heat vents

We haven't done much cold weather camping but would use electrical heater(s) where shore power is available. Heat loss through cab area and side windows can be dealt with fairly well. The furnace uses a lot of propane, cycles on and off frequently attempting to keep the rig warm due to poor insulation and heat loss.

mgirardo wrote:
Thanks for the links IAMICHABOD, I had no idea these existed. Definitely need one for the bathroom.

Thanks,

-Michael

Glad to be of help. BTW I did a lot of checking and RV Upgrades had the best price and shipping that I have come across,at least for me.

Yes, the damper will help a lot. Been there, done that on a previous rig.

Thanks for the links IAMICHABOD, I had no idea these existed. Definitely need one for the bathroom.

Thanks,

-Michael

While I don't have the same RV I found that,like mgirardo, the way the vents are located it gives uneven heat throughout the RV.
I have 4, one in the dinette area one in the hall and very small bathroom and in the rear bedroom.

I found that the bathroom got very hot and I had to keep the door open to get even heat. The problem is that all the registers have no damper in them.
After I replaced the bathroom one with a register that has a damper and closing it about 80 percent I got more even heat throughout the RV and the bathroom is not over heated.

Works great and it is an easy job,I used one of these to do the job.

They also come in different colors and shapes

I think the vent by the door, if is located on the side of the cabinet, is not actually a heat vent, but a plain vent to air out the back of the cabinet.

We have a 2009 31FS, which has 2 slides. The back slide has 2 bunks opposite the bathroom and the back bedroom is next to the bunks. Our motorhome has 1 heating vent in the front half of the motorhome, under the kitchen sink. In the back there is 1 in the bathroom, 1 in the back bedroom and 1 in bunk house. So there is a total of 4 heat vents.

The front half of the motorhome stays warm enough, however the cab over area is usually a few degrees cooler than the rest of the motorhome. The back half of the motorhome in my opinion is too warm. The thermostat is right by the entry door in the front half of the motorhome. Since there is only 1 vent up front, I feel the heat runs longer than it needs to, making the back half warmer than I like it.

I wish there were 2 up front and 2 in the back, that would be more balanced. I think the vent in the bathroom is a waste. The bathroom door needs to be propped open when the heat is running, otherwise the bathroom would be unbearably hot while the heat is running. Our furnace is in the bathroom, hidden in a cabinet next to the bathroom sink. That makes it pretty much impossible to re-route the bathroom duct.

With the thermostat set at 70, the back of the motorhome usually warms to about 74 - 75 by the time the thermostat kicks the heat off. That's way too hot for me, but it keeps the wife happy.

-Michael

Far more important than the location and number of vents (which vary widely from coach to coach), is the size in BTU's of the furnace itself. A 31' Class C has a lot of interior volume and unless the furnace is something north of 30,000 BTU's it will have to work awfully hard to keep the coach warm. {A 31' Class C will also need more than a single 13,500 BTU AC unit to keep it livable in the warmer months.... but I digress}.

This means that the run time will be excessive which will pull down your house bank substantially as the DC furnace blower is a very large draw. Our little Nexus Phantom 23P (24' Class C), came with a 35,000 BTU furnace and 4 vents and could easily function as a sauna (well, almost...). :W

Rarely if ever does it stay on more than 5 or ten minutes before shutting down after reaching 68 to 70 degrees. We have camped in temps down into the 20's with no issues and I have yet to even turn on the tank heaters. Another tip is to close off the cab area from the coach with a heavy curtain or blanket. Also adding insulated windshield shades or external covers for the windshield and door windows will go a long way towards keep the cold out.

:C