Olympian WAVE 6 Catalytic Heater ...A review

Rbertalotto

Explorer
Here is an article I posted a week or so ago when I decided to buy a Olympian WAVE 6 catalytic heater.

http://rvbprecision.com/shooting/olympian-wave-6-propane-heater-review.html

Now that I've been using it for over a week in near freezing weather out here in the Arizona desert I have some comments.......

FANTASTIC! Couldn't be happier.......Keeps my 20' trailer easily at 70 degrees. Sips propane......Used it every night for 10 days and still have plenty of propane. Uses no electricity. If boondocking, batteries stay charged all night for use in the AM.

NO NOISE!!!! The trailers furnace sounds like a 747 taking off every 20 minutes. Totally silent.

Three temperature settings allows the heat to be very easily regulated. Never too hot, not too cold...Just right!

No condensation....The furnace created condensation on all the windows and the aluminum frame around my toy haulers ramp. ZERO with the WAVE 6. (now this most likely is because I opened the side vents on the toy hauler to give the WAVE 6 the needed fresh air it needed)

Extremely fast heat up of the interior. Within minutes, the trailer is warm. And being radiant heat, sitting in front of the heater you are warmed immediately. No blast of cold air for a few minutes like the furnace did.

These devices should be the standard way that these small RVs are heated rather than a complex furnace.
 

CampStewart

Observer
Have you used a Buddy heater? I am curious if something about the function or construction, or other attributes makes it worth more than twice as much as a Buddy heater
 

dwh

Tail-End Charlie
Properly installed and functioning RV furnaces such as Suburban, Atwood or Propex don't create condensation.

The intake air and exhaust for the burner are to the outside. Inside they just draw in air, heat it and return it to the inside.

Unvented cat heaters like the Camco or Buddy do vent the byproducts of combustion into the living space - mostly water vapor - so they do create condensation.

A human breathing is what creates most condensation in an RV. So yea, the reduced condensation is certainly from leaving vents open. It would have the same effect if you left the vents open with the furnace running.


The old 22' RV that I recently acquired has a 30,000 (or maybe 32,000) BTU Suburban furnace. With a pilot light... There is no way I'm even going to bother trying to get that sucker running. I'll most likely just rip it out and install a couple of the Camcos. Maybe a 3k unit in the rear sleeping compartment and a 6k unit in the front.

Though I might also add a small Propex to blow hot air into the head....
 

Rbertalotto

Explorer
Yes, I have a small Buddy Heater I use in my hunting blind.....It uses a lot of propane for very little heat. The WAVE unit is MUCH more efficient it seems.
 

Mickey Bitsko

Adventurer
I have a wave 6 in a 22' tt. This is my 2nd , last was a wave 3 in a 22' class A , both heaters are outstanding quality.
Zero noise and sips propane. I have a small 2d cell fan I use above the heater to move air, white tail deer hunting in South Dakota last fall the temperature drop to 3* one night and stayed freezing for a week, never had to turn up past medium heat.
I would recommend these heaters to a friend.

Mickey
 

Forum statistics

Threads
185,528
Messages
2,875,548
Members
224,922
Latest member
Randy Towles
Top