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Old 01-07-2016, 04:38 AM   #1
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rockwood 8289 underfloor heating

Hi all,
we now have reason to use the heater more often, and have noticed the vent in the shower is very powerful and then the other 3 get gradually weaker, the further they are away from the furnace, is this normal? It seems odd that the space that needs most heat (living area) gets the least. Is there a way to remedy this, or is it just bad design?
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Old 01-07-2016, 06:14 AM   #2
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It is just plain bad design, your bath is probably the shortest run on it's own, then they just run a duct branching off. If you can trace the duct to the plenum and blank off 50% of that line you can get more air back where you want it
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Old 01-07-2016, 06:32 AM   #3
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Thanks for the quick reply
the furnace has 4 ducts attached to it and I am presuming they all come from the same source internally so if I cover the bathroom vent wil this divert more air to the living area without causing overheating of the furnace?
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Old 01-07-2016, 07:36 AM   #4
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If there's room, try switch'n hoses around on furnace....sides have less flow that the 2 in line with furnace
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Old 01-07-2016, 07:52 AM   #5
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Can you find somewhere that you can get to the ducts, which I assume are 4" flex, to install one of these in the one going to bathroom. Ideally one of these on all 4 ducts and you could custom balance everything.

Master Flow 4 in. Inline Damper-ILD4 - The Home Depot

The furnace will have a high limit, so it would cut off if you restrict it too much. Think of it this way. They probably use that exact same furnace for different rigs and only use 1 or 2 of the duct taps.
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Old 01-07-2016, 07:54 AM   #6
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Thanks Bob, Good tip I will see if that is possible, doesn't look like there is room but I need to remove all the junk from the locker first to check for sure.
Peter
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Old 01-07-2016, 07:59 AM   #7
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Thanks Mr Havercamp also,
I am in England, but I am sure we have a similar device over here so after I get to the furnace, that will be another thing to try, if I can't switch the ducts around.
Peter
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Old 01-07-2016, 08:31 AM   #8
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We just happened to have a heavy, memory foam-type bathroom floor mat. I noticed we were getting tons of extra air in the bathroom diffuser, so I scooted the mat over a little so it covered the diffuser and it is heavy enough to completely block the air. It made a marked improvement on the flow of the other diffusers in the camper.

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Old 01-07-2016, 08:38 AM   #9
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When we had the Heat Flow problem I used a Heavy Trailer Life Directory to cover part of the Bathroom heat register,Boy I sure miss reading that after the New Duct was installed to the Rear of unit! Youroo!!
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Old 01-07-2016, 08:38 AM   #10
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Can also tie a ribbon on registers to check air flow
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Old 01-07-2016, 08:40 AM   #11
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Cut the chain off it....it'd be portable! Oh wait...there's no pages left...
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Old 01-07-2016, 10:58 AM   #12
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I tried covering the vents but it didn't seem to make much difference, will get access to the Furness, in a day or two will try and change the ducting over
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Old 01-07-2016, 11:07 AM   #13
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I was not gett'n much out of 2 of the 3 in here. Cut access hole in underbelly. found 2 hoses that had been smashed and torn when underbelly was installed...hoses had been pulled tight around holding tanks, so I replaced them. If you find that's your problem, a sheet metal shop could make a short metal pipe style connector to slip inside the bad area and add a couple screw clamps. Also, the factory hoses are thin, and loose some heat .
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Old 01-07-2016, 01:32 PM   #14
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I tried covering the vents but it didn't seem to make much difference, will get access to the Furness, in a day or two will try and change the ducting over
You really need to block it at the unit to produce more noticeable air flow. Do not block off more then 30% you will have limit problems. Remember these units only produce a little over 300 CFM If you just block the register you will increase your static pressure not good for the blower.....
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Old 01-07-2016, 02:43 PM   #15
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They sell heater duct blockers that are 10 by 16 inch magnetic strips that you can cut to size and place over vents to detour flow to other vents. They come in white and brown and run approx. $14 for two at camping world. What's great about them is you can cut them so you can still allow a little heat in the area your blocking from.
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Old 01-07-2016, 04:01 PM   #16
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The other problem I had was that the register in the hall was blowing on the thermostat. The furnace kept cycling until I blocked that vent.
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Old 01-07-2016, 04:12 PM   #17
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Quote:
Originally Posted by j free View Post
They sell heater duct blockers that are 10 by 16 inch magnetic strips that you can cut to size and place over vents to detour flow to other vents. They come in white and brown and run approx. $14 for two at camping world. What's great about them is you can cut them so you can still allow a little heat in the area your blocking from.
My registers were plastic so that wouldn't work for me.
I went to Lowe's and bought replacements with a dampener.
The new ones are metal but with the dampener, I don't need the magnetic mats.
That helped and I also repositioned the ducts on the furnace to improve air flow to the back of the unit.

Partially closing the one that blew on the t/stat helped too but I suspect at some point I'll have to drop the coroplast (underbelly) and see what horrors I might find there.
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Old 01-07-2016, 08:06 PM   #18
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The ducts lines to the bathroom and the hallway are found it the storage area .The big box stores sell vent dampers . You may have to install a solid piece of pipe to put the damper in but it is a easy install .
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Old 01-07-2016, 11:13 PM   #19
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If you're on shore power, get a couple of electric space heaters to warm your cold areas.
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Old 01-10-2016, 10:05 PM   #20
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[QUOTE=nomad297;1073295]We just happened to have a heavy, memory foam-type bathroom floor mat. I noticed we were getting tons of extra air in the bathroom diffuser, so I scooted the mat over a little so it covered the diffuser and it is heavy enough to completely block the air. It made a marked improvement on the flow of the other diffusers in the camper.

Bruce[/QUOTE

2x, we did the same thing with the bathroom rug. Didn't block all air flow but enough to keep the bath from being a sauna! Even the front bedroom was warm on some very chilly nights.
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