ROO 233s Furnace question

[shooter68123]

Bought a 2018 Rockwood Roo 233s a couple weeks back. Fired it up at home for the first time yesterday. Ran the furnace at 80 degrees for about 4 hours. Outside temp was low 50s. With all the windows and door shut...I don't think the furnace raised the inside temp by more than a few degrees. Seems like it should have been warmer than that. Wondering if that is normal or if I had too high of expectations for the furnace?

There's only two small 4-5" diameter heater vents in the camper. One by the door and one in the bathroom. Both had "warm" air coming out, but nothing close to the air temp coming from the exhaust outside.

thoughts?

[Johnfort]

My 2304ks rockwood was ony slightly better. Low of 27 degrees and ran all night, maintained 70- 75 degrees.

Added a factory outlet duct under each side of the dinet and now have even 70-75 degrees inside at 0 outside temp. Furnace OEM design does not breath well.

Cheap half day project, excet for the cuts and scrapes.

BEST MOD EVER.

[Shamrockthecasbah]

I have a similar set up in my 23 IKSS with only two heat vents and the same furnace. Generally I feel like it heats pretty well.

Did you have either of the Max-air fans running? They move a lot of air, even on low, which would draw your heated air out and the corresponding vacuum created inside the camper would pull cold air in from the outside. Also, your camper has three bunkends which provide almost zero insulation from the outside. I use Reflectics and pop-up gizmos on the bunknends of my 23 IKSS and it made a huge difference.

The other thing that comes to mind but is that if your camper had been at 50° For awhile with everything cold soaked (walls, floor, ceilings, furniture etc), it might take a while to get to a comfortable temperature. Try again with a thermometer in the middle of the camper to monitor temperature. Also helps keep the bathroom door open to better distribute to heat through the rest of the camper. Good luck.

[Wiscampsin]

Consider doing the Reflectix and solar blanket mods. Reflectix cut to fit the tent end window areas will help when running both the furnace and AC. Solar blankets (Pugs) help too and will help keep the tent end roofs cleaner. Sorry, hard to see the Reflectix in the window areas. You might have to click on the pic and enlarge it to see it.

[KKonyha]

We had the Shamrock with 3 bed ends and as long as the ceiling vent was not open would cook you out. What does your flame look like? Maybe they don't have the air/fuel mixture correct.
Ours was a 2007 by the way, just in case things had changed.

[shooter68123]

Originally Posted by Johnfort

My 2304ks rockwood was ony slightly better. Low of 27 degrees and ran all night, maintained 70- 75 degrees.

27 degress...maintained 70-75...I'd take that. Thanks

[shooter68123]

Originally Posted by Shamrockthecasbah

I have a similar set up in my 23 IKSS with only two heat vents and the same furnace. Generally I feel like it heats pretty well.

Did you have either of the Max-air fans running? They move a lot of air, even on low, which would draw your heated air out and the corresponding vacuum created inside the camper would pull cold air in from the outside. Also, your camper has three bunkends which provide almost zero insulation from the outside. I use Reflectics and pop-up gizmos on the bunknends of my 23 IKSS and it made a huge difference.

The other thing that comes to mind but is that if your camper had been at 50° For awhile with everything cold soaked (walls, floor, ceilings, furniture etc), it might take a while to get to a comfortable temperature. Try again with a thermometer in the middle of the camper to monitor temperature. Also helps keep the bathroom door open to better distribute to heat through the rest of the camper. Good luck.

Thanks. Going to try again today...but it's 24, feels like 16 today (gotta love Nebraska weather).

Did not have the max air fans running, had the bathroom door open. Just not enough heat or air flow to warm the entire camper...my initial take...hope Im wrong...

thnx

[Johnfort]

Its a volume/flow issue in addition to all of the canvas.

[Johnfort]

More air through the furnace, more warmth to circulate.

This is the third suburban furnace I've added vents to. It works.

[Glindz233s]

Air should be more that just "warm". Ours get the job done quite nicely. Bunk ends will "leak" heat though. We use a combination of RV heat, electric space heater, Pugs and reflectix when cold. I keep one vent open some to reduce condensation.

Good luck!

[Velosprout]

Our 23SS furnace keeps the camper quite comfortable.

Use the fleece-covered Fantastic Fan vent insulators from Camping World and reflective insulation under the vents of the ceiling AC; these are your top two heat loss spaces.

The bunk end fan-lights will help circulate the heat.

An electric dehumidifier (I got one from Lowe’s) will prevent the over-bunk condensation and get rid of the “damp cold” feeling.

Throw rugs help the floor when very cold.

[shooter68123]

Originally Posted by Wiscampsin

Consider doing the Reflectix and solar blanket mods. Reflectix cut to fit the tent end window areas will help when running both the furnace and AC. Solar blankets (Pugs) help too and will help keep the tent end roofs cleaner. Sorry, hard to see the Reflectix in the window areas. You might have to click on the pic and enlarge it to see it.

Attachment 162820

Checked these out. Will definitely use these. I do a lot of late season archery hunts where temps could be down in teens or single digits. These look like a great idea. Thanks for the tip!!

[bikendan]

shooter, strongly suggest that you check out our Roo/Shamrock sub-forum here, in the Hybrid section of the Forum.
Tons of 233S owners there with lots of mods and tips for owning a hybrid.
Popup Gizmos and Reflectix are the #1 Hybrid mod.

[MuddauberE]

our 2013 233s keeps warm quite nicely. If you keep a naked foot in front of one of the vents more than a few seconds, it's going to hurt. very hot air coming out from the few vents. I would agree with others that there are better ways to vent, but as is, get's the job done well enough, even in the cold. I would get it checked out if there is not a good flow of hot hair coming from the vents.

[Roobot]

Originally Posted by MuddauberE

our 2013 233s keeps warm quite nicely. If you keep a naked foot in front of one of the vents more than a few seconds, it's going to hurt. very hot air coming out from the few vents. I would agree with others that there are better ways to vent, but as is, get's the job done well enough, even in the cold. I would get it checked out if there is not a good flow of hot hair coming from the vents.

I know this is an old thread, but it DID come up on my search, perhaps yours too. I'd be quite happy with furnace output that is uncomfortable to touch!

Its now 2021, and we bought our Roo 24WS "expandable" trailer new in 2017. Even with the tent ends, windows, and ceiling vents closed, and (the 2) heater outlets vents unobstructed, the propane furnace can't get the temperature above about 55F inside with 30F outside. The air from the vents seems to be blowing OK, but its just lukewarm to the touch. My recollection is that it used to have more output. It was always a bit marginal, but better. (Note: we had a similar 19'Jayco previously -- LOTS of heat even when sold it after 12 years. But it had 4 heat outlets, counting one that blew straight out the front of the furnace)

We, too, typically use a tower style ceramic heater, but originally just because it was quieter, and we used the propane furnace when electricity was not available. Now, the electric heater is NECESSARY to get the trailer warm. The electric heater is usually sufficient on "low" heat (It think 600W) to get the trailer toasty with tent ends open and no supplemental insulation. The installed propane furnace won't even come close to that heat output, let alone the full 1500W.

Clearly, my propane furnace needs some service or adjustment. However, I am wondering if the system sometimes come from the factory set up wrong, which makes marginal heat output even worse. And then there's possible damage and degradation. This could lead to some having OK performance, and others being deficient.

I have a propane aircraft engine preheater that I serviced recently. It operated, but with degraded output. The pressure regulator on it needed to be turned up, but by far the main issue was that the gas jet was plugged with corrosion products. After cleaning, it was back to full output. Something similar could the issue here.