Community Forums

redeldo · 04-21-2008, 05:22 AM

I know summer is here and no more freezing temps, but on our last trip to the mountains in March the water hose froze up. I opened the water panel bay to disconnect the hose and it was cold in there. Looked around for a heating outlet but saw none and there was no 12v heater in the bay.

I had looked at an 03 Windsor and I believe it had a small 12v cube heater with a thermostat.

Anyone know if the water panel bay is heated or where one could purchase a 12v heater? Planning ahead for October!

Thanks
Wayne

redeldo · 04-21-2008, 05:22 AM

I know summer is here and no more freezing temps, but on our last trip to the mountains in March the water hose froze up. I opened the water panel bay to disconnect the hose and it was cold in there. Looked around for a heating outlet but saw none and there was no 12v heater in the bay.

I had looked at an 03 Windsor and I believe it had a small 12v cube heater with a thermostat.

Anyone know if the water panel bay is heated or where one could purchase a 12v heater? Planning ahead for October!

Thanks
Wayne

Bobby C · 04-21-2008, 05:28 PM

My 2008 Monarch had a 12v heater in the wet bay as an option (I ordred it with the heater). I suspect they are standard on the 08 Dynasty's now. Have you checked monacocoach.com for standard and optional equipment on the new Dynasty? Maybe Monaco will sell you one? What about your servicing dealer, can they help?

Corkey · 04-21-2008, 05:49 PM

If you go to Monaco for the heater, you may want to talk to tech support first. The heater is controlled by a separate "snap disc", which functions as a thermocouple to start and stop the heater. It doesn't have temperature control built in.

The factory power switch is located on the inside control panel along with a light indicating when the snap disc is supplying power to the heater.

Overall it's a fairly simple system and I'm sure tech support will make sure you have what you need to istall one.

All of the above has relevance, if you DON'T have one already installed. It's also an option on my Endeavor, but I don't know of many dealers who leave this one off their factory order. Just too many folks who know about it and want it. Easier to order than have the dealer install it after its built.

nodine · 04-22-2008, 02:08 AM

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by redeldo:
I know summer is here and no more freezing temps, but on our last trip to the mountains in March the water hose froze up. I opened the water panel bay to disconnect the hose and it was cold in there. Looked around for a heating outlet but saw none and there was no 12v heater in the bay.

I had looked at an 03 Windsor and I believe it had a small 12v cube heater with a thermostat.

Anyone know if the water panel bay is heated or where one could purchase a 12v heater? Planning ahead for October!

Thanks
Wayne </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

Wayne,

Before you purchase a heater you might want to check and make sure the furnace does not have a duct sending heat to the bay. My last two RV's had ducts to heat the holding tanks via the furnace.

Bob

Robin_M · 04-22-2008, 12:05 PM

I agree with nodine. My last coach was a 1999 Fleetwood Discovery - nowhere near the class of coach a 2001 Dynasty would be - and it had a heat duct from the furnace routed to the bay. On very cold nights (below 30 deg.), I would suppliment that with a 100w light bulb, and never had a problem.

Another thought... if you do need to install a heater, I'm guessing a little detective work might turn up a 12V heater and control that is much better than the stock Monaco one. I don't necessarily trust the thermo-coupling snap disc control that they use, and I've seen lots of posts in various Moncao forums where people have said they have not worked reliably.

Mutha · 04-22-2008, 02:03 PM

Here is the one that Monaco (and other manufacturers) put in their units. This is the same aftermaket unit and comes complete with necessary wiring and switch. I do not think it comes with a "SnapDisc controller", but you might call them and see if they can also provide you one, or some sort of thermostat to automatically turn the unit on in cold conditions.

Bay Heater

Good Luck - Glenn

dickiebob · 04-22-2008, 05:30 PM

On my 2007 30SFS Monarch SVE I have the 12V Wet Bay Heater with snap disc thermostat control which was part of an optional equipment package ordered by the Dealer. The water systems section of my manual says a heat pad for the fresh water tank is included with the system heat option and activates with the wet bay heater cube when the Systems Heat switch is on (A separate monitor panel red light comes on when the system heat is activated by the snap disc). My paperwork included A registration card to Ultra-Heat Inc. (ultraheat.com) which I believe is the manufacturer of the tank heat pad. At the end of March we spent a week at Loveland, Colo. with water in the tank. A couple of nights the temperature reached 20 degrees and I had turned on the Systems Heat Switch. In the morning I noticed the active light was on and off at times. Once when the active light was on, I thought I would check the water bay. The cube heater was putting out heat. We were snowed on three times during the week, but it got up to 60 degrees one day and we only needed the furnace a couple of daytimes. I don't believe any of the bays are heated by the furnace and figure there is probably enough heat from the furnace to keep the black and grey tanks from freezing. If someone knows if furnace heat goes to those two tanks on the Monarch model, I would like to know also. The purpose of the trip was to check out how the unit handled cold weather as compared to our old 2001 Itasca Sunrise. The Sunrise had the furnace at the rear and took forever to warm up. The Monarch furnace is in the curbside middle and works 100 percent more effecient. Also the water is hot immediately in the kitchen and bathroom whereas the Sunrise kitchen sink was on the opposite side with the slide and the bathroom was further away from the water heater. Our Monarch is only one foot longer, but so far we are happier with the layout and additional options. We are very pleased with the wide open space with our full side slide which extends the length of the bedroom to the drivers seat. We also like our pullout table and chairs instead of a cramped space taking booth dinette.