Thermostat question

[firegreg1]

I have completely gutted my airstream and am in the process of rebuilding. My question to you experienced renovators is does the thermostat just run the suburban propane heater?

[firegreg1]

Just to clarify I have a 1978 31 foot sovereign.

[Friday]

The original thermostats only run the furnace. You can get newer models that will also run the AC and wire it that way, but most Airstreams run the built-in thermo right on the AC, and a separate one for the furnace...

[A W Warn]

The 78 Excella 31' that I used to own had two thermostats. One thermostat was mounted beside the refrigerator that operated the AC unit only. There was second thermostat, that operated the furnace only, mounted in the center bedroom at the rear curb side wall near the corner of the dividing wall that separated the bedroom from the rear bath. That rear thermostat, if I remember correctly, was hidden by the window curtain.

[flyfishrra]

Mine only has one for the furnace. We use the built in one on the AC. Question though. Can a new digital programable thermostat be used in these for the furnace? Just curious since we are full timing and wondered if we could swap it out.

[Ridgerunner3]

Originally Posted by flyfishrra

Mine only has one for the furnace. We use the built in one on the AC. Question though. Can a new digital programable thermostat be used in these for the furnace? Just curious since we are full timing and wondered if we could swap it out.

Yes. I had a hunter digital from Lowes that replaced my furnace thermostat. It was a big improvement.

[KYAirstream]

Can you say more about how it is a big improvement? I have a digital thermostat for the house, but am curious about the advantage for a trailer?

[A W Warn]

I changed mine out for a digital. The big improvement is comfort.

With the original mechanical/spring type there was a large temperature swing between on and off, I'm guessing 10 degrees or more. Now there is about 1 degree swing.

The one I bought at Lowes was around $15 and has a clock in it, which takes 2 AAA batteries that last more than a year.

Just make sure the one you purchase it rated for at least 12v dc.

[KYAirstream]

Thanks for the information.

[Ridgerunner3]

Originally Posted by A W Warn

I changed mine out for a digital. The big improvement is comfort.

With the original mechanical/spring type there was a large temperature swing between on and off, I'm guessing 10 degrees or more. Now there is about 1 degree swing.

The one I bought at Lowes was around $15 and has a clock in it, which takes 2 AAA batteries that last more than a year.

Just make sure the one you purchase it rated for at least 12v dc.

Same answer for the improvement when I changed to digital.

[blkmagikca]

The thermostat in my '87 Excella is the original mechanical one. It cycles regularly and there is no big swing in temperature. However, I did modify it by adding a small spst switch so that I don't have to move the temperature setting to turn it on and off. The switch was a small toggle spst I bought at Radio Shack.

[ROBERTSUNRUS]

Originally Posted by KYAirstream

Can you say more about how it is a big improvement? I have a digital thermostat for the house, but am curious about the advantage for a trailer?

Hi, for me it was the ability to set a certain temperature; [like 66 degrees] With the manual thermostat it was a big guessing game. [too hot, too cold, too medium] I didn't like getting up at 2:00 AM because we were too hot or freezing.