Furnace Duct Floor Adapter

[WA4HTZ]

I had to remove my furnace to remove a mouse nest in the blower and noticed the duct which goes into the floor had this adapter where it attaches to the floor.



It appears the "duct" is made up of aluminum covered foam board and the bottom of the adapter sits on the bottom of the duct. This is the main duct which supplies 3 floor vents; two in the living area and one in the bedroom. There has never been great air flow from the living area vents and barely a wisp of air from the bedroom vent. Here is a picture of the adapter removed from the trailer. Note: the flexible duct which connects to the furnace has been removed for both pictures.



Can the "fingers" be either cut off or bent over to allow more airflow? They seem to be really restricting the airflow since it appears the only air getting into the floor duct is what comes through the small slots.

Any help would be greatly appreciated, especially from the experienced RV techs on here. I'd really like to get more heat into the living and bedroom areas because now most of it goes into the bathroom and, of course, the thermostat is right outside of the bathroom door!

Thank you in advance for any help and a big thank you to 1492 for the picture posting app.

[drsteve]

Someone at the factory was supposed to bend some of those tabs to direct airflow to the correct vent...

[beemerphile1]

WA4HTZ wrote:
BurbMan and centerline thank you for your thoughts. I hadn't considered that the piece might have been intended for some other use but that could well be the case. And it looks like a restrictor to me too. Definitely in a place where one is not wanted. Off to get the tin snips!

Ken

Bend, don't cut. It would be hard to put back if needed after cutting. Experiment by bending first.

[WA4HTZ]

BurbMan and centerline thank you for your thoughts. I hadn't considered that the piece might have been intended for some other use but that could well be the case. And it looks like a restrictor to me too. Definitely in a place where one is not wanted. Off to get the tin snips!

Ken

[centerline]

that is a restrictor... the tabs can be bent inward as needed to restrict the flow so the airflow can balanced to another outlet... the way is seems to be installed in your trailer, all the ducting is attached into the system AFTER it.

yes you can cut off the tabs to allow more airflow in due to it being capped by the foam board. cut them all off short, and then restrict the individual ducts to get the balance of airflow you prefer thru the vents...

[BurbMan]

I don't see why you couldn't go around that duct flange at the top of those slots with a tin snips and just cut those "fingers" off. It appears that this flange was made for another application and adapted for use here and it really needs some modification to work in this application.