Adding a Cold Air Return to the Bed Pedestal for Aqua/Hydro-Hot

[Audrey & John]

We stopped by Aqua-Hot Systems in Fort Lupton Colorado and asked them to reviewed the Aqua-Hot installation in our 2006 36FDDS Alpine. Our main complaint was the very weak flow of hot air out of the vents in the bed pedestal. They quickly identified the problem "” the heat exchanger inside the bed pedestal did not have a cold air return vent. It was easy to demonstrate the difference with adequate cold air return by simply opening one of the access hatches under the bed. The hot air flow out of the bed vents was significantly stronger.

We added a vent by cutting a hole in the bed pedestal near the bottom center of the bed and now the bedroom heating is significantly improved. This location puts the vent nearest the heat exchanger under the bed, which they advised.



We didn't expect to run into the metal post in the center of the bed pedestal (oops!) otherwise we would have offset the vent to one side of the post. However we were able to trim our vent (from Home Depot) to fit around the metal post and by judicious use of black tape the metal post is no longer obviously seen through the vent.



The heat exchanger under our couch has ducting of wood construction which does not deflect the heat low enough to exit under the front. On cold nights we remove the front of the couch so the heat can get into the living area. This week we saw the 2009 34FDDS Limited SE and noticed that Western RV has solved this problem by using a special vent which attaches to the cut-out on the front of the couch.

John

[Audrey & John]

We stopped by Aqua-Hot Systems in Fort Lupton Colorado and asked them to reviewed the Aqua-Hot installation in our 2006 36FDDS Alpine. Our main complaint was the very weak flow of hot air out of the vents in the bed pedestal. They quickly identified the problem "” the heat exchanger inside the bed pedestal did not have a cold air return vent. It was easy to demonstrate the difference with adequate cold air return by simply opening one of the access hatches under the bed. The hot air flow out of the bed vents was significantly stronger.

We added a vent by cutting a hole in the bed pedestal near the bottom center of the bed and now the bedroom heating is significantly improved. This location puts the vent nearest the heat exchanger under the bed, which they advised.



We didn't expect to run into the metal post in the center of the bed pedestal (oops!) otherwise we would have offset the vent to one side of the post. However we were able to trim our vent (from Home Depot) to fit around the metal post and by judicious use of black tape the metal post is no longer obviously seen through the vent.



The heat exchanger under our couch has ducting of wood construction which does not deflect the heat low enough to exit under the front. On cold nights we remove the front of the couch so the heat can get into the living area. This week we saw the 2009 34FDDS Limited SE and noticed that Western RV has solved this problem by using a special vent which attaches to the cut-out on the front of the couch.

John

[EngineerMike]

John- The 08's have a make-up air vent just to the left of center of the bed box by where you put your new vent (this might have been added in 07 or maybe mid year earlier; I don't recall it in our 06).

[big jimbo]

Our 06 Apex has the same stupid plywood ducting under the couch. I am going to make a shroud out of sheet metal and divert the air downward and see how that works.

There have been many things on our coach that make me wonder what they were thinking, or if they were, when they designed it.

[dgerstel]

Jim,

Our coach had a molded piece that directed the heated air down and slightly out from under the coach. I found that this mainly created a warm spot on the tile floor and didn't supply enough warm air into the living area. I made 2 "air ducts" out of 2 45 degree 1½" plastic pipe fittings assembled with 1 angled down into the next that was angled up. This way they drop down off of the slide and direct the air straight out into the living area. This has worked much better.

[Audrey & John]

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by EngineerMike:
John- The 08's have a make-up air vent just to the left of center of the bed box by where you put your new vent (this might have been added in 07 or maybe mid year earlier; I don't recall it in our 06). </div></BLOCKQUOTE>
Thanks for that tidbit. Somehow we didn't notice that when we recently toured an '09.

Audrey

[Audrey & John]

I spoke to another '08 owner who said that he also had a cold air return vent in his bed pedestal. He said that in his opinion it wasn't a big enough hole.

But we looked at the new 34 foot '09 Limited SE with aqua-hot again and there is no cold air return vent in its bed pedestal.

Audrey