wrybread wrote:
> I have yet to see an RV furnace use anything other than the STD Cheepie squirrel cage
I guess the big question is, is there a viable alternative to a "cheapie squirrel cage"?
> The one with the smaller motor, 5.5 amp drain will move less CuFt of warm air through the RV
Which in most cases is just fine. Remember, catalytic heaters have no fan at all and they heat a camper very well.
The answer is NO.
There is no "viable" alternative to the squirrel cage fan that the furnace manufacturer used.
The squirrel cage fan design is more efficient and effective than using a three, four or five fan blade design.. Not to mention actually quieter per CFM of air movement.
You also need to realize that removing or altering the cage fan will affect the speed and RPM of the motor it is attached to..
This motor is double shafted, it has one shaft for the inside squirrel cage (your inside air) and the other shaft is the combustion chamber draft inducer.
If draft inducer is too slow, the sail switch (a safety item) will fail to enable the burner..
If draft inducer is too fast you will push the heat from the flame out the exhaust too fast burning up more propane and causing your furnace to put out very little heat for each BTU burned.
You would have to totally re-engineer your furnace from the fan to the burner (in other words you can not slow down the fan CFM without having to reduce the fuel being burned).
DO NOT BLOCK ANY VENTS!!! PERIOD!
Each BTU range of a furnace has a very specific MINIMUM amount of venting area which IS REQUIRED for correct safe operating parameters.
The RV manufacturer will have put in the correct minimum amount of vents for the BTU range of the furnace.
You CAN add more vents but you should never, ever block or remove vents for safe operation. Doing so can cause the furnace to overheat and possibly cause a RV FIRE.
My suggestion is if you are so concerned about the furnace using up your battery, then buy a lower BTU furnace that has a lower fan CFM. The downside of this is if you choose too small of a furnace it will NEVER turn off.. This will result in MORE battery usage than what you have now.
Since you don't want to use a generator, you are pretty much stuck, my suggestion is more battery or add more solar..
To me, a generator is more "economical" and "practical".. Even a SMALL 1000W gen would go a long, long way to making your situation work very well.
