Heated underbelly - do we really need ours?
We camped in the coldest weather we have so far on the past weekend and the temp. got down to just above freezing. The furnace ran non-stop all night and most of the time in the day. I *think* what may be happening is that we had the dealer re&re the coroplast to do a modification underneath and I have a feeling it's not as sealed up as it was from the factory. We're about to take it in for a little warranty work and annual maintenance and will get them to look at it.
I've been planning on installing 3 permanently mounted recessed electric heaters (one in each room) and am wondering if we really needed the heated underbelly. All they do is run a furnace duct into the underbelly cavity and let it escape into the outdoors which is not exactly efficient.
Is the main purpose of a heated underbelly just to prevent freezing under the floor? How good a job does it really do to keep the floor a bit warmer? We bought a ceramic heater while camping on the weekend and turned the furnace off. My IR gun showed the floor was only a few degrees F colder than walls and ceiling. No heating ducts under the floor except the one to heat the underbelly.
We don't plan to ever do any sub-freezing temp. camping so my questions are - if using the furnace, can I cap off the duct into the underbelly or what about installing a damper to cut down the CFM into the space? As long as we camp above freezing, would there be any significant downside to not having a heated underbelly if running on electric heat only?
Anyone know if there is a damper available to fit on RV furnace duct (not a vent outlet with integral damper) or something that will attach to the furnace then duct?
I have to wonder if the heated underbelly would work that well below freezing anyway when there is a galley tank at the very rear of our TT as well as piping there too and I wouldn't expect air circulation to be that good throughout the space.
I've been planning on installing 3 permanently mounted recessed electric heaters (one in each room) and am wondering if we really needed the heated underbelly. All they do is run a furnace duct into the underbelly cavity and let it escape into the outdoors which is not exactly efficient.
Is the main purpose of a heated underbelly just to prevent freezing under the floor? How good a job does it really do to keep the floor a bit warmer? We bought a ceramic heater while camping on the weekend and turned the furnace off. My IR gun showed the floor was only a few degrees F colder than walls and ceiling. No heating ducts under the floor except the one to heat the underbelly.
We don't plan to ever do any sub-freezing temp. camping so my questions are - if using the furnace, can I cap off the duct into the underbelly or what about installing a damper to cut down the CFM into the space? As long as we camp above freezing, would there be any significant downside to not having a heated underbelly if running on electric heat only?
Anyone know if there is a damper available to fit on RV furnace duct (not a vent outlet with integral damper) or something that will attach to the furnace then duct?
I have to wonder if the heated underbelly would work that well below freezing anyway when there is a galley tank at the very rear of our TT as well as piping there too and I wouldn't expect air circulation to be that good throughout the space.
