Heating system

jmaguire

Well-known member
Are there any high efficiency heating systems for our rigs. I assume most of us have the same type of heater. I was just wondering if there were any upgrades to the furnaces that can be installed in our units?
 

cashb

Well-known member
Do you mean factory installed or dealer installed? To my knowledge, the factory installs only the 35k btu... there are higher btu furnaces but, the fit, and cycle time for size of rig could be an issue.
 

jmaguire

Well-known member
I'm not talking about BTU's, I mean higher efficiency systems. Something better than what we got.
 

lwmcguir

Well-known member
Best way to go is with the heat pumps and portable heaters for efficiency. Electric is going to be the cheapest in the future and is now compared to propane. Don't help with the basement heat unless you put a ceramic heater down there. I ask about the rating on the furnace and looked at the data. Was told it was 80% but didn't see that written down anywhere. I think it is probably less than 80 based on the design and the temp of our exhaust. Neighbor has two heat pumps on his unit and the newer ones will go down to 10 or so and still work. The old ones went over to the heat strips at 30-35 degrees. Unfortunately the campers use the 120 volt instead of the more efficient 220 volt units. Maybe a few exceptions but that is what we have anyway. Let us know if you find somthing better.
 

cashb

Well-known member
Sorry, misread the efficiency!! We had a heat pump in our old rig and it worked very well. Supplimented with space heaters, as our furnace never did work very well. I guess it depends also on whether your electric comes included with a camping site!
 

jbeletti

Well-known member
John,

We don't offer any furnace options.

Your furnace is made by Suburban. I "believe" they are the NT series. Here's a link to the furnace products from Suburban.

Jim
 

jmaguire

Well-known member
Thanks for the replies guys. I guess it was just wishful thinking that maybe there was some type of super high efficiency furnaces available. I am in the HVAC business and technology has come a long way in the past 20 years, but with the rv heaters other than electronic ignition they haven"t changed very much.
 

caissiel

Senior Member
If there was some way of circulating air in the basement like the furnace does it would possibly to be more efficient by using heatpumps. Here in the North the house units give off heat till 0 deg F and then electricity kicks in. I have used the fireplace running most of the time and the Furnace kicking in at a lower setting and it worked well in heating the Basement. Most of the time the outside temperature fell below 32F the furnace had to supplement the fireplace. The fireplace has no waist of heat like the 40,000BTU Propane furnace that I have in my unit. I did the calculation and 30Lbs of propane would last 11 Hrs if the furnace would run none stop. This fall the propane use was 30Lbs per week, I was satisfied with the consumtion, considering it was under freezing most of the time for 3 weeks. I was using Electricity from my house that is tax deductible because I have 2 Heated Appartments in the house.
 

jmgratz

Original Owners Club Member
I wish there was a way to take the furnace exhaust (which is hot air) and route that heated air into the basement or underbelly instead of just out into the outside air. Just think of all of the heated air that is being wasted.
 

caissiel

Senior Member
So true, but its to hot coming out of there. I am sure the designers of the Furnaces have tought of that one and the passage allows to take the most out of the heat. Could recycle through the hot water heater?????
 

2010augusta

Well-known member
If there was some way of circulating air in the basement like the furnace does it would possibly to be more efficient by using heatpumps. Here in the North the house units give off heat till 0 deg F and then electricity kicks in. I have used the fireplace running most of the time and the Furnace kicking in at a lower setting and it worked well in heating the Basement. Most of the time the outside temperature fell below 32F the furnace had to supplement the fireplace. The fireplace has no waist of heat like the 40,000BTU Propane furnace that I have in my unit. I did the calculation and 30Lbs of propane would last 11 Hrs if the furnace would run none stop. This fall the propane use was 30Lbs per week, I was satisfied with the consumtion, considering it was under freezing most of the time for 3 weeks. I was using Electricity from my house that is tax deductible because I have 2 Heated Appartments in the house.


westxsrt10, wired up a switch to run the furnance blower without the furnace running, this will circulate the air in side the coach into the basement.

here is the tread
 

2010augusta

Well-known member
I wish there was a way to take the furnace exhaust (which is hot air) and route that heated air into the basement or underbelly instead of just out into the outside air. Just think of all of the heated air that is being wasted.

being exhaust is has a lot of moisture and CO/CO2 that you do not want in the basement.
 

jmgratz

Original Owners Club Member
being exhaust is has a lot of moisture and CO/CO2 that you do not want in the basement.

I thought it was something like that. Too bad. How about if we all turned our heaters on at once then the exhaust will heat up the outside so it won't be so cold outside:D:D:D:D
 

caissiel

Senior Member
What if we all ran around the park and our heat generated would heat up the park.

Great Idea, I will set this up when I am back in the south and its warmer then now. I am all for better performance. I believe the 3 way Sw. is at the furnace
 

2010augusta

Well-known member
I thought it was something like that. Too bad. How about if we all turned our heaters on at once then the exhaust will heat up the outside so it won't be so cold outside:D:D:D:D


exactly, we had a cold snap (mid 20's) and I checked my outside temp on the weather station and it read 67*F, I forgot the we had the dryer on and the vent must have been blowing down and in the DS propane storage where we have the sensor mounted.
 

rick_debbie_gallant

Well-known member
exactly, we had a cold snap (mid 20's) and I checked my outside temp on the weather station and it read 67*F, I forgot the we had the dryer on and the vent must have been blowing down and in the DS propane storage where we have the sensor mounted.


I think that is what has the "global warming freaks" (Al Gore and fiends) all geeked up. The global warming temperature sensors are located in front of their mouths. When ever they open them (their mouths) the hot air messes up the sensors, thus global warming. As John Stossel would say "Give me a break"!
 
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