Heated floors...

[az99]

If you plan to ever sell your coach anywhere except extreme south Fla., you better get it. There may be a few people willing to put on slippers,socks and put throw carpets all over but I doubt anyone with the $ to buy DS and up will want to.
Tile without heat under it is ridiculous to begin with in a luxury class MH. It should be standard. The units we are discussing are Newmars. Not Thor,Fleetwood,Coachman or some other cheapo.

[MRUSA14]

Originally Posted by slabman

Not sure how anyone can say heated floors via an AquaHot don't take away from the hot water supply. When using the burner...yes, it should run OK. But don't tell me that when using the electric element heat it doesn't take away from available hot water....unless one turns off the floor heat and waits a period of time for the A-H heat to fully recover. There is only so much heat available from a single element unit and it's barely enough to handle a couple showers, depending on ambient temps, of course. So if you don't mind burning up your own diesel while in a CG, no problem.

But when dry camping, the disadvantage is you DO have to run your generator to have floor heat. In those instances, I run the Oasis and just live with cold feet and socks. The heating blanket feels extra warm under those conditions.

I am not sure what point you intended by posting this but the above is partially misleading and partially incorrect. Of course the Aquahot floor heat competes with hot water production, but who cares? I run the floor heat at night (so I can wake up to warm floors), or when going down the road, and the floor heat is provided by electric (if on shore power) or by the engine (if driving). Who uses hot water in the middle of the night? I only use hot water to shower, in which case I fire up the boiler for ten or fifteen minutes. How much fuel cost does that incur, fifty cents?

When dry camping with Aquahot floor heat, generator is positively NOT needed for floor heat, as the Aquahot provides the heat to the floor. The generator stays off unless needed for other reasons.

The Aquahot floor heat has both advantages and disadvantages versus electric floor heat, this is not disputed. But it is a lot better than no floor heat, and comes standard at no extra cost.

[TMan59]

Originally Posted by BGDDYRV

Why do you wish you had the heated floor...I also planned to not pick.

I like the idea of a nice warm floor in the morning and keeping the coach somewhat warm without the heater running.

It's also one of those things that I can't really add after we buy the coach and our next coach will be everything we ever thought "I'd like that "!

[jmon129]

Originally Posted by MRUSA14

I am not sure what point you intended by posting this but the above is partially misleading and partially incorrect. Of course the Aquahot floor heat competes with hot water production, but who cares? I run the floor heat at night (so I can wake up to warm floors), or when going down the road, and the floor heat is provided by electric (if on shore power) or by the engine (if driving). Who uses hot water in the middle of the night? I only use hot water to shower, in which case I fire up the boiler for ten or fifteen minutes. How much fuel cost does that incur, fifty cents?

When dry camping with Aquahot floor heat, generator is positively NOT needed for floor heat, as the Aquahot provides the heat to the floor. The generator stays off unless needed for other reasons.

The Aquahot floor heat has both advantages and disadvantages versus electric floor heat, this is not disputed. But it is a lot better than no floor heat, and comes standard at no extra cost.

If we are going to be accurate, the cost is built into the price. It certainly isn't a freebie.

I have TRIED to run my so called floor heat off the heat element without using the diesel burner. What am I doing different? It will not keep up. The diesel burner always kicks on. Does the CS have a larger element?

[slabman]

Jack, not sure what kind of coach you have, but last time I checked the entire Entegra lineup used a single electric element, 1650 W Aqua Hot. You have to move up to the top of the line of AH models to get dual elements, which costs more, just like floor heat, of course. I have had experience with that single element unit and it is simply a borderline heating unit, in my opinion. That's why I question the use of it, then diverting heat to the floor, as well as try to heat water. Sure, it can be done, but not without a lot of " four letter" words being spoken in a lot of cases. And of course, if you fire up the burner, there's no problem.

Newmar coaches use the Oasis brand of hydronic heater which has TWO heating elements- one element running off each of the 50 amp legs of power. Of course, when only using a 30 amp service, you only get one element, same as the HH. After two years' use of this dual element system, I can tell you which is the better setup.

[MRUSA14]

Originally Posted by jmon129

[/B]

If we are going to be accurate, the cost is built into the price. It certainly isn't a freebie.

I have TRIED to run my so called floor heat off the heat element without using the diesel burner. What am I doing different? It will not keep up. The diesel burner always kicks on. Does the CS have a larger element?

The cost is indeed built into the price, but that price is cheaper than the competition which has not included floor heat in their price. Does that make it a freebie? Who cares. What matters is the size of the check you write and what you get for it.

Turn your boiler switch off. Then run your floor heat with just the electric heat element on. In the morning you will find that the electric element has warmed your floors without the use of the boiler. It won't be blazing hot, but it won't be cold either, just nicely warm which is just what the (foot) doctor ordered.

[osok]

Have camped last three days with temps 42-55 degrees. Due to heated floors I have not needed to use other heat for coach. Expensive option but would buy again. Can not say the same about the DS.

[tjZ06]

We ended up not ordering heated floors... and it's one of the things I still question in the back of my mind.

Here was my rationale: we spend most of our winter months dry-camping (Glamis sand dunes). So we don't have AC power overnight (I have a Honda 3k Genny that does run most of the day, but we turn it off at night) so we wouldn't really be able to use the heated floors during the cold months anyway. I imagine they're not wired on the inverter, but even if they were they must consume a TON of energy (any time you make heat from electricity it uses a ton of power). Between the residential fridge (we went all-electric) and the floors I imagine the genny would be kicking on in the middle of the night - not what we wanted. Oh, and our dogs love cool floors.

All of that said, I still think a nice, toasty warm floor on my feet would have been nice on a cold day. If the floors used the hydronic heating I probably would have went for it... though there's something scary about circulating water through the floors of an RV (which as I always joke around "is basically a home that's constantly in an earthquake).

-TJ

[Mr_D]

Originally Posted by az99

If you plan to ever sell your coach anywhere except extreme south Fla., you better get it. There may be a few people willing to put on slippers,socks and put throw carpets all over but I doubt anyone with the $ to buy DS and up will want to.
Tile without heat under it is ridiculous to begin with in a luxury class MH. It should be standard. The units we are discussing are Newmars. Not Thor,Fleetwood,Coachman or some other cheapo.

Newmar doesn't list the DSDP in their "Luxury" line although it sure is a the high end of their mid level line. The Luxury line starts at the MADP.
We've had two DSDP's, even the last one (a '02) stated in the owners manual that it was not rated for full time use which was our intended use.

[az99]

Originally Posted by Mr_D

Newmar doesn't list the DSDP in their "Luxury" line although it sure is a the high end of their mid level line. The Luxury line starts at the MADP.
We've had two DSDP's, even the last one (a '02) stated in the owners manual that it was not rated for full time use which was our intended use.

Other posters said even models above DS do not have it as standard.
I was not using luxury as a class definition for Newmar models. I was using it as a reference to big $$ MH's. To me any RV that costs double of what a house on a lot is, better be luxury. And if it has 2,000 lb. of tile to haul around it better be heated.

[slabman]

AZ, one of the benefits of heated floors is you can actually HEAT the interior space with them. Some here have talked about just "warming" the floor, but it is VERY comfy to actually HEAT with them. I have used mine for exclusive heat down into the 30 degree range. So, instead of feeling the Oasis cycle on/off, you get a steady heat coming off the floors, which offsets those drafts we feel at the ankles. A pretty nice option, indeed.

[MissVicki]

Originally Posted by TMan59

I like the idea of a nice warm floor in the morning and keeping the coach somewhat warm without the heater running.

It's also one of those things that I can't really add after we buy the coach and our next coach will be everything we ever thought "I'd like that "!

We are newbies to our DSDP 4018, but there doesn't seem to be a problem with competition between warm floor and warm shower. We've had a couple chilly mornings and used both. If you're concerned, you could turn the floor warming off while showering. It's as simple as pushing a switch. The floor holds the heat for a while. Warm floor (lowest setting) is nice for us and our menagerie of 2 cats and Dobergirl.

[fixit1957]

Quote: We are newbies to our DSDP 4018, but there doesn't seem to be a problem with competition between warm floor and warm shower.

The post talking about heating with Aqua hot was referring to Entegra coaches. They use hot water from the Aqua hot to heat the floors. Your DS and all Newmar products use electricity from the 30/50 amp plug or generator to heat the tiles. Two different systems on a Newmar product. The same system on Entegra.

Newmar used Oasis hot water system not Aqua hot. Hope that clears it up. Randy

[Capt. Bill]

Newmar heated floors are electric resistant heat. Our current coach has this feature- like AMEX Card says- "Never Leave Home Without It!" It's an expensive option, but you'll love it- trust me- I've had 2 other Newmar coaches without it & will never be without it again.

The main reason dealers don't order it is $$$$! They want to hold down the MSRP