Heat in winter

[cameront120]

If I heat my Tradewind with an oil filled heater, rather than use the furnace, will the heat circulate enough to keep water lines and storage tanks from freezing? I don't really trust the furnace, as it's one of the recall models and I don't know that the fix was done. At this point I can't afford to replace the furnace and will need to look at alternatives.

[overlander63]

Originally Posted by cameront120

If I heat my Tradewind with an oil filled heater, rather than use the furnace, will the heat circulate enough to keep water lines and storage tanks from freezing? I don't really trust the furnace, as it's one of the recall models and I don't know that the fix was done. At this point I can't afford to replace the furnace and will need to look at alternatives.

I would block off the air ducts to outdoors (cold air leak) with a small piece of sheet aluminum, run the oil filled heater, and run the coach furnace on fan only. It will pull the warmer air in from the living area, and blow it across the holding tanks. An alternative to this is to get a couple lengths of "freeze tape", pull the belly pan down, and lay the freeze tape in a pattern in the slots in the foam insulation under the bottom of the tanks.

[cameront120]

Thanks for the tips, Terry.

[Chip Arnold]

My '76 Soveriegn has a duct going under the bed to the rear bath. I'm thinking of putting in a "T" and running a short duct from under the bed into the bedroom. It would be easy to do this and it could be closed to direct the heat to the bathroom when needed there. Anyone done this?

[bizetwo]

Hi,
I have an 08,27'FB. Its real cold in the bedroom area. We put a electric mattress pad on the bed it really helped out. I just purchased a Pelonis ceramic heater 1500w hoping this will heat up the mid area. Yes the furnace just keeps on running.
Louis

[gowyn]

Well here is my solution. I took a couple aluminum pie plates, cut small hole in them and blocked of ducts in dinette and kitchen.

I also installed one of these in the bedroom.

I also have a mattress warmer so as long as we're plugged in we should be nice and toasty.

Also plan on running a small fan to circulate air inside the trailer, it will sit on the dining table pointed back towards bedroom.

[bizetwo]

In my 27'FB the duct in toilet room blows rather cool air. Did the pie plate method help to divert warm air to the toilet area also?? I think I will try this it makes good sense. I took out the closet deck to inspect the H2O pump and heat ducting what a mess. I also noticed a big hole cut under the shower area for the water trap. Well this got me busy patching the floor with 3 "styrofoam. What a difference that made in keeping out the cold,now the shower floor is warm.

[safari 28]

I have actually looked into making systems that would work in these puppies and have contacts in the industry. The problem is cost. Even high end units like Airstream will not change unless we demand quieter designs. From what iI can see some of the central units by winnebago and in floor heating on diesel rigs is a huge step in the right direction. Sadly, our 60k trailers have the same set up as 10k SOB. i say shame on the mother ship.

[ROBERT CROSS]

Originally Posted by Westfalia

I'll likely wrap the furnace in a combination of glass and bubble wrap to muffle the blower sound

IMHO....I would be VERY leery of wrapping the furnace unit with anything.

[ROBERTSUNRUS]

Originally Posted by ROBERT CROSS

IMHO....I would be VERY leery of wrapping the furnace unit with anything.

Hi, can you spell F-I-R-E. I'm with Robert on this.

[Gene]

'Westfalia, don't do it. The bubble wrap would likely melt into a gooey glob if it didn't catch fire.

Doesn't some of the noise come from the air passing over the flexible tubing with all the ribs in it? It also slows down the air. A smooth tube is more efficient and quieter unless you want to have it go around things in a tight space, like, say, an RV. The only places I've seen the duct it was the flexible, ribbed type; maybe in other places it's not.

There isn't that much temp differential in our Safari and maybe it depends on the floor plan and how they run the ducts. We like a cool, even cold, bedroom, so I'd like more difference between the bedroom and the kitchen/dinette. You just can't please anyone. And the register in the bathroom blows cool air and I'm guessing it goes through the water tank area to heat them and there's just not much BTU left when it gets to the bathroom (why I am I calling it a bathroom?—it doesn't have a bathtub or even a shower).

I agree with Safari 28 the heater/AC system is pretty primitive. The insulation is too and the metal structure transmits cold or hot air from outside to inside very effectively, there are no thermal breaks. If I were going to do it again, I wouldn't get the panoramic windows in the front because we don't look through them much and they transmit whatever we don't want inside. All the windows are single pane. The curtains are thin. The blinds have nearly zero insulating use. Someday we have to look into cellular shades for the windows—they will help. Lining the curtains seems like a way to make them hard to open and close. Maybe Barb can figure that out; I can barely sew a button onto a shirt (I'm good with a vacuum though).

Gene

[bizetwo]

Hi,
I've also noticed that the air from the heater in the toilet area is just about warm this is on the 27'FB. Any suggestions on how to make it warmer in this little humble room?
Thanks, Louis (2008 27'FB)

[ROBERT CROSS]

Originally Posted by bizetwo

Hi,
I've also noticed that the air from the heater in the toilet area is just about warm this is on the 27'FB. Any suggestions on how to make it warmer in this little humble room?
Thanks, Louis (2008 27'FB)

Haven't used the furnace in really cold weather, 28F while leaf peep'n in the Dacks, but this worked for us.

Took some furnace filter material and taped it over the front outlets. Ended up putting two layers over one and a single layer over the other. For those of you who don't like the noise, it had the unintended benefit of quieting things down a bit and possibly sending more warm air to the tanks. Haven't made up my mind whether I will install it behind the grills.

I kind'a look at the noise the furnace makes as a diagnostic tool.
Whoosh..blower on.
Bloop..burner lights
Wheeze..burner off
Phew..Blower off.

Bloop with no Whoosh or Wheeze before Phew and I gotta problem.

[henw]

The digital thermostats I checked out at the BBS's all seem to be 24V. Is this what an AS uses too? Or, is it 12V? If the latter, is there a specific 12v digital model just for the furnace?

Tom

[Gene]

My thermostat is a Duo-Therm Comfort Control Part # 3109228.001. It's made by Dometic.

It is digital, controls fan on/off, fan speed, A/C, furnace, heat pump. If you have zone heating it'll do that too. If you run the heat pump, it'll shut it off around 30˚ and turn on the furnace. You can set it to 40˚ (lowest temp.) and it'll keep things from freezing when you aren't using the trailer. It'll also defrost the heat pump when the temp is less than 42˚. It also washes the dishes and checks your blood pressure (don't believe that). I assume it's 12 v. since I don't see any mention of a step up transformer.

All these functions don't help if you don't have the right wires to whatever thermostat you have had.

Some digital house thermostats are 24 v. and have a step down transformer at the furnace to power them, or may have batteries in the unit. A friend installed one with batteries, went away, the batteries failed in a day or so, once he returned his pretty copper plumbing had about a dozen breaks. The only good thing was they all failed in a crawl space and it didn't have a flood in the living space.

Gene

[henw]

I put the Hunter 42999 digital thermostat in today. Very simple install. The manual claims 2 AA batteries will power it for at least a year. Has low battery warning light. Guessed it was the blue wire that was the power feed and the thing works just fine.

Our bed sits over the storage space as well. I've often wondered about placing a ceramic heater in that area. Letting the heat rise up from underneath on those cold nights.

Tom

[cameront120]

Originally Posted by henw

Our bed sits over the storage space as well. I've often wondered about placing a ceramic heater in that area. Letting the heat rise up from underneath on those cold nights.

Tom

What about an electric heating pad for the matress?

[henw]

What about an electric heating pad for the matress?

Good idea.
But I'm also thinking about my cold nose.

Tom

[2dabeach]

Originally Posted by bizetwo

Hi,
I've also noticed that the air from the heater in the toilet area is just about warm this is on the 27'FB. Any suggestions on how to make it warmer in this little humble room?
Thanks, Louis (2008 27'FB)

bizetwo.... We have the same problem with our 25' FB. The air temperature coming out of the bath vent is 62F, dining area 175F, galley 133F and bedroom 124F. Airstream used 4" diameter ducts for all three of the main ducts and 2" diameter for the bathroom vent. All the ducts are above the floor of the trailer except for the bathroom duct, which runs under the floor of the trailer by the water tanks to the bathroom vent. I think that this is the main reason the bathroom air is cool. My dealer recomended that I install new adjustable vents (instead of pie plates) in the main vents to allow us to cut down their flow and divert it to the bathroom. It helped a little but the degree we were hoping. The best way to solve the problem is to leave the bathroom door open during cold weather so it gets its heat from the surrounding area.

[ROBERTSUNRUS]

Hi, I don't know what Airstream did to the furnace in the reverse floor plans, [front bedroom] but our rear queen gets even air pressure and even heat out of all three vents. We have one vent on the curb side, behind the oven, by the entrance door. We have a second vent on the curb side, at the closet wall, that is aimed at the foot of the bed area. And the third vent is on the street side, under the toilet stand. My furnace is located under my oven [pictured on bottom left] and the vent is near the floor and close to the door. [not shown in picture] The bathroom vent in the top left picture is self explanitory. The picture on the top right is where the vent is in the master bedroom. Where are your furnace vents located on the front bedroom models? [pictures?]