Bay Heater

[popcorn]

My recently purchased 2008 HR Neptune XL has what they call a bay heater. Never had one of these before so not familiar with one. Any experience with them? Does it protect all under floor water lines and tanks in freezing temps? Where is it located? Thanks.

[oldguy70]

I have a 98 Dynasty and my bay water compartment gets heat from the furnace and I just bought a small heater that I am going to put in the bay water compartment for when I'm driving. It will be hooked up in series with the heater I put in the coach. I have
re-insulated the water compartment so I don't expect to have any problems. I my coach
all my hoses are in the water compartment or in the coach except the ice maker hose
which I have disconnected and drained.

[jacwjames]

If your bay heater is like mine it is located in the same compartment as the fresh, grey, and black water. Mine is tucked under the front façade of the compartment where the grey and black water dump valves are.

These heaters supply about 250-350 watt of heat, not really enough to keep the compartment warm in temperatures much below freezing.

I have a propane furnace that does provide heat to the basement, if you are in moderately cold temperatures it will keep the basement warm.

If you plan on spending much time in cold weather you should consider alternate heat sources like a small ceramic heater.

[nodine]

Originally Posted by popcorn

My recently purchased 2008 HR Neptune XL has what they call a bay heater. Never had one of these before so not familiar with one. Any experience with them? Does it protect all under floor water lines and tanks in freezing temps? Where is it located? Thanks.

popcorn,

One of my big disappointments with our 2006 Diplomat when we purchased it was the discovery that Monaco did not provide any heat to the tank area other than the bay heater. I know some coach price points above the Diplomat do have more than one source of heat available to the tank area but your coach and our coach do not have ducted heat from the propane furnace to protect the tanks and water lines from freezing. An option from Monaco was heat pads under the tanks but our coach only has the bay heater. You may have the heat pads. The bay heaters are very unreliable and fail often. It is not if your bay heater will fail but when it will fail. Many of us have repaired the bay heaters and used a higher current rated thermal fuse to improve reliability.

I do not trust the bay heater and have added 110 VAC ceramic heaters supplied from the block heater outlet in the engine compartment. The block heater has a dedicated circuit breaker in the AC breaker panel and those heaters are easy to turn off with that breaker when desired. We have never found the need for the block heater and the Cummins has cranked when the outside temp was 18 degrees. We do have good chassis batteries and keep them charged 24/7 because the coach is always plugged into 50 amp power and parked next to the house. If your coach is in a storage area then you should seriously consider winterizing it. We never winterize our coach and use it almost every month of the year.

We have multiple wireless thermometers in the tank area and can monitor the temps inside the coach and from the stick house. If we are driving in cold weather and the 12 VDC bay heater should fail to keep the tanks warm we turn on the generator and the 110 VAC ceramic heaters do the job. Another thing we don't like about the 12 VDC bay heater is the snap disk that controls the heater via temp is mounted high up on the frame. I was always taught that cold air sinks and hot air rises. Seems to me the snap disk should be lower in the compartment.

Here is a photo of our road side tank compartment with the panel removed. If you look in the bottom center you can see the bay heater on the left and the 110 VAC ceramic heater on the right. I was able to install the ceramic heater without removing the large white panel and this photo was taken when we were installing the Seelevel tank monitoring system.
http://www.irv2.com/photopost/data/5...hout_panel.jpg

The next photo is a wiring schematic of for the bay heater and the optional heat pads.
http://www.irv2.com/photopost/data/5...6_Diplomat.jpg

This photo shows the tank compartment from the street side and you can see the ceramic heater we installed sitting on top of the black tank. You can also see a wireless thermometer sitting on top of the fresh water tank.
http://www.irv2.com/attachments/phot...curb_side1.jpg

Hope this helps you understand your tank compartment and the options you have available to keep it from freezing in the winter. When every you have 110 VAC available you can simply place a small ceramic heater inside the compartment and plug it in. Purchase a heater with a thermostat.

Bob

[popcorn]

Thanks for the reply Bob. Kind of what I thought. Up here in northern MN it's nothing to rely on so I won't. I do winterize the motorhome but leave for FL in Nov. or Dec. and like to put water in before we leave. Guess it will have to wait a day or so further south to put in water.
Jim

[JohnBoyToo]

A couple of cases of bottled water in the fridge for the 'intake'
and grab a couple of empty 1/2 gallon bottles to fill with water for the 'output'
and store them in the shower for the ride down and you're all set

[Long Island Mac]

Our bay heater supplies good heat, but not enough to the whole compartment. A design flaw is that the water filter is on the opposite side of the compartment. Bay heater on driver side, filter on passenger side. Awoke on morning in MD (January) and filter had cracked and was covered in ice. Good old WalMart had the same filter, and after a lot of work replaced filter. After returning home in May, installed 110 socket, pugged in adapter that supplies power when temp goes below 40 degrees, and then plugged in separate ceramic heater. I now have a temperature remote that gives me the temp at the bay heater, the filter and the outside temp so I can monitor from inside house or MH when on the road. Always an adventure!!

[RWeigant]

Well, the bay heater that came with my 2011 Knight is a big pile of C##P. I took it out and put a 200w heater from Walmart. Hooked it to a thermal electrical outlet. This means you need to add 120v to the bay. Easy job. The heater fits perfectly.

[Dupdyke]

Well my dynasty with aquahot must be made different than your newer rig. My AH keeps wet bays well heated and has a heater in the bay with THERMOSTAT of its own. You do need to keep the sliding doors panel between the bays closed to keep heat in the wet bays but I stay out of freezing temps if at all possible.

[flynnwalter]

Popcorn
Our bay heater worked once and then pooped out. Fought for and got another one under warranty and it did the same thing. Apparently there is a fuse that could be bought from Radio Shack that replaces the stock one that blows too easily, but I am not 'up' to replacing it. Further, the bay heater (if it worked) uses 20 amps according to our manual. So it sure ain't gonna work long without shore power--especially if you are in the coach and need heat in the coach as well. Since we live in N. Florida, where it does get down into the 20's maybe a couple nights each year, I just use a 'drop cord light' equipped with a 100 watt bulb for enough heat to more than stave off freezing problems. If I were to be traveling in subfreezing temperature, I would still use such a light and power it from the generator. Forget that dang bay heater and follow the excellent advice previously posted here. BTW are you familiar with the RR4R trailing arms issue--and have yours been replaced? Check out this site and call them if you aren't sure, they are very helpful:Source Engineering Inc | Custom RV Chassis | Eugene, OR
Good Luck!

[CaymanPilot]

Popcorn,
Can you see the heater in the wet bay? Does it something like "Cargo Heat" on it? My original Systems Heat (wet bay) heater had those words on it and it blew a lot of air but never got even close to warm. I took it apart and found a thermistor inside that was fried. I found a replacement thermistor at Radio Shack and installed it and the heater worked again for a few hours and then failed again. So I replaced the entire heater with a marine unit that is much more reliable. You can find them here: DC Thermal SA12-3000*12 Volt 360 Watt 6012 BTU Brushless Cab Heater // www.boatandrvaccessories.comand it looks like they are on sale right now for a pretty decent price. I had to wire in a relay to make the marine heater work but it has kept the plumbing warm now for 5 years now without any problems. Last year we left Illinois 2 days after Christmas in below freezing temps and headed for Florida and the new heater kept things from freezing very nicely.

[CrazyKnight]

Originally Posted by CaymanPilot

Popcorn,
Can you see the heater in the wet bay? Does it something like "Cargo Heat" on it? My original Systems Heat (wet bay) heater had those words on it and it blew a lot of air but never got even close to warm. I took it apart and found a thermistor inside that was fried. I found a replacement thermistor at Radio Shack and installed it and the heater worked again for a few hours and then failed again. So I replaced the entire heater with a marine unit that is much more reliable. You can find them here: DC Thermal SA12-3000*12 Volt 360 Watt 6012 BTU Brushless Cab Heater // www.boatandrvaccessories.comand it looks like they are on sale right now for a pretty decent price. I had to wire in a relay to make the marine heater work but it has kept the plumbing warm now for 5 years now without any problems. Last year we left Illinois 2 days after Christmas in below freezing temps and headed for Florida and the new heater kept things from freezing very nicely.

GREAT looking heater. OEM Cargo Heater is NOT SO GOOD !
It might be "Christmas" time being that they are on sale.
Did you wire in a thermal relay ? to control the heater cycling on and off automatically ?

Thanks for the info !

[Flaggy]

I used a 110 volt ceramic heater in our bay. It works great!


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[RWeigant]

Lot of money for a over size heater. I bought this
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00...=sr_1_1&sr=8-1
and a cheep 200w heater from Walmart.