Feeling a lot of heat on outside furnace vent

[goodwin297]

Hi All,

There is a lot, I mean a lot and very hot heat coming through the vent on the outside of RV. Is this normal?

Thanks,
Trudi

[aruba5er]

They have been making the same ineffecient furnace for years because propane was only .25 cents a gal. What incentive does the camper maker have to put in a better one. You can BUY a 2 stage furnace from Atwood but the trailer maker ain"t gonna pop for the extra money. Would also be nice to make them a little QUIETER

[mr__ed]

Yep, it's normal. May seem inefficient but it's the only way to use propane safely to heat the RV (I wonder if that contributes to global warming? :B). For that reason I generally use electric space heaters if temps don't get too low. The main reason I use my fiver's heater is to keep water pipes from freezing at night. Even then I keep it at the lowest setting possible. In my previous RV I would place an electric lamp in the area near the fresh water tank and associated plumbing to ward off freezing at night.

[harold1946]

301TBS wrote:
The exhaust will melt your lawn chairs too!

Yes, and if that much heat were hitting the plastic registers inside they would melt also.

[dakonthemountai]

If I am correct, because that heat is the exhaust vent from burning propane it's not all that good for you if you are too close and breathing the fumes... Unless, of course you are into that! 😉

Dak

[301TBS]

The exhaust will melt your lawn chairs too!

[goodwin297]

Thank you for your replies. Some pretty funny. 🙂

Trudi

[nomad297]

Wow. Admin really took care of that idiotic post in a hurry. Good job.

Bruce

[SteveAE]

Well there you go. Stick it outside your furnace vent and you can get a whopping 3.5 watts :R

[pianotuna]

Hi SteveAE,

Funny you should mention that. My brother bought me a TEG (cup) as a birthday gift. It is only intended for doing cell phone recharges.

[SteveAE]

Thought of differently, a 20% loss (6kBTU) on my 30kBTU furnace is equivalent to ~1.8kWhrs. (Ugh, how I hate that furnace.) So yes, it will feel hot.

Pianotuna: I did some experiments using TEG's (Thermal Electric Generators) to recover some of the lost heat in the furnace exhaust by converting it to electrical current to charge the battery. However, the efficiency (<~15%) of those devices just makes it too impractical.

[Chris_Bryant]

From the Atwood installation manual for the 8500 series IV:

Atwood wrote:
: Furnace efficiency rating is a thermal rating determined under
continuous operating conditions, independent of any installation. Efficiency
rate is given at 77% minimum, actual efficiency rating may be higher.

[Ron3rd]

Don't touch that vent either, you can get a nice burn. Don't ask the wife how she knows this!

[portscanner]

TucsonJim wrote:
On cool mornings, I love to have my coffee while the DW is getting her beauty sleep. I like to sit near the exterior vent and enjoy the "wasted" heat.

x2

[pianotuna]

Hi beemer,

I find no ratings for input btu's vs output btu's at Attwood for the Hydroflame series. I did see a number of 77% based on continuous output. That could easily be lower with cycling. It also indicates it is a brand new redesigned unit which mine is not.