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jbourne84's avatar
jbourne84
Explorer
Mar 26, 2021

Should I gamble on a salvage yard RV furnace?

This is for an Atwood 8012 furnace. I scoped it out at the local salvage yard, was way in the back in some smashed in ford class B camper from the 80s.

After climbing around another van and fighting my way in I got under the bed where I could see it, it's old but otherwise looks in decent shape. I could tell no rain was getting into the camper since it just rained all night and everything was bone dry in there. I obviously have no idea how long its been sitting or if it works. I just dont know much about these things, is there any obvious reason not to waste my time getting it out of there? Guy basically said I could name my price for anything I wanted out of that camper.
  • I'd guess that furnaces are one of the least used items in a RV, and as long as there's no serious rust, I'd go for a used unit, even if it's from the 80's. Might need to give the bearings a bit of lube after all that time.
  • The Atwood 8012 is a great small (12,000BTU) furnace for dry camping - it has the lowest current draw (1.8 amps) of any, and is one of the quietest fan powered furnaces. The biggest problem I've seen with them (like most RV furnaces) is the motor bearings failing & getting noisy. Relubricating doesn't provide a long term solution - before installing, I'd fire it up to check for noise. Replacement motors are available for around $70.00.

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