Journey with Confidence RV GPS App RV Trip Planner RV LIFE Campground Reviews RV Maintenance Take a Speed Test Free 7 Day Trial ×


Reply
 
Thread Tools Display Modes
Old 10-03-2011, 02:41 AM   #1
MI Camperz
 
bodzcampers's Avatar
 
Join Date: Sep 2011
Location: michigan
Posts: 1,640
hard to heat

I just bought a 2006 cherokee 30f with ducted heat. It was very chilly the last night we camped and we turned on the heat. The furnace ran non-stop all night, but it never got that warm. The warm air coming out of the floor vents, seemed to barely trickle out, not really blow out well. Is this normal for TT? or What? Thanks for a reply.
bodzcampers is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 10-03-2011, 03:32 AM   #2
MI Camperz
 
bodzcampers's Avatar
 
Join Date: Sep 2011
Location: michigan
Posts: 1,640
Question hard to heat

Just bought a 2006 cherokee 30f which I love. We camped in chilly weather over the w/e and while the furnace ran non-stop, it didn't get that warm inside. It seems the the warm air just trickles out of the vents rather than blowing out well. Is this normal for TTs? or What? Thanks for a reply
bodzcampers is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 10-03-2011, 05:00 AM   #3
Senior Member
 
mike54's Avatar
 
Join Date: May 2011
Location: Crystal lake,IL
Posts: 248
no thats not normal you should be able to warm up the TT and the furnace should not run all the time. checks the ducts see if they are blocked
__________________
Mike & Marsha
2011 Signature Ultra Lite 8319SS
2005 Dodge Ram 3500 5.9 cummins diesel

https://www.facebook.com/WestAllisSunshiners
mike54 is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 10-03-2011, 05:32 AM   #4
Senior Member
 
dretired's Avatar
 
Join Date: Feb 2011
Location: Michigan
Posts: 1,045
what was your temp at the thermostat set for ?? if you had vents or windows opened at all this last weekend those 30-45 mph winds were probably sucking the heat out of your trailer almost as fast as the furnace could work... opening the door a lot ??
dretired is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 10-03-2011, 06:07 AM   #5
MI Camperz
 
bodzcampers's Avatar
 
Join Date: Sep 2011
Location: michigan
Posts: 1,640
Thanks for your reply. No windows were open and the furnace was running. The problem, as I can see it, is the heat trickling out of the ducts without a forceful blowing. When you put your hand over the vents, air seemed to be barely coming out..like a tiny trickle only at best. Is this normal for RVs?
Thanks
bodzcampers is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 10-03-2011, 06:10 AM   #6
MI Camperz
 
bodzcampers's Avatar
 
Join Date: Sep 2011
Location: michigan
Posts: 1,640
How do you check the ducts? I looked down through the vents and they looked okay, but can't see the whole length, obviously. Do I crawl under and literally take them apart to look? or What?
Thanks
bodzcampers is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 10-03-2011, 06:24 AM   #7
Senior Member
 
mike54's Avatar
 
Join Date: May 2011
Location: Crystal lake,IL
Posts: 248
Quote:
Originally Posted by bodzcampers View Post
How do you check the ducts? I looked down through the vents and they looked okay, but can't see the whole length, obviously. Do I crawl under and literally take them apart to look? or What?
Thanks

take the floor vent off see if a something is blocking the duct. I had a piece of duct hanging downing in the duct it lock the air going to bedroom vents
__________________
Mike & Marsha
2011 Signature Ultra Lite 8319SS
2005 Dodge Ram 3500 5.9 cummins diesel

https://www.facebook.com/WestAllisSunshiners
mike54 is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 10-03-2011, 06:40 AM   #8
Senior Member
 
Oakman's Avatar
 
Join Date: Jul 2007
Location: Jefferson County, MO
Posts: 5,449
Quote:
Originally Posted by bodzcampers View Post
Thanks for your reply. No windows were open and the furnace was running. The problem, as I can see it, is the heat trickling out of the ducts without a forceful blowing. When you put your hand over the vents, air seemed to be barely coming out..like a tiny trickle only at best. Is this normal for RVs?
Thanks
No this is not normal, you should have good air flow from the vents. Have you accessed the furnace and looked to see if everything was connected properly? The furnace in your RV is designed to be used with a variety of floor plans so the vents on the furnace that aren't used have covers/plugs over them. Make sure a cover didn't fall off.

Here's a pic of my furnace. As you look at the pic, the two circles on the right side are vent plugs. I've had one of them fall out and all of the hot air would be blowing into that small area and very little was going through the trailer vents. This has happened to me a few times. Hopefully, your problem is this simple.

__________________


Bob and Joyce
2013 CC Silverback 29RL
2010 Ford F250 XL Crew Cab 6.4 liter diesel
ATU Local 788
Oakman is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 10-03-2011, 06:43 AM   #9
Junior Member
 
Jay Pat's Avatar
 
Join Date: Jul 2011
Posts: 28
I have a different brand of trailer where the living area is about 33' long with 2 slides. When the heater/fan is running, it does not blow like the a/c. Airflow is a lot less. It seems to me, it runs "normal". RV does warm up nicely. Outside temps were about 50 degrees.

Where is your thermostat? Is it close to one the heater registers. If so, that could be the problem as it is too close.

I would try to run a fan, pointing it towards the thermostat to see if results are different. If so, run fan if plugged into electricity.

Also, cut Refletix to fit all windows to cut down transfer of heat. You should open a window a couple of inches and roof vent a couple of inches. You may need to find a 2" spacer to hold window open.

Watch out for condensation! Dehumidifier....

Hope this helps!
Pat
Jay Pat is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 10-03-2011, 06:58 AM   #10
Senior Member
 
dretired's Avatar
 
Join Date: Feb 2011
Location: Michigan
Posts: 1,045
Quote:
Originally Posted by bodzcampers View Post
Thanks for your reply. No windows were open and the furnace was running. The problem, as I can see it, is the heat trickling out of the ducts without a forceful blowing. When you put your hand over the vents, air seemed to be barely coming out..like a tiny trickle only at best. Is this normal for RVs?
Thanks
You should be getting some air blowing out with a "feel" of warm air coming out ...check those plugs ...is ...there a hole or cut in a vent tube some where ??
dretired is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 10-03-2011, 07:08 AM   #11
Site Team - Lou
 
Herk7769's Avatar
 
Join Date: Oct 2009
Location: South Eastern PA
Posts: 23,268
Check your fan. Rust or Mud Daubers (wasps) could have built a nest on the fan blades. An unbalanced or rusted fan may turn fast enough to close the sail switch in the outflow, but not fast enough to push the heat out the vents.

Airxcel | Suburban Manufacturing Products

Dinosaur Electronics Home. High quality circuit boards for RV appliances.

Attached Files
File Type: pdf suburbantech.pdf (804.8 KB, 46 views)
__________________
Lou & Freya the wonder dog
2008 GMC Sierra 3000HD Allison Duramax
2019 Flagstaff 8529FL
Herk7769 is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 10-03-2011, 11:14 AM   #12
MI Camperz
 
bodzcampers's Avatar
 
Join Date: Sep 2011
Location: michigan
Posts: 1,640
Thanks for all of the suggestions. I will refer these to my husband.
Bodzcamper (1 of 2)
bodzcampers is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 10-03-2011, 11:43 AM   #13
Senior Member
 
soccerloco's Avatar
 
Join Date: Jun 2011
Location: smith nevada
Posts: 100
I checked my venting tubes at the heater and they were installed to the point of reducing the tubing in half. I cut out some the restricting material which helped. On the other vent outlet the unit was so close to the cabinet that not much could be done so I know there is a restriction. Now that winter is coming I will take another look at trying to resolve this problem

We use our trailer all year long and often encounter temps in 30 and 40's and even in the 20's. When we have electricity we use small electric heaters and we when don't we use more clothes
soccerloco is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 10-03-2011, 11:46 AM   #14
Senior Member
 
Join Date: Aug 2009
Posts: 627
I had a similar issue, I wasn't getting a good airflow and was using a lot of propane. As I used to be a HVAC Service tech and manager I dove right in and found several issues. I took off the front cover (Suburban heater) and found that the opening through the floor into the main plenum was smaller than the plenum itself. The plenum had dropped or wasn't installed properly and there was a gap between the plenum and the floor allowing heated air to blow into the belly(yes I know there should be some air flow). Opening in the plenum to push air into the belly was fully open with no kind of duct attached to it to create some back pressure.

I first addressed plenum issue first by cutting the opening in the floor to match the size of the duct and pulled the duct through the floor and attached it so there is no wood from the floor showing. I then reassembled and tested. I still had poor flow to the bedroom (farthest run). I then reduced the size of the opening pushing air into the basement which greatly increased air flow to the bedroom. When I have a chance to remove the belly covering I would like to change the flexible duct to hard pipe for even better flow.
Filthy Beast is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 10-03-2011, 07:29 PM   #15
Senior Member
 
j2detroit's Avatar
 
Join Date: Jul 2007
Location: Detroit Lakes MN home of We Fest
Posts: 304
lucky you my wife and i bought our 30f in o6 brand new and have spent hundrends of days and nites in it we have used our furnace many many times with temps in the low 30s and it has worked great warming the camper front to back very evenly furnice noisey but every rv ive owned was the same ducted ac also works great hope you enjoy it
j2detroit is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 10-04-2011, 11:46 PM   #16
Member
 
TheFlagGang6's Avatar
 
Join Date: May 2011
Posts: 66
I had similar issue as the Beast. The plenum below the furnace had dropped since the only thing holding it up was foil tape. After removing the tape I raised the plenum back up so it was tight to the bottom of the furnace. I secured it with multiple screws. Also enlarged the opening at the bottom of the furnace to increase air flow area. I'm not concerned so much about heating the underbelly. Not likely we will be camping in freezing temps.
__________________
TheFlagGang6
2008 Flagstaff 831QBSS
2005 Ford F150 FX4
2005 Ford Excursion Eddie Bauer 6.0l Diesel
TheFlagGang6 is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 10-05-2011, 08:15 AM   #17
Senior Member
 
jimh's Avatar
 
Join Date: Jul 2010
Location: Lake Charles, La.
Posts: 1,536
i would check and see hot hot the air coming out of the registers is. if it seems too hot, check for a blockage of air. if air is warm to hot, check for breaks in the duct.
how was ur gas usage for the day? furnaces use a lot of gas.
sense they are different fans, the motor may come up to speed and the sail switch still work normally (combustion air side) even if the trailer air side is blocked. there is a safety temp switch that should shut the gas down if heated air gets too hot.
jimh is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 10-05-2011, 08:34 AM   #18
Site Team - Lou
 
Herk7769's Avatar
 
Join Date: Oct 2009
Location: South Eastern PA
Posts: 23,268
Quote:
Originally Posted by jimh View Post
i would check and see hot hot the air coming out of the registers is. if it seems too hot, check for a blockage of air. if air is warm to hot, check for breaks in the duct.
how was ur gas usage for the day? furnaces use a lot of gas.
sense they are different fans, the motor may come up to speed and the sail switch still work normally (combustion air side) even if the trailer air side is blocked. there is a safety temp switch that should shut the gas down if heated air gets too hot.
Jim, While it is true there are two squirrel cage fans in the furnace, they are on a common shaft with the 12VDC blower motor. See page 5 of the attached trouble shooting guide.
Attached Files
File Type: pdf suburbantech.pdf (804.8 KB, 95 views)
__________________
Lou & Freya the wonder dog
2008 GMC Sierra 3000HD Allison Duramax
2019 Flagstaff 8529FL
Herk7769 is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 10-05-2011, 09:06 AM   #19
Senior Member
 
Oakman's Avatar
 
Join Date: Jul 2007
Location: Jefferson County, MO
Posts: 5,449
Quote:
Originally Posted by bodzcampers View Post
Thanks for all of the suggestions. I will refer these to my husband.
Bodzcamper (1 of 2)
When you get the problem resolved, please be sure to come back and let us know what the fix was.
__________________


Bob and Joyce
2013 CC Silverback 29RL
2010 Ford F250 XL Crew Cab 6.4 liter diesel
ATU Local 788
Oakman is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 10-05-2011, 09:09 AM   #20
Senior Member
 
jimh's Avatar
 
Join Date: Jul 2010
Location: Lake Charles, La.
Posts: 1,536
reduced air flow will result in lower motor amperage. sense it is still moving some air, believe the only safety that would be affected would be the temp limit. air flow may even increase on the combustion side (although i would think very little if any...would not expect it to decrease).
i'm not seeing what else would take it out. i'll look a little closer to see if there is something that i am overlooking.
jimh is offline   Reply With Quote
Reply

Thread Tools
Display Modes

Posting Rules
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts

BB code is On
Smilies are On
[IMG] code is On
HTML code is Off
Trackbacks are Off
Pingbacks are Off
Refbacks are Off


» Featured Campgrounds

Reviews provided by

Disclaimer:

This website is not affiliated with or endorsed by Forest River, Inc. or any of its affiliates. This is an independent, unofficial site.



All times are GMT -5. The time now is 04:04 AM.