Furnace Blower Noise

[eubank]

It may be quality, Barry, but I guess a good part of that is trying to build a product that will withstand the onslaught of both shaking and dust invasion.

Of course, Airstream has to depend on RV component manufacturers like Suburban that supply other RV companies. As such, the manufacturer is put into a kind of bind: People buy cheap white-sided rigs in far, far greater numbers than Airstreams, and that hold up for six or eight years before they're sent to the junk heap. So why build a product that should hold up for many more years of service?

Personally, though, I'm happy enough with the old Suburban in our rig, even though I have to take it apart every couple of years to R&R the sail switch.


Lynn

[Aage]

Originally Posted by Lumatic

For whatever it is worth Suburban recommends not to put screens on

I saw that somewhere in their data too, as I was replacing the old one.

I plan on getting a pair of them but only to leave on in summer, when I won't be using the furnace, and also when the insects are nesting.

I suppose late spring/early fall (when it -might- be used) I could put a red dot on the thermostat to remind me they are on.

[idroba]

Originally Posted by eubank

(snip)
Of course, Airstream has to depend on RV component manufacturers like Suburban that supply other RV companies. As such, the manufacturer is put into a kind of bind: People buy cheap white-sided rigs in far, far greater numbers than Airstreams, and that hold up for six or eight years before they're sent to the junk heap. So why build a product that should hold up for many more years of service?


Lynn

A couple of years ago I replaced my NT16 with a new one with electronic ignition. The old one was very quiet with a nice sized cage type fan. The new one uses a propeller fan, and is much much noisier, but must be cheaper to build. As you say, AS cannot produce their own furnaces and the ones they can buy are driven by the majority of the market, which demands cheap products, especially since most purchasers will not know the difference.

The one place I feel AS falls down on appliances is the AC unit. There are high efficiency 13,500 btuh units available which take only a bit over 10 amps to run, vs. the 13 to 14 amps for the "standard" unit. The cost of the high efficiency one is probably less than $50 wholesale difference. The lower amp draw high efficiency one will use significantly less energy and will have a much better chance of operating on a 2000 watt inverter generator. Why not specify it as the AS standard? What is $50 in the cost of a new AS price?

To answer my own question, if you are at a campground using "free" electricity, no one cares (but the campground owner puts the price of the extra power in the space rent cost). And apparently AS still does not think many of their owners Boondock and use generators.