Furnace on while driving

willald wrote:
..While we're on this topic:

Some relatives of ours recently bought a new 5th wheel, and the dealer they bought from informed them that one should NEVER travel with furnace on. Was not 'cause of same ol' tired debate about traveling with propane on, but was more something specific with gas furnaces. Something along the lines of, wind, air blowing around the righ when going down the road will cause the flame in the furnace to continually get blown out, and furnace will wear itself out prematurely if it keeps trying to re-light itself over and over.

Anyone ever heard this, or know if there's any merit to it? IMO its a bunch of bull. This approach would not be much of a problem if you have a towable RV (TT or 5er), but really ridiculous and unrealistic with a MH. I know we have on occasion drove with the furnace on in our Georgetown MH when necessary, and its worked fine.

There is a specific reason why this is false. If you look at every propane furnace in an RV, there is an inlet and an outlet. They are side by side. The reason for this is so that the inlet and the outlet see the same pressure. This means the fan will still put the same air flow over the flame, regardless of the air pressure or lack of air pressure surrounding the inlet and outlet. Yes, it is specifically designed to work while going down the road, or in any other environment.

willald wrote:
..While we're on this topic:

Some relatives of ours recently bought a new 5th wheel, and the dealer they bought from informed them that one should NEVER travel with furnace on. Was not 'cause of same ol' tired debate about traveling with propane on, but was more something specific with gas furnaces. Something along the lines of, wind, air blowing around the righ when going down the road will cause the flame in the furnace to continually get blown out, and furnace will wear itself out prematurely if it keeps trying to re-light itself over and over.

Anyone ever heard this, or know if there's any merit to it? IMO its a bunch of bull. This approach would not be much of a problem if you have a towable RV (TT or 5er), but really ridiculous and unrealistic with a MH. I know we have on occasion drove with the furnace on in our Georgetown MH when necessary, and its worked fine.

Horse Hockey!

No different than it cycling ON/OFF in cold weather.
No different than the furnace cycling ON/OFF in your S&B

Although they don't come with a XX number of years guarantee they don't come with an expiration date either. "this device can only be turned ON XXX many times".....HA!
Run them until they break then fix and run them some more

willald wrote:
..While we're on this topic:

Some relatives of ours recently bought a new 5th wheel, and the dealer they bought from informed them that one should NEVER travel with furnace on. Was not 'cause of same ol' tired debate about traveling with propane on, but was more something specific with gas furnaces. Something along the lines of, wind, air blowing around the righ when going down the road will cause the flame in the furnace to continually get blown out, and furnace will wear itself out prematurely if it keeps trying to re-light itself over and over.

Anyone ever heard this, or know if there's any merit to it? IMO its a bunch of bull. This approach would not be much of a problem if you have a towable RV (TT or 5er), but really ridiculous and unrealistic with a MH. I know we have on occasion drove with the furnace on in our Georgetown MH when necessary, and its worked fine.

Cow Cookies!!! Stupid salesman. Most 5ers and MH's use the same type of heaters so why would there be any difference. To the OP. I have always ran my furnace when cold and heated the whole coach. Why would you want a warm front and walk into a cold bathroom?

RetiredHoser wrote:
Those were exactly the type of responses I was hoping to get.

You mean you don't want a lecture on the dangers and certain death you face by traveling with the furnace on?? :)

..While we're on this topic:

Some relatives of ours recently bought a new 5th wheel, and the dealer they bought from informed them that one should NEVER travel with furnace on. Was not 'cause of same ol' tired debate about traveling with propane on, but was more something specific with gas furnaces. Something along the lines of, wind, air blowing around the righ when going down the road will cause the flame in the furnace to continually get blown out, and furnace will wear itself out prematurely if it keeps trying to re-light itself over and over.

Anyone ever heard this, or know if there's any merit to it? IMO its a bunch of bull. This approach would not be much of a problem if you have a towable RV (TT or 5er), but really ridiculous and unrealistic with a MH. I know we have on occasion drove with the furnace on in our Georgetown MH when necessary, and its worked fine.

I use the furnace on the road. The way I look at it, I don't block off and heat one room of my house in the winter time.. I heat the whole house whether I use those rooms or not.. Why not do the same thing with my home on the road?.. I didn't buy my RV so I can live like a homeless person!.. lol

Thank you very much .Those were exactly the type of responses I was hoping to get.

Also, to keep heat in the cab area while driving, you can install a curtain on a shower curtain rod just behind the seats so heat stays up front from engine heater. Insulation over windows is best, as that's where the heat loss occurs. Home Depot and Lowes sells it on a big roll that you can cut out specific sized window covers. If you worry about freezing water lines as a reason for heating the entire unit, while driving, you can winterize and use bottled water kept near front engine heated area, and use it for washing, then add non toxic antifreeze down the drain so grey and black tanks do not freeze.

More specifically, your alternator charges both your chassis and house battery banks while driving.

The house battery provides the 12 VDC to power the furnace.

From battery, stay warm and have fun.