A couple of heater questions

[Tinsu]

I have had the A122 for two years and have not turned on the propane heater since my initial walkthrough because I use an electric ceramic heater. This year, I want to do some cold weather camping and decided to test it this morning as a backup to the electric heater. I have a few questions since I am not sure where I put the owners manual.

(1) When turning it on, it looks like the first thing I do is use the Dometic thermostat to turn on the fan. It says Hi, Lo and Au. What is Au? Is that automatic, and the other two options will run continuously as the selected speed so that the fan does not turn on and off as much in the night?

(2) I was surprised that the heat did not come out of the Dometic vents, which are under my bed. Instead, it came out of a small box vent near the floor by the dinette. Am I correct in assuming this is okay and that box vent is the actual heater?

(3) If so, does the Dometic just blow out the room air. The air from the floor box vent was hot, and the air from the Dometic was cold. I only ran it long enough to feel heat for a while from the floor box vent. Will it eventually warm up?

(4) When you use the heater for the first time after summer, is it a good idea to light a few stove burners to draw in propane?

(5) It got down to 39 last night and I noticed my lighter (for the stove) did not work very well. Does anyone have any suggestions for a cold weather stove lighter for the stove?

(6) Finally, I have a rattle in my Dometic unit when the air blows. It sounds as if something inside is loose or obstructing the air flow, which is causing a rattle-whistling kind of sound. Any suggestions?

Thank you in advance.

John

[handbuilder]

You want to have it on "Au" - so it will cycle on and off as needed. If it's on low or high setting then cool air will blow out of the Cool Cat. Set the temp to whatever temp you want furnace to kick in. Yes, the furnace is located in the dining area.

Try using matches instead of a lighter.

[Tinsu]

Your comment about the match made me smile. I remember the story that NASA spent millions developing the rollerball pen so that American astronauts could write in zero gravity. The Russians spent nothing. They gave their cosmonauts a PENCIL! That's as simple as a match. Thank you.

PS. Does your Flagstaff blower make any rattling type sounds while blowing?

[pgandw]

Mine does not rattle. I can hear and feel the difference when the furnace lights or shuts off. Everything else - what handbuilder said. I just leave the fan on "Au" at all times - works fine with both Cool Cat and furnace that way - and I don't happen to remember anything.

At higher altitudes (5K and higher), I have to set the lighters for max flame to keep them flaming for more than a millisecond (carry matches for emergencies when the lighters won't work).

Fred W
2014 Rockwood A122 (no s or h)
2008 Hyundai Entourage (minivan)
camping Colorado and adjacent states one weekend at a time

[CJofWolfcreek]

Concerning the lighting of your burners...you don't need a lighter with butane in it. All you need is for it to spark to light the propane. Get one of the grill lighters so your fingers don't get singed. When it runs out of butane or doesn't work because its too cold, it will still spark to light the burners.

[oldtool2]

Originally Posted by CJofWolfcreek

Concerning the lighting of your burners...you don't need a lighter with butane in it. All you need is for it to spark to light the propane. Get one of the grill lighters so your fingers don't get singed. When it runs out of butane or doesn't work because its too cold, it will still spark to light the burners.

A pack of matches makes a nice backup to have. I keep a couple of boxes of stick matches handy for times they are needed.

Jim

[oldtool2]

Originally Posted by Tinsu

I have had the A122 for two years and have not turned on the propane heater since my initial walkthrough because I use an electric ceramic heater. This year, I want to do some cold weather camping and decided to test it this morning as a backup to the electric heater. I have a few questions since I am not sure where I put the owners manual.

(1) When turning it on, it looks like the first thing I do is use the Dometic thermostat to turn on the fan. It says Hi, Lo and Au. What is Au? Is that automatic, and the other two options will run continuously as the selected speed so that the fan does not turn on and off as much in the night?

(2) I was surprised that the heat did not come out of the Dometic vents, which are under my bed. Instead, it came out of a small box vent near the floor by the dinette. Am I correct in assuming this is okay and that box vent is the actual heater?

(3) If so, does the Dometic just blow out the room air. The air from the floor box vent was hot, and the air from the Dometic was cold. I only ran it long enough to feel heat for a while from the floor box vent. Will it eventually warm up?

(4) When you use the heater for the first time after summer, is it a good idea to light a few stove burners to draw in propane?

(5) It got down to 39 last night and I noticed my lighter (for the stove) did not work very well. Does anyone have any suggestions for a cold weather stove lighter for the stove?

(6) Finally, I have a rattle in my Dometic unit when the air blows. It sounds as if something inside is loose or obstructing the air flow, which is causing a rattle-whistling kind of sound. Any suggestions?

Thank you in advance.

John

John,

Not sure about your unit but on mine the heater will only work in automatic, and yes, au is auto. The blower on the furnace will come on and off as the thermostat reaches your setting say 72 degrees. When temp falls a couple degrees below, say 70 or 70.5 the blower will come back on and the furnace will light.

In my trailer if I put the fan on anything but auto it is the AC's blower that runs, not the furnace.

Sense you have already had your furnace running there is no need or advantage to lighting you stove burners. This is quite often recommended to get air out of the lines the first lighting of the furnace.

Jim

[Gramps42]

In cold weather I keep the furnace ON so that the noise of the furnace blower makes is like white noise. Once you have had it lit, you do not need to light the stove