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Old 01-04-2018, 09:18 AM   #1
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AC vs Heater

Unbelievable, but not for this industry. I have my RV at my home in Florida connected to 120Vac power. I went out this morning to turn on the heat and low and behold the Rear AC unit was running. Before anyone needs to goes there, I know what I am doing and I checked the obvious.

I leave the Rear AC on (100% of the time) via the thermostat set on cool only (see pic - not fan, furnace, or heat pump) and the temp set to 85 (which is actually 81) to control the humidity. I had planned on switching everything last night, but ...

I turned the thermostat to off in order to shut down the rear ac unit. I then went to the forward ac unit and set it from off to furnace (gas heater, not ac). Heater is running set to 50 degrees from the interior 37 it reached overnight.


BTW, I do not think that the rear 13.5 Kbtu AC even has a heat strip, only the front 15K ac unit can run electric heat.

Bizarre. Has anyone heard of something like this? Am I misunderstanding something? Is the thermostat in a state of shivering from the cold - LOL? I can not explain or know where to go at this point. I checked all of the obvious as I mentioned, but welcome any ideas that may assist.
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Old 01-05-2018, 08:56 PM   #2
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270s...just picked up our new '18 378. Has different thermostats than yours, but, my '16 Sunseeker 3050s had that thermostat. The new ones are "touch scree" for lack of better description, but operate the same as yours with the same functions. We have heat strips in both the front and aft units, don't much care for them, but for now they'll do, since we're in Ft Myers, not too cold till we head home to OH.

So, I guess I don't understand your question? I can be pretty dence at times can you restate it?
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Old 01-06-2018, 09:14 AM   #3
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We had our first rare "freeze" in Florida the other day. As a precaution I did all the normal water preps, ... Plus I went out in the early morning to turn on the "furnace" ( 35000 btu propane gas heater ) as the temperature dropped towards 34 degrees.

As I walked toward the RV, I heard the rear AC unit "running". I leave it on 24/7 with the thermostat set to 85 (81 actual) so it should definitely NOT be running in 34 degree temperature. I switched the thermostat to off and the AC stopped. I did not want to investigate and do not know if the compressor was running or not or only the fan. I guess it is just somehow a defective thermostat malfunctioning in the cold temperature. No excuse though.

Thanks for the reply and all that try to assist others. So many view, but few reply aside from comments.
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Old 01-06-2018, 09:28 AM   #4
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are you sure the AC compressor was on, or was it JUST the fan/blower?

our thermostat is exactly the same, but if you have the 'fan' setting on 'Low' or 'High' rather than 'Auto', the fan will run regardless, without the AC compressor on.
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Old 01-06-2018, 10:12 AM   #5
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AC vs Heater

270s good morning, hope you are having some luck in fixing you issue, if not here is what is going through my mine.

First, if your thermostats looks like your picture then you do have a heat strip. (Unless someone messed up at the factory) Open the filter cover and look up into the unit to see if you have a heat strip attached there before the cooling coils.

Second, heat strips are not that good unless you close off all but 2 or 3 vents per A/C unit to heat the air better. (This is what I do and it does produce heat)

Third, I am like formerFR that you may have it set to "low/high setting by mistake.

Forth, if the A/C was running all night it would have been colder than 34 degrees in you unit.

All this is I am assuming you have 2 furnaces. 2 furnaces sounds like a lot of heaters for a 27 foot coach.
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Old 01-06-2018, 11:52 AM   #6
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Not bothering to investigate/fix. I will just ensure thermostat is off if temps are below 70 any more. My guess is it is a defective Rear thermostat. The fwd ac unit was off and the rear ac was in Auto-Cool so nothing should have been on (running) - Fan or compressor.

I only have 1 furnace (ducts in LR/Kitchen, BR, Wwater tank compartment) and 2 ac units (15K fwd, 13.5K aft). Both ac units have the same identical Thermostat controls. There are 14 models of the Brisk Air - have not looked in depth to see the differences. But I do not think my rear unit has heat available and I have not checked if it is also wired to control the furnace like the fwd unit or frankly if it is just miswired.

Below are actual pics from my thermostat vs the "schematic" image first posted. The thermostat was in the Auto-Cool position Not Off, Auto-Heat Strip, or Auto-Furnace. After turning it to Off, I them put it in Auto-Furnace to keep the RV above freezing inside.

The rear unit was working perfectly as it should (nothing running (no fan or compressor) unless temp rose above 85) until the temps dropped "too low".

Unlike some Rvs, FRs size is not the same as model. 270S is almost 30 feet.
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Old 01-07-2018, 03:08 PM   #7
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Same thermostats we have. I'm wondering if they are a bit unreliable? My rear unit won't fire the furnace correctly. It starts the sequence with the fan kicking on, but, then it sends a signal to the a/c unit and some type of switch/solenoid//relay starts clicking as if it was the igniter. It starts with a single click about 5 seconds, another, then two in a row, then 3 or 4 in a row and the furnace fans are running but no heat...either have a wire crossed or a bad thermostat?????
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Old 01-07-2018, 03:35 PM   #8
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AC & furnace running at same time

any thoughts on why my AC unit would automatally come on at the same time the furnace is trying to heat?
I'v got cold air blowing out of the ceiling vents and hot air blowing out of the floor vents....
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Old 01-07-2018, 03:50 PM   #9
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Originally Posted by Steven O View Post
any thoughts on why my AC unit would automatally come on at the same time the furnace is trying to heat?
I'v got cold air blowing out of the ceiling vents and hot air blowing out of the floor vents....
Steven O
See post #4. You have to have the fan set to AUTO. If the fan is set to either high or low then the A/C fan will run when the thermostat tells the furnace to turn on.
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Old 01-07-2018, 03:54 PM   #10
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Steven O View Post
any thoughts on why my AC unit would automatally come on at the same time the furnace is trying to heat?
I'v got cold air blowing out of the ceiling vents and hot air blowing out of the floor vents....
Steven O
This does get reported here 4-5 times per month. Your A/C is not coming on --- compressor, that is. It's only the blower in the A/C unit. Cycle your thermostat through Heat, Cool, Off, etc., until you get to FAN. Use + or - to set your fan speed on AU (Auto) and not LO or HI.
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Old 01-07-2018, 08:50 PM   #11
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Up front I will say mine aren't the same as yours, but, It has been my experience so far that the manufactures use the cheapest equipment they can get. I have to recycle my two analog thermostats (turn them off and then on again) every 3-4 days. They will either stick on or not shut off. Getting new Honeywell home style digital thermostats soon.
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Old 01-08-2018, 08:05 AM   #12
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All probably agree. RV used the worst cr*p possible. As I said in another post, the ac used / installed in the marine industry is 5-6 times the cost, but mine has lasted 20+ years, draws 50% less power, outputs more BTUs & air flow, ...

The thermostat recommended by others as a replacement was installed on my previous TT, but it may have been a dumbed down model because I do not remember it having a calibration adjustment for temp.

Going back to my first paragraph, it seems this industry does not learn from mistakes, or keep improving once they figure stuff out. It is just a collection of mistakes focused on greed!
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Old 01-08-2018, 08:08 AM   #13
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probably same problem / topic/ thread at http://www.forestriverforums.com/for...ml#post1701628
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