Freedom Express: insulation, furnace and cold?

[brulaz]

Was looking at the Freedom Express line brochure (and online) and can't find any mention of insulation, R values and furnace BTU. Any ideas?

Guess white block foam is used in the walls and floor? Roof too?

Catalogue says the longer models like the 242RBS (and above) come with an under-belly cover with heat. How is that working? We always seem to hit a night or two of frost on our way down to and back from Florida each year. Once it got down to 6 below at night, but we don't stick around ...

[pwrplay]

We spent a few nights last year it went down to about 5 c and it stayed pretty warm inside. The furnace came on a fair bit, so it's insulated, but its probably not too good below freezing. We soon realized we can use an electric space heater when plugged in to help the furnace from running too much as it is quite noisy.
I found some info in their brochure and it said the Azdel walls are R2 but there is no mention of insulation or R value on the roof either.

[brulaz]

Yep, the brochure is pretty useless about how the things are built.

And an electric heater can be a lot quieter than an RV furnace. But if you need to keep the water pipes in the underbelly from freezing, I guess the furnace is your only option.

Any idea what BTU furnace you have? And where are the heating ducts? I didn't see any in the floor ...

[pwrplay]

No idea what BTU it is. The ducts are not on the floor they are on the side of the cabinets. They are round.

[brulaz]

Yes, those little round things. Guess they just run some flexible dryer vent piping through the cupboards.

Had them on my current trailer. I ended up putting in a larger duct for the main vent. The little round ones just can't pump out much heat. Too small and a lot of resistance to air flow in the piping. (Maybe if there's enough of them ...)

It may mean the furnace is pretty small too. (Although with my current trailer, it was just the ducting that was too small.) And the A/C ducting may be similar: uninsulated, small, flexible dryer vent piping.

Hmmm. we like the azdel backing to the fibreglass, and the floorplans, but we are spending more and more time in the trailer. Not sure if the Freedom Express line would work for long-term, 3 season use. My other area of concern is low spec. axles/springs and tires.

Thanks for your help.

[pwrplay]

We've been out as early as 1st weekend in May and as late as mid October. The trailer was quite warm and cozy.

[FoCoNoCo]

Originally Posted by pwrplay

No idea what BTU it is. The ducts are not on the floor they are on the side of the cabinets. They are round.

BTU=British Thermal Unit. The amount of heat required to raise one pound of water one degree.

[pwrplay]

LoL..oops.. I know what BTU is.
What I meant to say is No idea what the BTU is.

[jeeplj8]

Our 320BHDS has all the heat ducting running through the floor then up to wall panels with the exception of the central floor vent near the island. They also ran it under the shower, good idea I thought.

We looked at some models that were truly heated underbelly, they had a separate vent from the furnace that heated the underside. I do not believe Coachmen does this on any products.

We have spent several sub-freezing nights in ours. Probably down to around 25 at least a couple times. First off, at temps above 40 degrees, the furnace is most often not needed. The fireplace is enough to heat the entire coach (use the A/C fan to circulate air) to at least 70 degrees. Below 30 and you notice a BIG difference. The bedrooms will get quite chilly before the furnace kicks on and regulates everything.

We spent about 3 nights in a row at sub-freezing temps at Thanksgiving last year, used less than 1/2 bottle of propane.

My general impression is that insulation is not as good as some coaches that claim year round or arctic package etc. But it good enough for temps down into the 20's with no problem.

[brulaz]

Originally Posted by jeeplj8

...
My general impression is that insulation is not as good as some coaches that claim year round or arctic package etc. But it good enough for temps down into the 20's with no problem.

Thanks. We were looking at the 242RBS online and could only see 3 small round ducts around the dinette/frig area, nothing in the bathroom and no floor ducts. The catalogue does talk about "Heated Enclosed 32/34 Holding Tanks (27’ & above)".

Hopefully we'll be able to see some Freedom Express trailers tomorrow and maybe get some more info from the dealer.

We just need to stay reasonably warm when boondocking for a few days in November and March in the Appalachians.

[jeeplj8]

I am not familiar with the smaller models, but would think that virtually any trailer with enclosed under belly would be good down to 25 degrees.