Do I need a new furnace?

[albert]

Originally Posted by Safari Tim

Jamie,

Those furnaces are definnalty not worth having to pay the labor to check them out.

If you know about such gas appliances and can get it going yourself it may be worth it. I pulled mine and fixed the crossover recall tube, cleaned, and repaired the brushes on the motor.

It works good, but.... I still don't trust it just because of its age. I have a three year old camping with us and its just not worth the risk.

I did install an LP and CO detector though and would suggest that everyone do the same.

We use a ceramic heater that has a thermostat built in. We also purchased the heatstrip for the a/c and that helps too. We always use full hookup sites so it's not a problem for us.

If you need a reliable and safe furnace I'd save up and get a new one when you can.

What furnace do you currently use? Or is it a portable one? I want to replace mine but dont know what is a good brand or size for my 29'er.
thanks for your help.

[Chuck]

Originally Posted by albert

Did you end up with a new furnace? I want to replace the one I just took out oo. Can you recommend any names or modles/
thanks

read the whole thread, and you'll see the rest of the story....

personally, I don't think a furnace is worth the $$. As I said earlier in this thread, they require so much electricity, they are not practical to use while boondocking, and if you're connected to shore power, a small electric/ceramic heater will do the same job for 30 bucks. a replacement furnace would cost 20 times that, PLUS require extensive modification to the trailer to install. (new intake and exhaust holes, new ducting, etc, etc).

[albert]

Originally Posted by chuck

read the whole thread, and you'll see the rest of the story....

personally, I don't think a furnace is worth the $$. As I said earlier in this thread, they require so much electricity, they are not practical to use while boondocking, and if you're connected to shore power, a small electric/ceramic heater will do the same job for 30 bucks. a replacement furnace would cost 20 times that, PLUS require extensive modification to the trailer to install. (new intake and exhaust holes, new ducting, etc, etc).

So your solution sounds quite simple and appealing! You use a portable electric heater, when needed. Did you have to close off the old furnace ports leading to the outside? how? I have 2 holes from the previous furnace. I like your idea, but I also would like a solution for boondocking. Is there a 12Volt solution for you did?
thanks

[LuminumTraila]

Albert -- I don't know if this helps your situation or not, but we ended up replacing our old furnace (Suburban NT-22A) with a Suburban NT-24SP. That was the closest fit our RV Service center could find for us.

We're aren't comfortable working around propane ourselves so the replacement cost us more than we might have wished for ($652 for the furnace; $200 for labor), but we went with the lowest estimate by a reputable dealer. Other estimates went as high as $1200+!! This probably varies according to which part of the country you live in and labor costs there. We were charged for 2.5 hours of labor; others said it would take them 5+ hours.

We also had our old catalytic heater removed at the time because of concern over young children going too near it. The catalytic heater would provide a small amount of heat for occasional use, but I wouldn't have wanted to rely on it as a permanent solution. Also, we put in LP and CO detectors.

Good luck with your decision.

[Chuck]

Wow, I'm surprised and impressed that you got away with it that cheaply!! I'll have to check it out at the next rally.

one solution for the catalytic heater vs. young children issue is to not turn it on.
fwiw: mine puts out a huge amount of heat. even on the lowest setting. on a 40 degree night, I was kicking the covers off, and I was sleeping in one of the bunks fairly far away from the heater. we woke up afraid that we had cooked the baby, who was on the front couch, right in front of the heater. (no risk of him "touching" the heater as an infant...but now, as a toddler, its a problem. I did use it last summer, before my furnace was repaired, but only when he was confined to his pack-n-play crib.).

Albert: the catalytic heater runs on gas only; no 12v solution required. And I don't use an electric heater, yet. my furnace was repaired. I just meant that the ceramic heater WILL be my solution one day, when the furnace eventually wears out. not worth repairing/replacing, imo.

I have a friend from our locall wbcci unit who also has a 23-footer, and he removed his deceased furnace completely, and uses an electric heater. He covered the holes in the outside of the trailer w/ an alluminum plate, then re-attached the old furnace's intake/exhaust cover plate over that. So it "looks" original from the outside, but is actually a "dummy".

this pic from my photo album show the location of the catalytic heater, mounted on the fridge-wall, adjacent to the entry door:

[LuminumTraila]

Originally Posted by chuck

Wow, I'm surprised and impressed that you got away with it that cheaply!! I'll have to check it out at the next rally.

Thanks for saying so -- it makes me feel, umm, not quite so bad about the cost. We were putting it off, but we started to get scared about having the old furnace around not knowing what it might be spewing, and once we made the decision that it had to go (and we sure as heck weren't doing it ourselves ), we went ahead and had it replaced. That's one major expense behind us now.

BTW, our catalytic heater was in working order, but it was pretty old and rusted and we figured its days were numbered anyway. No need for it once we replaced the furnace anyway.

Your trailer looks great inside, Chuck! The catalytic heater is in the same spot ours used to be in. And you even have the fancy cover!

[albert]

Originally Posted by chuck

Wow, I'm surprised and impressed that you got away with it that cheaply!! I'll have to check it out at the next rally.

one solution for the catalytic heater vs. young children issue is to not turn it on.
fwiw: mine puts out a huge amount of heat. even on the lowest setting. on a 40 degree night, I was kicking the covers off, and I was sleeping in one of the bunks fairly far away from the heater. we woke up afraid that we had cooked the baby, who was on the front couch, right in front of the heater. (no risk of him "touching" the heater as an infant...but now, as a toddler, its a problem. I did use it last summer, before my furnace was repaired, but only when he was confined to his pack-n-play crib.).

Albert: the catalytic heater runs on gas only; no 12v solution required. And I don't use an electric heater, yet. my furnace was repaired. I just meant that the ceramic heater WILL be my solution one day, when the furnace eventually wears out. not worth repairing/replacing, imo.

I have a friend from our locall wbcci unit who also has a 23-footer, and he removed his deceased furnace completely, and uses an electric heater. He covered the holes in the outside of the trailer w/ an alluminum plate, then re-attached the old furnace's intake/exhaust cover plate over that. So it "looks" original from the outside, but is actually a "dummy".

this pic from my photo album show the location of the catalytic heater, mounted on the fridge-wall, adjacent to the entry door:

Thanks for all that info. I think I will try the electric portable for awhile. Is there a 12V portable, does that even work? Do you worry about ventilation on your catalytic? Or that it does not warm your tanks underneath? I do live in Lake Tahoe but it AINT no Minnesota!

[Safari Tim]

We always camp with full hookups. So we use the portable ceramic heater that has the built in thermostat. It works well. I think its a 1500watt.

We also added the heat option for the A/C. That works great too. Expecially if you have little ones around.

We don't camp much below 40 degrees and are quite comfortable with our setup.

As far as a 12volt heater option. I don't think you will find one. They would draw too much power and drain your battery in short order.

[jsmith351]

Tim,

Looks like you used PVC on your rerun of H2O lines. I just ripped out all of the old (split & coroded) copper. Any words of wisdom?

Secondly, has anyone figured out why A/S would install the furnace directly under the kitchen sink? Mine is completed rusted out. I hope to remove next week and try to salvage it!

[Safari Tim]

I used CPVC. It's made for potable hot and cold water.

The common replacment is to use PEX so you should look into that as an option.

I chose CPVC because it was locally available, cheaper than PEX, and the various joints, 90's, t's etc... are smaller. I also like the idea of glued joints as opposed to crimp or compression.

So far it has worked great. No problems.

Good idea to change out all of your supply lines at once. Sure does take the worry out of having leaks on the road

Originally Posted by jsmith351

Tim,

Looks like you used PVC on your rerun of H2O lines. I just ripped out all of the old (split & coroded) copper. Any words of wisdom?

Secondly, has anyone figured out why A/S would install the furnace directly under the kitchen sink? Mine is completed rusted out. I hope to remove next week and try to salvage it!

[desi arnaz]

a new furnace is cheaper than a new funereal...........

[jsmith351]

Wonderful, CPVC availbel at H Depot or Lowes? Or do I need a specialist?

[Safari Tim]

Originally Posted by jsmith351

Wonderful, CPVC availbel at H Depot or Lowes? Or do I need a specialist?

I've seen it a Lowe's and Ace Hardware.

[j54mark]

Originally Posted by Safari Tim

I used CPVC. It's made for potable hot and cold water.

The common replacment is to use PEX so you should look into that as an option.

I chose CPVC because it was locally available, cheaper than PEX, and the various joints, 90's, t's etc... are smaller. I also like the idea of glued joints as opposed to crimp or compression.

So far it has worked great. No problems.

I believe it to be significant that no manufacturer of RVs use CPVC for fresh water plumbing. Most, perhaps all use PEX.

Mark

[Safari Tim]

Originally Posted by j54mark

I believe it to be significant that no manufacturer of RVs use CPVC for fresh water plumbing. Most, perhaps all use PEX.

Yep, this ALWAYS comes up when CPVC is mentioned. That's why the first thing I said was:

Originally Posted by Safari Tim

The common replacment is to use PEX so you should look into that as an option.

[jsmith351]

Okay I'm game, What are the Pro's and Cons.

PEX-
Pro's- Flexibility, install time, maximize space
Con's-Cost, clamp connections, pinched lines (potential)

CPVC-
Pro's- Cost, sealed connections
Con's- Install time, larger space required

[wahoonc]

Originally Posted by jsmith351

Okay I'm game, What are the Pro's and Cons.

PEX-
Pro's- Flexibility, install time, maximize space
Con's-Cost, clamp connections, pinched lines (potential)

CPVC-
Pro's- Cost, sealed connections
Con's- Install time, larger space required

Missed one...CPVC will crack wide open if frozen, PEX will take a light freeze

For fittings for the PEX you can't beat SharkBite Fittings and they will work on copper to PEX too for those pesky repairs.

Aaron

[Anon]

Originally Posted by chuck

assuming that I really *should* buy a new furnace...where's a good place?

I bought a REALLY nice used/refurbished one from Colaw's RV Salvage for $275.00 Works great and I now have the piezo lighter on it. I try to run it once a month to check on it. So far it has worked flawlessly.