heat registers

[irish rambler]

Anyone else have an issue, with the layout of the heating registers in their 5th wheel, I have 3 vents in close proximity to each other and one at the far end of the rig. I have considered changing them to ones that close allowing me to direct more heat to back.

[rockfordroo]

Sounds like a great mod. Be sure to post pics.

[rat4spd]

Can't say it's ever been an issue, other than not having a heat register in the bedroom, but I run my ceiling fan a lot.

[irish rambler]

I have one in the bathroom , one outsde bedroom door and one by the main entrance, this is all relatively close to each other and the next one is all the way at the back by the lazy boys. We camped last week and it was a cold couple of nights down to -17c , the front have held the heat well but the back was cold, hardly any airflow, I understand this is probably to cold and the furnace was working hard

[WFD]

Originally Posted by irish rambler

Anyone else have an issue, with the layout of the heating registers in their 5th wheel, I have 3 vents in close proximity to each other and one at the far end of the rig. I have considered changing them to ones that close allowing me to direct more heat to back.

We did exactly that...changed them all to ones we can close...sends more heat to the living area of the trailer and away from the bedroom which sits right overtop the furnace area, helps a lot. The other thing it does when heat is not needed is that by keeping the vents closed it prevents dirt and sand etc from getting down into the vents. Easy mod to do and it is effective.

[Kimber45]

The bathroom in my old unit was blazing hot. I assumed they were trying to pump warm air towards plumbing and the under belly to prevent freezing. Prob to much of a thought to believe it was intentional or made sense.

They also have a magnetic covers that could help defuse air and sent elsewhere. Do they make a kit to upgrade the blowers on campers to increase air flow?

[WFD]

Your bathroom was probably sitting right above the furnace and blower in the belly, like ours is, so being so close to the blower, the heat really pumps through there, and being that its just off the bedroom it really heats up the bedroom too. We have that register closed all the time, makes a big difference.

[DaveSchwartz]

Its hard to find registers with dampers in the size used in RVs. I only found them at a Lowes in the southern states with mild heating requirements. Northern stores don't carry them because registers have to be much larger for northern climate heating. Putting them in the bathroom and the one outside the bathroom helped.

You should also get to the back of the furnace (usually have to remove some carpeted panels in the basement. The way the ducts are connected to the plenum is not usually well thought out. Sometimes, the short duct to the bathroom is all on its own while the ducts to the far registers are split with something else resulting in very unbalanced airflow. Some people have rearranged them.

Another reason that getting to the plenum is a good idea is that on my unit, one of the duct flanges had come partially undone (they use a bayonet-type fitting and it had unscrewed itself). Also, the back panel of the plenum was open on one side because one of the screws had fallen out so most of the hot air was just recirculating in the utility space.

There are also lots of stories here of crushed ductwork going to the back registers but you would have to drop the underbelly covering to check that.

I found a lot of improvement with dampers on the two close registers, closing up the defects in the plenum and sealing every joint I could find with duct tape (use the aluminum stuff like Reflectix tape). Ohhh, and make sure your basement vent is closed - no sense heating that when the furnace is right there anyway.

[donanddona]

Lap heating blanket, small ceramic heater are necessary winter camping items.

[irish rambler]

Thanks for all the replies which confirms what I already thought, if I can't find the correct size register maybe I try adding a damper to the duct work

[WFD]

I was able to get registers with dampers from a local RV parts dealer and have seen them in a few RV dealers parts dept.

[dbledan]

Amazon...

[ependydad]

I found that "mobile home registers" fit my camper ducts. I bought them from either Home Depot or Lowes... I think when I was in Florida.