Do Bounder's have gas and electric heat?

[Camping4fun]

When turning the heat on this morning I noticed the thermostat said gas or electric heat, so I turned on the electric first and it started blowing out the a/c vents but did not feel warm at all so I turned it to gas and it started coming out the floor vents warm. Now it's like 40 outside today so heres my question do we have electric heat in our bounders? I know if we do its like a heat pump and wont work in real cold weather like 40 and if we do how does it work? I can't find anything in the owners manual at all.
we have so many things on the motorhome that we don't know anything about like the satallite dish, the Magnum Energy inverter MM-RC and now this. When we bought the motorhome we asked the salesman about some of this stuff and got a stupid look from him and a reply its all in your owners manual take time to read it.

[genesimmons]

my 07 35e has heat pump and it works,just takes awhile to warm up. you can switch between the two or run both gas and elec.

[buck62]

You could have either electric heat strips or heat pumps in your air conditioners. The electric heat strips will just allow air to blow across the heat strips so that warm air is coming out of the top vents. If you have heat pumps then warm air will come out of the top vents until the outside temp drops below the heat pump operating ranges. On my Revolution I have heat pumps but when the temp drops so they will not work, then the gas furnaces kick in automatically. My thermostat has a cool, electric and gas setting on it.

[Camping4fun]

How can I tell if I've got a heat pump or the heat stripes? I can't find any info on this in any of the manuals. Thanks for all the help.

[njs42]

Just a guess----heat strips do not require the compressor to run---so with heat strips you would hear the fan and not the compressor---which would seem to logically say the unit would sound different------heat pump would sound the same as AC---heat strips would not??

[pcurt23]

I have an 07 bounder diesel with heat pumps on the roof. The thermostat gives a choice between gas and electric heat. If you set it on electric then the heat pumps put out heat instead of cold. It takes a few minutes for the heated air to come out of the vents. Some units have one some have two heat pumps on the roof. Mine do not operate very well below 40 degrees. Below 40 I just set it on gas.

The operation of the heat pump and the gas furnace is somewhat complicated. If set on electric, the gas heat will come on if the temperature in the coach is more than 5 degrees colder than the the thermostat setting. When I turn up the heat in the morning, I keep the adjustments to 4 degrees at a time so that the electric heat will warm the coach. This requires more than one thermostat adjustment to get the coach to 70 degrees or so but it saves propane. If you go more than 5 degrees then the furnace as well as the heat pumps will run and heat the coach faster. Experiment with the heat settings and you will learn the system.

[Elkhartjim]

Quote:

Originally Posted by pcurt23 I have an 07 bounder diesel with heat pumps on the roof. The thermostat gives a choice between gas and electric heat. If you set it on electric then the heat pumps put out heat instead of cold. It takes a few minutes for the heated air to come out of the vents. Some units have one some have two heat pumps on the roof. Mine do not operate very well below 40 degrees. Below 40 I just set it on gas. The operation of the heat pump and the gas furnace is somewhat complicated. If set on electric, the gas heat will come on if the temperature in the coach is more than 5 degrees colder than the the thermostat setting. When I turn up the heat in the morning, I keep the adjustments to 4 degrees at a time so that the electric heat will warm the coach. This requires more than one thermostat adjustment to get the coach to 70 degrees or so but it saves propane. If you go more than 5 degrees then the furnace as well as the heat pumps will run and heat the coach faster. Experiment with the heat settings and you will learn the system.

Exactly how ours work.

BTW...there is a lot of good info in the manuals that you will need at some point.

[JohnRR]

Quote:

Originally Posted by pcurt23 The operation of the heat pump and the gas furnace is somewhat complicated. If set on electric, the gas heat will come on if the temperature in the coach is more than 5 degrees colder than the the thermostat setting. When I turn up the heat in the morning, I keep the adjustments to 4 degrees at a time so that the electric heat will warm the coach. This requires more than one thermostat adjustment to get the coach to 70 degrees or so but it saves propane. If you go more than 5 degrees then the furnace as well as the heat pumps will run and heat the coach faster. Experiment with the heat settings and you will learn the system.

I learn something new every day, Thank you.

[NLOVNIT]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Camping4fun How can I tell if I've got a heat pump or the heat stripes? I can't find any info on this in any of the manuals. Thanks for all the help.

You have heat pumps. When you turn on the electric heat, you'll hear the compressors come on within a few seconds. They'll also help remove humidity (just like the A/C).

pcurt is correct, they won't put out much heat at 40-degrees or below (not enough heat to extract from the air to provide) & you have to keep the difference between the inside temp & the setting to less than 5-degrees to keep the gas from coming on as a boost. When I have patience, I'll do the multiple thermostat adjustments, other times, I just crank the thermostat up & let the gas come on enough to warm it up until the heat pumps can take over & keep the set temp.

Lori-

[Camping4fun]

Thanks for all the good info.

[Muddypaws]

All fo our RV's to this one have had only gas heaters and my DW would actually get up in the middle of the night and turn them off because of the noise woke her up. Then we'd get up in the morning and it would be 40F inside!

Our Bounder has two forced air heaters and I can't believe the difference. They are the quietest RV heaters I've ever seen. And it also has heat pumps but they are so LOUD we hardly ever use them. We bought a Lasko Designer Series heater at Wally World and that thing is so quiet you have to look at it to tell if it's running. It gets used more than all of the others. See attached image.

Muddypaws

[TXiceman]

Quote:

Originally Posted by NLOVNIT They'll also help remove humidity (just like the A/C). Lori-

Lori, the heat pump does not remove any moisture from the air. Look at a psychometric chart and follow a heating process. You blow air over a warm coil and it drives you away from the dew point line. But the air has the same amount of water vapor.
http://mrf79.design.officelive.com/D...206%28b%29.pdf
Changing Air Condition by Heating, Cooling, Mixing, Humidifying or Dehumidifying Processes

And as noted, a heat pump operates best above about 40 dF.

The quality of the heat from a heat pump is lower, ie cooler than a gas furnace or electric furnace. It will take longer for the heat pump to warm an area.

Ken

[NLOVNIT]

Hmmm, that's interesting Ken. Thanks for the charts, but I don't understand any of it. I'm equation challenged - I barely passed algebra.

I get water dripping off my gutters with the heat pumps the same as I do when I run the A/C. If the heat pump doesn't remove water, where's that water coming from? Sorry if I mispoke.

Lori-

[chili's trip]

Quote:

Originally Posted by NLOVNIT Hmmm, that's interesting Ken. Thanks for the charts, but I don't understand any of it. I'm equation challenged - I barely passed algebra. I get water dripping off my gutters with the heat pumps the same as I do when I run the A/C. If the heat pump doesn't remove water, where's that water coming from? Sorry if I mispoke. Lori-

Just a guess but as the heat pump works by reversing the ac cycle, ie the condenser becomes the evaporator, and the evaporator becomes the condenser, you still have water condensation. The difference is the water is being condensed is from the atmosphere rather than from the interior of the motorhome. Thus water dripping from the roof. Good luck.