Heater info reply to posts from other topics

[dgerstel]

Schnieb and TedIII

Here is what I did to my 2002 34fdds to cure the "cold front, hot bedroom" problem the best that I can remember.

The duct to the front heater vent came out of the heater plenum toward the center of the coach, did a more than 90 degree bend to the front, had a few ties squeezing the duct, ran into an adapter that caused the heated air to blow against the wall. I cut a hole in the front of the plenum, moved the present adapter to that hole, sealed the old hole. Changed the old soft ducting to rigid ducting that I got from Home Depot. I changed the adapter into the floor heater vent with 1 heater vent sized rectangle to round duct size straight adapter and 1 90 degree duct sized adapter that I pointed toward the plenum in the rear. I then got a new heater vent with angled vanes directing the air to both sides and a lower set of vanes used to be able to close the vent. I bent the vanes on one side of the vent to the same angle as the vanes on the other side. I installed this vent with the vanes directing the air away from the wall into the coach and the lower vanes adjusted to direct the air toward the front of the coach.

Under the refe'r there was a large duct split into 2 smaller ducts. one going into the basement and 1 to the round vent behind the dinette. I changed this to 1 large duct going to the vent behind the dinette and sealed the hold in the floor to the basement. I made a small opening in the duct to the bedroom to take the place of the small duct that I had just removed.

I replaced the 2 vents in the bedroom with adjustable vents that I could use to restrict the bedroom heat.

With this set up and watching that the recliner was not blocking the front vent flow I found the heat in the coach to be balanced quite well

I also made baffles to reduce the noise and installed a filter behind the return air inlet.

I hope I have stated this so that it can be understood.

Dale

[dgerstel]

Schnieb and TedIII

Here is what I did to my 2002 34fdds to cure the "cold front, hot bedroom" problem the best that I can remember.

The duct to the front heater vent came out of the heater plenum toward the center of the coach, did a more than 90 degree bend to the front, had a few ties squeezing the duct, ran into an adapter that caused the heated air to blow against the wall. I cut a hole in the front of the plenum, moved the present adapter to that hole, sealed the old hole. Changed the old soft ducting to rigid ducting that I got from Home Depot. I changed the adapter into the floor heater vent with 1 heater vent sized rectangle to round duct size straight adapter and 1 90 degree duct sized adapter that I pointed toward the plenum in the rear. I then got a new heater vent with angled vanes directing the air to both sides and a lower set of vanes used to be able to close the vent. I bent the vanes on one side of the vent to the same angle as the vanes on the other side. I installed this vent with the vanes directing the air away from the wall into the coach and the lower vanes adjusted to direct the air toward the front of the coach.

Under the refe'r there was a large duct split into 2 smaller ducts. one going into the basement and 1 to the round vent behind the dinette. I changed this to 1 large duct going to the vent behind the dinette and sealed the hold in the floor to the basement. I made a small opening in the duct to the bedroom to take the place of the small duct that I had just removed.

I replaced the 2 vents in the bedroom with adjustable vents that I could use to restrict the bedroom heat.

With this set up and watching that the recliner was not blocking the front vent flow I found the heat in the coach to be balanced quite well

I also made baffles to reduce the noise and installed a filter behind the return air inlet.

I hope I have stated this so that it can be understood.

Dale

[Rick Coleman]

What kind of filter did you install behind the return air inlet under the refrigerator? Does it still allow enough cool air in to allow the furnace to avoid overheating?

Anything that will reduce the noise is worth hearing about. I have noticed in my coach that the right side of the compartment is completely open to the sliding door cavity, allowing a lot of noise out.

I looked into a noise reduction kit that one of our members devised for his coach, but the furnace compartment of my '05 36MDDS appears to be completely different than the compartment in his '99, so the kit would have to be completely modified.

Any thoughts on noise reduction from the furnace compartment? Noise reduction from ducting and vents seems to have been very thoroughly covered before in several threads.

Thanks

[dgerstel]

Rick,

This is all from my poor memory, although my old coach is in town, so with some effort I could check it and take some photos if enough people need it.

I installed a panel of thin plywood to seal the opening between the cabinet and the sliding door. I covered this with that foil covered bubble insulation. I also made a panel mounted on angle brackets to the floor between the heater and the opening, covered with the same insulation, this was for noise reduction. I made sure that enough room was left around it for plenty of air flow. There is special noise reduction material that could be used instead of the material that I used, which should make this work even better.

I installed thin plywood panels on each side of the air intake opening and strips of wood across the top and bottom of the opening behind the face of the cabinet. This made a backing for the filter to rest against. I used a electrostatic filter cut to size to fit the opening. The wood intake grill held the filter in place.

I had no problem with air flow and found a good reduction in noise although in was not what iI would call quiet. I did think it was worth the work. This is why I opted for AquaHot on the new coach.

Dale

[Ted III]

Dale, thanks a great deal for your suggestions on the heat distribution and the reduction of noise. I will definitely make some changes.
Good luck with your Aquahot.

[Wally & Debbie]

As the new owner of Dale and Dixies old coach. I can tell you that Dale's memory is very good. I'm constantly finding more and more little things that they have done to this coach that reinforces the reasons why my wife and I fell in love with this coach, The first time Dale and Dixie showed it to us.
Thanks Dale!
Wally

[dgerstel]

Wally and Debbie,

If you can possibly make the Las Vegas rally, I know that you will have a great time and get to meet the great group of Alpine owners.

Thanks for the nice comments.

Dale