Other than space, power consumption is the main reason:

Plat-Cat: .5 amp/hour

Suburban Furnace: ~5 amp/hour

If you're always plugged into 110V power, the furnace is better.  If you're
going to be using 12V, the plat-cat wins.

BTW: You don't have to pay $450 for a Plat-cat.  Here's a link to a nice
looking 6000BTU model for $300:

http://www.northstarflameless.com/new/rec-6000.html

Cheers,

Jeff

-----Original Message-----
From: Vanagon Mailing List [mailto:vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM]On Behalf
Of John C...
Sent: Wednesday, March 08, 2006 2:13 PM
To: vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM
Subject: Re: Propane heaters

In a message dated 3/8/2006 9:03:32 AM Pacific Standard Time,
jjolson@GWTC.NET writes:
I've been looking into heaters/furnaces for my Vanagon.  Is there any
reason to spend $450 for a Plat-Cat heater that shows up on Thesamba.com
periodically

http://www.thesamba.com/vw/classifieds/detail.php?id=251970

rather than for a Suburban furnace with twice the btus for half the
price that shows up on ebay?

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/BRAND-NEW-SUBURBAN-LP-GAS-RV-FURNACE_W0QQitem
Z4
618095170QQcategoryZ50073QQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

If the reason is space, that's not an issue for me as I can build the
cabinet to fit the furnace.

Curious minds want to know???

Jeff
Martin, SD
Hi Jeff & all,
I couldn't come up with any that swayed me,
So, I picked up a Suburban 12,000btu NT.

best,
John C...
SLC, UT...
85 Westy ( Dinky Dau )
90 Carat ( Number 9 )