Improving the heat in 5th wheel.
I have a 2013 Sandpiper 365saq. It's 43' long has 4 slides with 9' ceilings and the 35k btu heater is dismal at best. The warmest it could get when it was 30degrees outside is 60 degrees inside. The camper has the upgraded insulation package. I called Forest River and they said sorry but that is all I should expect because it's not a 4 season camper.
My old 1995 29' would run us out even down to zero degrees. The air coming out of the vents just didn't seem to blow very hard.
I decided to do some testing. I bought a handheld wind meter and checked my vents to see how hard they blow. I have 4 vents in my camper. 1 in the master and upstairs bathroom. They are both fed by a duct that two hoses from the furnace connect to. I have a vent in the main room and the kids room, these are also fed by another duct and 2 other hoses from the furnace feed this duct. My main concern is heating the kids room.
If I run the furnace the way it was designed the 2 upstairs registers flow 5mph. The main room flows 4mph and the kids room flows 3.5mph.
If I close all the vents but the kids room it will flow 8mph. I then checked to see ho hard the hoses will blow without the duct. I added a 5th hose to the furnace and put a round register on it. It will blow 12mph and the kids room maintained 8mph.
So it seems the ducting is very inefficient in my camper.
I decided to add a register to one of my air intake vents under the stairs to help heat the main room while still providing the most heat to the kids room.
I cut the stock register to accept the new round register.
Here it is installed in the register.
Here is the hose routed under the stairs.
Here is the octopus of hoses from the furnace.
I can now sit on the couch and feel the air from my new vent, and the kids room feels good. The upstairs gets plenty warm just from the heat rising.
I do have one question for the board. My furnace burner cycles on and off while running. I haven't timed it but it seems to stay lit for about 10 minutes and then the burner will shut off for a couple of minutes and then relight. I understand the furnace is reaching it's high heat limit while running my question is should it do this? I never heard my old furnace do this while it was calling for heat. I would think that the furnace should stay lit if it is moving enough air thru the furnace, btw it does the same thing with all the vents open.
Thanks
My old 1995 29' would run us out even down to zero degrees. The air coming out of the vents just didn't seem to blow very hard.
I decided to do some testing. I bought a handheld wind meter and checked my vents to see how hard they blow. I have 4 vents in my camper. 1 in the master and upstairs bathroom. They are both fed by a duct that two hoses from the furnace connect to. I have a vent in the main room and the kids room, these are also fed by another duct and 2 other hoses from the furnace feed this duct. My main concern is heating the kids room.
If I run the furnace the way it was designed the 2 upstairs registers flow 5mph. The main room flows 4mph and the kids room flows 3.5mph.
If I close all the vents but the kids room it will flow 8mph. I then checked to see ho hard the hoses will blow without the duct. I added a 5th hose to the furnace and put a round register on it. It will blow 12mph and the kids room maintained 8mph.
So it seems the ducting is very inefficient in my camper.
I decided to add a register to one of my air intake vents under the stairs to help heat the main room while still providing the most heat to the kids room.
I cut the stock register to accept the new round register.
Here it is installed in the register.
Here is the hose routed under the stairs.
Here is the octopus of hoses from the furnace.
I can now sit on the couch and feel the air from my new vent, and the kids room feels good. The upstairs gets plenty warm just from the heat rising.I do have one question for the board. My furnace burner cycles on and off while running. I haven't timed it but it seems to stay lit for about 10 minutes and then the burner will shut off for a couple of minutes and then relight. I understand the furnace is reaching it's high heat limit while running my question is should it do this? I never heard my old furnace do this while it was calling for heat. I would think that the furnace should stay lit if it is moving enough air thru the furnace, btw it does the same thing with all the vents open.
Thanks
