no concern re oxygen. Lacking a real fireplace I think I would be tempted in a house; but not an rv. As much as I love candles, I don't burn them in my rig either. Ummm though now that I'm thinking about it, maybe a candle on the picnic table would be nice!

Not Combustible just means the flash point is above a certain temperature. It won't spontaneously combust. But it burns and as it burns, it consumes oxygen. Any time you have a fire, that's a concern in a well-sealed area. Granted most trailers aren't that well-sealed, but you still have to be able to exchange the carbon dioxide, and more importantly, carbon monoxide that are formed when anything burns.

There are stories on a teardrop forum where in making their teardrops, they have gotten them so airtight, that they have run into real issues not opening a vent when running any kind of furnace or propane heater.

Thanks for all the opinions. I am concerned about the oxygen. I have decided that as cool as they look, my RV is not the place for one.

I just bought a DVD with fireplace fires and play that... LOL