Here's the problem. When the kitchen air handler was turned on, the air would skip over the kitchen vents and come out the ends at the living room and bathroom. The kitchen would call for cooling but the system would cool the living room and bathroom instead. It was freezing in the bathroom. Needless to say, the kitchen air handler would run constantly, being unable to cool the kitchen. It did the same thing when calling for the heat pump, being unable to heat the kitchen and it was very hot in the bathroom.Oddly enough, the plenum is collapsed a little bit at the kitchen (because of insulation in the roof?) causing the air to travel faster at that portion and actually suck in air rather than provide air to the kitchen.The fix was super easy and cheap. I simply stuffed some upholstery foam between the zones to make proper zones. Now the air flows according to which thermostat calls for cooling or the heat pump.

wow! what great diagrams!! while i do not have two thermostats, our furnace air is really only delivered to the two main vents in the kitchen/liv room. i've wondered before how the duct could get plugged or what would cause the lack of air flow to the end reaches of the coach.

Being that this Newmar's flagship model, I'd be wanting to ask them if it was their intention to leave the ducts open like that??? They're usually pretty good at engineering these kinds of things.....

sch911 wrote:Being that this Newmar's flagship model, I'd be wanting to ask them if it was their intention to leave the ducts open like that??? They're usually pretty good at engineering these kinds of things.....They authorized the dealer to fix this problem and I worked with the dealer to come up with a solution so they are aware of the problem. Furthermore, I sent the diagram to them this morning with an explanation so that they can discuss it with the engineers.

My TT did the same thing, I ended up installing baffles just like you did.Probably a common issue in any long plenum run.

Good fix, but one thought. I think a lot of RV's use this ducting system that runs the length of the coach so that when on 30 amp and only one A/C is available, you can get some A/C to all portions of the coach. In your situation, 3 A/C's, if you were stuck somewhere on 30 amp, you will have blocked off the ability to provide air to the rest of the coach when running the center A/C unit.I'm guessing in your coach and how you use it, 30 amp camping is not a common thing....same with us, but others may run into an issue by blocking the ducting to the center unit. A neat solution by Newmar would be some powered baffles that could be turned on and off if there is limited amperage. These ducting systems are so small and crammed into a roofline, that they're hard to build effective baffling systems. The biggest issue is that there just isn't enough room in the roof of these RV's to make baffling and ducting that works well.

I solved my air flow problems | Good Sam Community

DSDP_Don
Explorer
Dec 20, 2014
Good fix, but one thought. I think a lot of RV's use this ducting system that runs the length of the coach so that when on 30 amp and only one A/C is available, you can get some A/C to all portions of the coach.

In your situation, 3 A/C's, if you were stuck somewhere on 30 amp, you will have blocked off the ability to provide air to the rest of the coach when running the center A/C unit.

I'm guessing in your coach and how you use it, 30 amp camping is not a common thing....same with us, but others may run into an issue by blocking the ducting to the center unit.

A neat solution by Newmar would be some powered baffles that could be turned on and off if there is limited amperage. These ducting systems are so small and crammed into a roofline, that they're hard to build effective baffling systems. The biggest issue is that there just isn't enough room in the roof of these RV's to make baffling and ducting that works well.
ScottG
Nomad
Dec 20, 2014
My TT did the same thing, I ended up installing baffles just like you did.
Probably a common issue in any long plenum run.
holstein13
Explorer
Dec 20, 2014
sch911 wrote:
Being that this Newmar's flagship model, I'd be wanting to ask them if it was their intention to leave the ducts open like that??? They're usually pretty good at engineering these kinds of things.....
They authorized the dealer to fix this problem and I worked with the dealer to come up with a solution so they are aware of the problem. Furthermore, I sent the diagram to them this morning with an explanation so that they can discuss it with the engineers.
sch911
Explorer
Dec 20, 2014
Being that this Newmar's flagship model, I'd be wanting to ask them if it was their intention to leave the ducts open like that??? They're usually pretty good at engineering these kinds of things.....
Frosty_s_Mom
Explorer
Dec 20, 2014
wow! what great diagrams!! while i do not have two thermostats, our furnace air is really only delivered to the two main vents in the kitchen/liv room. i've wondered before how the duct could get plugged or what would cause the lack of air flow to the end reaches of the coach.

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