Generator use - Bay door open or closed?

TxRoadWarrior362 · Oct 2, 2016

Hello-

We are new to the site, and fifth wheel. We have a 2017 Road Warrior 362. The generator bay is fully enclosed. Should we leave the bay door open while the generator is running?

Thanks in advance,
Tim and Kristy

jimtoo · Oct 2, 2016

Hi Tim and Kristy.

Welcome to the Heartland Owners Forum and to the family. We have a great bunch of folks here with lots of information and all willing to share their knowledge when needed.

I'm sure some of our other members with generators will chime in soon with their recommendations for you.

Be sure and check out our Heartland Owners Club. Join us at a rally when you can and meet lots of the great folks here and make friends for a lifetime.

Enjoy the forum and your new unit.

Jim M

MTPockets · Oct 2, 2016

We have the Onan 5500 propane generator in our Big Horn and never open the door. It's open on the bottom and door closed provides more sound insulation.

TxRoadWarrior362 · Oct 2, 2016

jimtoo said:
Hi Tim and Kristy.

Welcome to the Heartland Owners Forum and to the family. We have a great bunch of folks here with lots of information and all willing to share their knowledge when needed.

I'm sure some of our other members with generators will chime in soon with their recommendations for you.

Be sure and check out our Heartland Owners Club. Join us at a rally when you can and meet lots of the great folks here and make friends for a lifetime.

Enjoy the forum and your new unit.

Jim M

Thanks Jim, I'll check out the owners club.

Tim

ram_1955 · Oct 2, 2016

MTPockets said:
We have the Onan 5500 propane generator in our Big Horn and never open the door. It's open on the bottom and door closed provides more sound insulation.

X2 with MTPockets

TxRoadWarrior362 · Oct 2, 2016

MTPockets said:
We have the Onan 5500 propane generator in our Big Horn and never open the door. It's open on the bottom and door closed provides more sound insulation.

Thanks for the reply. Our unit is gas, and I wasn't sure.

Tim

avvidclif · Oct 2, 2016

TxRoadWarrior362 said:
Hello-

We are new to the site, and fifth wheel. We have a 2017 Road Warrior 362. The generator bay is fully enclosed. Should we leave the bay door open while the generator is running?

Thanks in advance,
Tim and Kristy

It depends. If out by ourself where a little more noise won't bother anyone I leave it open. It's a hot spot under the bed. It won't affect the generator cooling itself just the compartment will be cooler.

As far as noise it makes no difference on the inside.

TxRoadWarrior362 · Oct 2, 2016

avvidclif said:
It depends. If out by ourself where a little more noise won't bother anyone I leave it open. It's a hot spot under the bed. It won't affect the generator cooling itself just the compartment will be cooler.

As far as noise it makes no difference on the inside.

Thanks Clif

Jim.Allison · Oct 2, 2016

I ran mine during some hot west Texas days. One day I ran it with the door closed, and the heat wrinkled my garage door.

Sarge · Oct 3, 2016

TxRoadWarrior362 said:
Hello-

We are new to the site, and fifth wheel. We have a 2017 Road Warrior 362. The generator bay is fully enclosed. Should we leave the bay door open while the generator is running?

Thanks in advance,
Tim and Kristy

I've never run the gen with the bay door open -

Zero issues....

Sarge

IronJ · Oct 3, 2016

The compartment will stay cooler (and dirtier) with the door open...

That said , I've used my temp gun on it running open and closed and the unit itself runs about same temp...

sent from space via an invisible beam from a flying metal dish

ATM · Oct 3, 2016

We have a couple hundred hours on our generator now, all with the door closed. Currently do not even have a means of keeping it open, I am not sure why they did not install some kind of prop. The door is kind of a pain when trying to access the batteries, etc.

Lynn1130 · Oct 3, 2016

Mine has a latch to hold the door open to allow oil changes, battery work etc but I don't open the door to run the generator and have had no issues.

TxRoadWarrior362 · Oct 3, 2016

Thanks for all the replys. I will keep the door closed.

We take our first trip this weekend to Stillwater, OK (531 miles). Going to visit our son at OSU, and watch the Pokes beat up on Iowa. Wish us luck.

Thanks again,
Tim

- - - Updated - - -

The new combo

HornedToad · Oct 3, 2016

I'm going to guess the seams on a generator box are sealed with silicone and it has a gasket for a reason... To keep it airtight when it's closed??? Per the manual you do not want to operate the generator with the front panel off as it would cancel the effect of the air cooling flow that circulates from underneath.

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ATM · Oct 4, 2016

Lynn1130 said:
Mine has a latch to hold the door open to allow oil changes, battery work etc but I don't open the door to run the generator and have had no issues.

The more I ask questions and read, the more I find that it seems they are dropping little features that make one's life a whole bunch easier.

- - - Updated - - -

HornedToad said:
I'm going to guess the seams on a generator box are sealed with silicone and it has a gasket for a reason... To keep it airtight when it's closed??? Per the manual you do not want to operate the generator with the front panel off as it would cancel the effect of the air cooling flow that circulates from underneath.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Forgot to mention that, when I checked ours out it is designed to cool through the floor.

porthole · Oct 11, 2016

For us it depends on how long the genny will be running. Noise level - it makes very little difference.

If it is running all day I will latch the door open.
If it will be running all night I'll un latch the door and just leave it where it hangs naturally. Only so the compartment is not visible to all walking by.

If for short periods I just leave the door closed.

The snap on cover on the front of the genny has to remain in place while operating to get proper air flow through the genny housing.

coltsdad · Oct 11, 2016

We have a Torque 380 and I have run the generator several times on the road to cool the coach down so its not hot when we get to where we are going. I have noticed that the inside of the door has wrinkled from the heat from it running. The generators are designed to run in a closed compartment so it shouldn't hurt anything.

TxRoadWarrior362 · Oct 12, 2016

coltsdad said:
We have a Torque 380 and I have run the generator several times on the road to cool the coach down so its not hot when we get to where we are going. I have noticed that the inside of the door has wrinkled from the heat from it running. The generators are designed to run in a closed compartment so it shouldn't hurt anything.

thanks Jason

Generator use - Bay door open or closed?

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