Dash Heater Doesn't Get Hot

[Craig P.]

I posted this question in the FCOC forum and received mixed replies. I initially thought this was a Freightliner issue, but am now wondering if is a Fleetwood issue.

For those of you that own Fleetwood diesel pushers: does your dash controlled heater produce warm air, or hot air as it should? Mine never produces anything but luke warm air, regardless of the heat setting. I've checked all of my heater hoses and valves and everything appears to be correct.

Some Tiffin coach owners have reported the same issue, while other brand owners report an abundance of heat.

Craig

[stuhly]

My 06 Providence puts out warm air, well almost. It is such a long run from the engine to the front with the hoses exposed in the frame rails. They also are not insulated. I think a boost pump in the line would help some along with some insulating wrap. We just run with the furnace on and the front heater set on recirculating heat.

[Craig P.]

Thanks for the reply Stuhly. At least I now know that I am not alone and there is no need to take It to the dealer.

Craig

[mgosselin]

Our 07 Discovery puts out warm air, but I would not call it hot. When traveling in really cold temps we usually turn the LP heat on because the kids start to complain.

[Craig P.]

Thanks for the reply Mike. Based on your profile photo, you folks do some serious cold weather camping!

Craig

[mgosselin]

Yes, we spend about two to three weeks a year skiing in Mammoth California & The Canyons in Utah.

[jimbo16720]

I don't know if they are anything like tractortrailers but they actually have a valve out by the engine to shut the hot water off going to the heater core. Maybe the diesel motorhomes do to. It looked just like the valve for an outside spigot.

[Craig P.]

Quote:

Originally Posted by jimbo16720 I don't know if they are anything like tractortrailers but they actually have a valve out by the engine to shut the hot water off going to the heater core. Maybe the diesel motorhomes do to. It looked just like the valve for an outside spigot.

Yep, checked those already and they're both open. Thanks anyway.

Craig

[jauguston]

Hi again I was just wasting time before dinner and starter reading posts you had started. The one about no or poor heat from your heater. I had the same issue with this thing when I bought it. I found a rather unusual problem that fixed it. Under the hood is a black plastic plenum chamber with the vacuum operated fresh air door in the lower front of it that is screwed to the firewall. The firewall has a foam facing on the front side I assume for sound reduction. The plenum plastic is rather thin and the moron that screwed it to the firewall didn't know when to quit with the screw gun and tightened them down onto the foam until the plastic broke around the screws. I was looking around under there and the plenum was as much as a 1/2" gap between the plastic flange and the foam. Most of the broken areas are on top and hard to see. I drilled new holes where the flange was still good and used wide area fender washers and carefully pulled it back together. Heats good now. Its worth taking a look at if it is like mine. My plenum has a little sticker on it that say its a Evans Tempcon.

Jim

[Chaffeekid]

Ours is the same, only warm air, not hot. I noticed that JC Whitney sells an auxillary heater for vans, have been thinking on what type of mod would be needed for an install in the RV. ....Just thinking

I will be checking on that plentuim to make sure it is not messed up as stated by Jim. We have driven ours to St Louis a couple of times with temps in the 20's and 30's and it just doesn't get hot at all. May also look at insulation on the hoses from the engine.

Happy Trails, spring is just around the corner, now if we can only determine the length of the block

Jim

[Chuck Linn]

For some reason I found that just running the defroster seems to warm up the coach as my heater works about the same in really cold air it is cold in the coach. Someone said something about running the heater while you are driving is that not going to hurt any thing if it isn't I am going to start running mine. Do I also need to turn on the genset?

[jauguston]

If you find the plenum is not sealed to the firewall and are able to fix that you will not need to do anything else. If adding screws is not sufficient body sealer the putty like stuff that it 1" wide and 1/8" thick and comes in a roll can help. The air that is leaking through the gap is bypassing the heater core. For maximum heating the heater control should be set on the setting that keeps the vacuum operated door on the plenum closed. On my heater that is the first setting to the right of off.

Jim

[jauguston]

Chuck,

Do you want to rethink and rewrite what you just posted? It doesn't make a lot of sense.

Jim

[jimbo16720]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Craig P. I posted this question in the FCOC forum and received mixed replies. I initially thought this was a Freightliner issue, but am now wondering if is a Fleetwood issue. For those of you that own Fleetwood diesel pushers: does your dash controlled heater produce warm air, or hot air as it should? Mine never produces anything but luke warm air, regardless of the heat setting. I've checked all of my heater hoses and valves and everything appears to be correct. Some Tiffin coach owners have reported the same issue, while other brand owners report an abundance of heat. Craig

Being it's diesel make sure that the valve for the heater hoses are opened. When I drove truck they have valves like for outside water supply in the engine compartment that you could shut the water off going to your heater core by shutting the valves. I don't know if they do it on motorhomes or not but I'd check.