Community Forums

mattinmt · 10-09-2009, 09:35 PM

I was wondering if anyone would know if Alpine only put Heat Pump units in certain coaches? I have 2000 40fds and can not seem to figure out if I have them. My control panel does not let me select heat pump. Does anyone else have this problem?

Matt

Renipladlo · 10-10-2009, 12:32 AM

It would be for someone who has a coach near to yours to reply, but!
If you have a thermostat that allows heat and cold, and you can select elect heat on the display then you most likely have a heat pump. That said, I know we do, as we have the invoice sheet on the coach. You could get the model number from one of the units and then do a search on the manufactures web site, which would be another way. Other than those, I don't know.

takepride · 10-10-2009, 01:17 AM

Matt:

The thermostat will have "Heat Pump" as one of the "Modes" if you have them, unless the previous owner changed out the thermostat for the wrong one.

Dale777 · 10-10-2009, 01:24 PM

On most of the Alpine Coaches, the Heat Pump option was just that - an option.

jerry davis · 10-10-2009, 03:21 PM

When I ordered my coach the heat pump was an inexpensive option (about $150). The thermostat has a heat pump option on the settings.

D & D Rich · 10-10-2009, 10:42 PM

Matt,

My 2001 Alpine did not have Heat Pumps on the roof AC. My 2004 has heat pumps. I decided to look at the Alpine Coach Association, tech site, brochures. Sure enough [B]No heat pump option in 2001[B] Looked at 2002 brochure and there it was heat pumps as an option.

Wonder who has the first heat pump option most likely a 2002 coach or possibly one of the last 2001.

Hope this helps.

Dan R...............

Dale777 · 10-11-2009, 07:52 AM

My previous coach was a 2001 38FDDS purchased in October 2000. It had heat pumps. I ordered them as a standard option.

dgerstel · 10-11-2009, 10:42 AM

I had heat pumps on my '02 and used them when possible due to noisy propane heater. When I ordered this coach, I went with Aqua Hot for a quieter system. As the AH has an electric option I wasn't sure about the need for heat pumps. I talked to Ron Doyle about what I should order as ACs, for the quietest operation. He told me that the standard Dometic ACs with out the heat pump would be the quietest. This was due to the fact the non-heat pump units, did not have the extra valving, required for the hp option. It does seem to be quieter, as attested to by many that have come in our coach while the AC's are running and asked why our coach was quieter than theirs.

Renipladlo · 10-11-2009, 11:02 PM

Dale & All, on the APEX's I think everything including the kitchen sink was part of the package. That being said, we have the heat pumps, noisy, maybe to some, I just live with it. I like the fact that I can go over to the coach, start the genset, and fire up the HP's and it warms up the coach fairly quickly, and I am doing two things by doing it this way, first I am giving my Genset exercise which the manual says I should, and also exercising the a/c units, again as the manual says I should.
And unknowingly to me, the first time we used the coach, we did not fill up the diesel tank after a significantly long run, and just went to where we were headed, and about 1.5 days into the trip the HH quit working, and we could not figure out why. The why, was we had let the diesel tank run down too far and as a design safety measure, the fuel level falls below the pickup of the HH unit. Having the heat pumps kept us warm in Montana weather which was cold at that time. The wife unit finds them A/C and HP noisy, but nothing is free.

Ted III · 10-12-2009, 08:02 AM

Matt, pull the cover off of the A/C in the inside of the coach where the filter is. I believe that you can get the model & S/N from there. If so you can look on Dometic's site and get your unit(s) identified as to what they have available. If the model numbers are not there go up on the roof and pull a cover off and the model numbers may be under there. Once you get them you can identify what the units were built with. Some A/C's were built with small electric heaters in them. I do not know if Alpine ever used them? The nice part about them is they are not affected buy air temperature. Heat pump becomes fairly useless under 40°. I think you can resolve your mystery in this way quite easily.

dgerstel · 10-12-2009, 10:26 AM

Monty,

I assume you are aware that the generator has the same low fuel cut off. Each fuel pick up is separate, so one probably will cut off before the other. In fact the cut off level might be set differently for each. I have always heard the 1/4 tank level stated for both and with our fuel gauges, I can't tell exactly when mine have cut off.

a k · 10-12-2009, 10:36 AM

My heat pumps on mine cut off at 30 degrees because they don't have a defrost circuit. They should just call them what they are -REVERSABLE air conditioners. Strip heat would be better because they don't consume much more electric then the heat pump compresser . (And they don't drip and freeze across top of coach).

Renipladlo · 10-12-2009, 09:23 PM

Dale - If my memory serves (lately is has been on and off again), the manual on the genset says 1/4 tank left and it will shut down, and the manual on the HH says, 3/8 fuel remaining and it will shut off. The one time we lost the HH because of low fuel, it was at about 3/8 remaining in the tank according to the gauge. And I was aware of those levels after reading the manual for a couple of times and then it clicked in.

Having never owned a MH before this one, and not ever exposed to the newfangled gadgets it was a steep learning curve. Our Post Delivery Show and Tell, would have been more informative if the person showing and telling had actually put the controls into my hands and made me do the operations a couple of times. I would have learned faster, and it would have stuck. It took a couple of trips to figure out how things worked, with numerous calls to the dealer, because I never had a Silverleaf manual, I had to download it and print it out. That in itself was one of the best ones I read.

Now if I can just take the time to learn and program the universal remote that we got with the coach, life would be a dream.