Question for Golden Gate owners

davebennington

Senior Member
This question is mainly for the owners of Landmark Golden Gate but of course anybody can chime in.
Recently I found that the return vent to the furnace was open to the mechanical area of the trailer ie the area between the storage area and the living area of the coach. I do not think this is the way it should be setup, I believe that there should be a separator between the mechanical area and the cold return to the furnace in another words the only cold air return going to the furnace should be coming from the interior of the trailer. I have checked with another Landmark owner and his unit did have a wall there. Would any other Landmark Golden Gate owners mind checking to see if the cold air return to the furnace has no other openings (this means that you have to remove the wooden vent cover and look inside).

Thanks for the help

Dave
 

jpmorgan37

Well-known member
Hi Dave;
My Grand Canyon is just like yours. I saw that when I first got my coach. I was securing my furnace to the floor and contemplated putting a partition in there, but figured that by leaving the sliding door from the basement area closed that I would still be drawing most of the return air from the coach. Also it would help exchange some of the air in the mechanical area, which is heated, and keep it warm in freezing temps. So far it has worked well and we haven't had any problem keeping the coach warm in temps as low as 18. Maybe I'm missing something and would like to hear from others.
John
 

jbeletti

Well-known member
M Hamilton also sealed this area up on his new Bighorn. He actually did a smoke test to confirm air was being sucked in from the underbelly area to be used for heating. Once he completed his seal-job, he retested and found that he dramatically reduced the amount of underbelly air being sucked in to be heated.

My Mt. Rushmore has the sink in the slide. As such, I have hot/cold water and gray sewer lines that go through a hole in the under-sink cabinet, then into the area under the refer, where the furnace is, then through another hole in the down into the underbelly. I have considered but never followed through on trying to seal around these plumbing lines/electrical lines that go into the underbelly area but I suppose I could.

I can see how from a heating perspective, it would be better to not heat colder underbelly air. But from an overall perspective, I am not qualified to state whether it is a good thing to do or not (cover the hole). Does room heated air also find its way to the underbelly area in cold weather and help to keep pipes thawed? Is it possible to seal the trailer up too tight (doubt that one).

If I get an '08 unit, I think I will seal it up to try it.

Maybe we have an HVAC pro / trailer owner on the forum that can weigh in.

Jim
 

Midastouch

Well-known member
My Grand Canyon seemed to have cold air coming in from the wooden vent area inside and that concerned me during temps in the low 40's and 30's, I was defeating the purpose of trying to heat the coach with cold air coming in as fast as I was trying to heat the unit. (I use ceramic heaters/fireplace during the day until the temps go down to freezing when I actually turn the furnace on.

John ... this is the concern I had when I PM's you about this and you told me about your furnace not being secured to the floor.

I got some rolled insulation and cut it to tuck up over that"wall" area/sliding doors and the bedroom floor, between the aluminum structures. It seemed to help the "breeze" blowing in through the storage area into the coach. I was concerned as to why it would be set up like this but when it's down in the 20's, I was looking for all possible ways to keep warm and conserve some energy too! (especially that high dollar propane!) Since I'm in my Grand Canyon fulltime also .... I've addressed issues that come up on a day to day basis, so ....
 

davebennington

Senior Member
Thanks to all who have responded.

This is what I have done so far.
1. I used some of the foam siding material that is used on the side of houses in new construction. Build a wall out of it.
2. After installing the siding stuff I used that spray foam (Great stuff I think is the name). sealing around all the wires and pipes.
3. Did a test and it seems that has cured the cold air from coming in the return vent that suppose to be a return to the furnace. Now the only air that goes into the return to the furnace is from the living area of the coach.
4. While I was tearing things up I checked to see why we were not getting a good air flow into the bedroom area. found that the heater hose that runs from the furnace to the bathroom also feeds the bedroom through a narrow vent line. I modified that vent line and got somewhat better air flow. Still not entirely happy with it, will have to look in this futher at a later time.

Dave
 

jbeletti

Well-known member
Dave,

I'm not very original today but I recall from talking to M Hamilton that he swapped the flex hoses coming off the furnace that fed the Bedroom and the Commode room in an effort to get more flow to the Bedroom vent. His testing shows that there is greater air velocity at the output ports at the back of the furnace as opposed to the ports on the side. He said by moving the Bedroom flex hose to the back port, it did improve output at the vent somewhat. Not huge but some gain. He also used high-temp duct tape around those hose connections at the furnace to seal up some leaks.

Jim
 

davebennington

Senior Member
Jim
Thanks for the input. My unit has the hose that goes to the commode room and then on to the bedroom at the back of the furnace already. I think the change that I made has improved the flow, it's just not what comes out of the other vents.

dave
 

jbeletti

Well-known member
Glad you got some flow improvement Dave. I am sure that distance and duct size has a lot to do with what you can get from it.
 
Top