FR3 2020 DS30 - Atwood Rooftop HVAC System

[EGRJR]

Hello,

Bought our MH new in 2020 from a dealer. Have been camping plenty of times and used the two HVAC systems (living room & bedroom) mainly AC. Today I realized I've never used the HEAT mode via the wall panel in the bedroom system, so I tried it and nothing happened. The wall panel display is on and with the selected buttons desired and temp set. No Heat pump activity! The system will work for all the other options: Cool, Dry, Fan but not for Heat. The living room system works as designed, no issues.

The Atwood manual that I have indicates that if there's a furnace button on the wall panel display then I have model AC-1511 which should provide heat. Seems like if you have the AC-1361 model then you have no furnace options.

Anyone else have this issue or any insight? I have reached out to my dealer's technical team asking them the same question, but wanted to also try this forum too. Thank you.

[bootsthecat]

Originally Posted by EGRJR

Hello,

Bought our MH new in 2020 from a dealer. Have been camping plenty of times and used the two HVAC systems (living room & bedroom) mainly AC. Today I realized I've never used the HEAT mode via the wall panel in the bedroom system, so I tried it and nothing happened. The wall panel display is on and with the selected buttons desired and temp set. No Heat pump activity! The system will work for all the other options: Cool, Dry, Fan but not for Heat. The living room system works as designed, no issues.

The Atwood manual that I have indicates that if there's a furnace button on the wall panel display then I have model AC-1511 which should provide heat. Seems like if you have the AC-1361 model then you have no furnace options.

Anyone else have this issue or any insight? I have reached out to my dealer's technical team asking them the same question, but wanted to also try this forum too. Thank you.

On my 2019 FR3 30-DS the bedroom A/C was a 13,500 BTU and that size has no heat pump capability. Forest river used the same thermostat for both A/C in the front and bedroom. The front A/C is rated at 15,000 BTU and does have heat pump capability.

[bubbles]

Seems as though you are mixing apples and oranges. I think you will find Furnace and Heat are not the same modes. Furnace would be a stand alone furnace and heat would be an air conditioner mode (heat pump).

[EGRJR]

Bootsthecat - thanks for the clarification I think you nailed it! Though my FR3 d spec docs doesn't say anything about the two different HVAC models installed and the HVAC literature from Atwood is not accurate regarding the panels installed, you explanation makes sense. Thank you!

[EGRJR]

bubbles - I'm good now with the response from bootsthecat. Yep, I do understand the difference between the two, it was the Atwood documentation wasn't accurate.

[rickemo]

Originally Posted by bubbles

Seems as though you are mixing apples and oranges. I think you will find Furnace and Heat are not the same modes. Furnace would be a stand alone furnace and heat would be an air conditioner mode (heat pump).

The heat in the bedroom comes from the vent that runs from the furnace under the shower into the bedroom. Not much good when the temps are in the 30s. We have a small oscillating ceramic heater we set on the counter under the TV that’s works well.

[EGRJR]

Thanks for the reply. Yep, we use two of those smaller electric heaters as well and they do the job along with the furnace.