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heater operation

Cajun_Bill
Explorer
Explorer
I have a 2013 26 ft. Grey Wolf that I bought about 6 months ago. I operated the heater for the first time recently and while warm air did enter the camper through a floor level vent (not in the floor, just above floor level at the bottom of the stove), I noticed that the AC (or at least the fan) unit was on the whole time the heater was running. I had a 5th wheel before and it had floor vents so all the warm air entered thru the floor, but my TT has no floor vents. Is that the way this unit is supposed to operate? By using the fan to disperse the warm air throughout the TT? Just wondering.
14 REPLIES 14

Cajun_Bill
Explorer
Explorer
thanks

temccarthy1
Explorer
Explorer
MFL wrote:
You may have to set your thermostat fan adjustment to auto, rather than low or high, to keep AC fan from running. In any case, you should have more than one heat vent in a 26' TT.

Jerry


Jeery is right..switch fan setting to auto.
Tim, Ramona and dog Scruffy
1982 Coleman Sun Valley PUP (retired)
2014 Keystone Bullet 285RLS Ultralite TT
2013 Ford Expedition XLT 5.4L Triton V8
Equalizer E2 hitch

Cajun_Bill
Explorer
Explorer
Cocky_Camper wrote:
Yep, change to fan to auto and that should stop the a/c fan from running with the furnace.


It did. Worked perfectly during some cold nights. Thanks to all.

Cocky_Camper
Explorer II
Explorer II
Yep, change to fan to auto and that should stop the a/c fan from running with the furnace.
2004 Sea Breeze by National RV - 8341

Former Coaches:
2006 Keystone Zeppeline 291 - TT
2000 Aerolite Cub F21 - Hybrid TT
1991 Coleman Pop Up

Formerly known as: hybrid_camper

bobndot
Explorer II
Explorer II
Cajun Bill wrote:
mailman-ret wrote:
We had our new Dutchman DENALI in Pennsylvania in late September on her maiden voyage. We ran into the double heater/AC operation. On the first evening, I resorted to going to the AC circuit breaker and shutting it off. We spent a nice warm evening. Next morning, I called the dealership and was informed about the "Auto" setting. Next night, we spent a warm night with only the heat running.

He had mentioned that the system was designed with the double operation when it was set to heat. He said it was to more quickly move the warm air throughout the unit when you first enter a cold unit. Something that was forgotten in the introduction.


So, if I understand you correctly, while the "double operation" can be used to move the heat quickly through a cold unit, If I select "auto", that shouldn't happen and only the heat part should operate?


correct (most are designed that way)

heat only will come out of the round vents near the floor. Those are heat ducts. When you first fire up the furnace, you will feel just cool air, that's a safety feature to vent the furnace, its cool or room temp air. After 20 secs or so, you will hear the furnace actually 'fire up' then you gradually feel heat as the ducts warm up.

Your A/C air or A/C fan only air (in fan mode) will come out from the ac unit itself and also may have some round ac ducts in the ceiling if its a duct'ed unit. No heat comes from those A/C ceiling ducts.

I never felt the need to add a fan to heat any RV faster and I have dry camped (no water) in my units down to -30F.
RV propane heaters are designed to heat just like the forced air convection heating systems in our homes. The rv system uses convection heat that warms up the air and then uses its own fan to push this hot air away from the heated source toward cooler areas that need warming.
Remember cold is more dense (heavier) than warm air so it mixes naturally with warmer air as the warm air is introduced, its constantly exchanging places, circulating on its own.

Cajun_Bill
Explorer
Explorer
mailman-ret wrote:
By putting our switch on Auto, it took away what I was interpreting as a problem and allowed the heater to operate as I believed it should. I will admit that I have not allowed it to run long enough on Hi or Lo to test their system of moving the air to heat the cabin quicker.

I haven't had it out when the weather reaches below the lower 50's, but the way it was running, I feel it will keep it warm.


Looks like I'll get a chance this weekend as the temps are supposed to drop down to near freezing where the camper is.

mailman-ret
Explorer
Explorer
By putting our switch on Auto, it took away what I was interpreting as a problem and allowed the heater to operate as I believed it should. I will admit that I have not allowed it to run long enough on Hi or Lo to test their system of moving the air to heat the cabin quicker.

I haven't had it out when the weather reaches below the lower 50's, but the way it was running, I feel it will keep it warm.
Don & Deb: US Army CW2(R), DECA AstMgr(R) USPS Letr Carrier(R)
2016 Ford F250 Lariat Supercrewcab 6.2Ltr V8 4X4
2017 Dutchman DENALI 289RK
Ford in dash MTD Prodigy Type Brake Control
Hensley Arrow Anti-Sway Device

Cajun_Bill
Explorer
Explorer
mailman-ret wrote:
We had our new Dutchman DENALI in Pennsylvania in late September on her maiden voyage. We ran into the double heater/AC operation. On the first evening, I resorted to going to the AC circuit breaker and shutting it off. We spent a nice warm evening. Next morning, I called the dealership and was informed about the "Auto" setting. Next night, we spent a warm night with only the heat running.

He had mentioned that the system was designed with the double operation when it was set to heat. He said it was to more quickly move the warm air throughout the unit when you first enter a cold unit. Something that was forgotten in the introduction.


So, if I understand you correctly, while the "double operation" can be used to move the heat quickly through a cold unit, If I select "auto", that shouldn't happen and only the heat part should operate?

mailman-ret
Explorer
Explorer
We had our new Dutchman DENALI in Pennsylvania in late September on her maiden voyage. We ran into the double heater/AC operation. On the first evening, I resorted to going to the AC circuit breaker and shutting it off. We spent a nice warm evening. Next morning, I called the dealership and was informed about the "Auto" setting. Next night, we spent a warm night with only the heat running.

He had mentioned that the system was designed with the double operation when it was set to heat. He said it was to more quickly move the warm air throughout the unit when you first enter a cold unit. Something that was forgotten in the introduction.
Don & Deb: US Army CW2(R), DECA AstMgr(R) USPS Letr Carrier(R)
2016 Ford F250 Lariat Supercrewcab 6.2Ltr V8 4X4
2017 Dutchman DENALI 289RK
Ford in dash MTD Prodigy Type Brake Control
Hensley Arrow Anti-Sway Device

Cajun_Bill
Explorer
Explorer
thanks to all. The camper is set up at a hunting location so I can't test your suggestions until this weekend, but I'll try all the recommendations and advise next week when I get back from opening day. Wish me luck!

MFL
Nomad II
Nomad II
You may have to set your thermostat fan adjustment to auto, rather than low or high, to keep AC fan from running. In any case, you should have more than one heat vent in a 26' TT.

Jerry

Swell1
Explorer
Explorer
I had a 2012 Dutchman that you had to turn the fan off on the wall controller.
Makes a big difference with it turned off.
2017 SportTrek 271 VRB
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Steeljag
Explorer
Explorer
Is it a dometic unit ? Digital readout ?

You "should" have gas heat vents coming from the floor area ( if not on floor, look at the bottom of cabinets and bed frames, or low on walls.

The roof mounted AC may have a heat strip also.

If you have the digital display, you may be running both gas and electric heatstrip / fan at the same time.

Look closely at your digital display. You can select just heat (gas), heat strip ( electric), fan, high / low, etc.

Hope this helps !
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2010 Flagstaff 26RLS (Sold)
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Going where the weather suits my clothes !

Helimech
Explorer
Explorer
The "vent" under the stove is the heater intake. There shouldn't be any air blowing out of there.