Well we finally did get everything working good as far as the furnace problem.. Found some minor issues with wiring in the thermostat. One question now. The bedroom gets so hot and we have heard it is not good to partially close it down. With the temps at night getting in the low 40's we do use the furnace because the downstairs is cooler. Does anyone else have this problem and what is the solution for the bedroom? Thanks in advance.
Oh I definately throttled the bedroom down on our Redwood 36RL, or it got unbearably hot up there when it was bedtime. I just replaced most of the furnace vents with adjustable ones from Home Depot.
I would disagree that there are any issues adjusting airflow. These RV furnaces are direct vent, so no worries about combustion air or exhaust, and the return air is the huge space behind the basement wall fed from many places so it would be difficult to restrict that. Throttling supply in the bedroom is only going to push the air to the living room and basement which is what you want.
Without getting into the exact numbers, you can only push so much air down a tube. There are questions about how straight the runs are, what size they are, and how big the duct is. There are limits without adding additional openings elsewhere.
If the heat has nowhere to go, the chamber will get hotter than it is supposed to and the thermal overloads will shut down the heat. There needs to a certain amount of "flow".
I discovered that our bedroom is also extremely hot. Obviously, this is yet another issue Redwood has not overcome with good engineering (or lack thereof). In our 38GK, there are (2) 4" ducts that were crumpled up that feed the bedroom. Still, the amount of air flow was incredible. The bedroom would be 90 while the living room was 60. Then, I removed one of the (2) 4" ducts and re-routed to the living room. I straightened out the other for better air flow. It now balances out the temperatures a lot better and I still damper down the bedroom. At night, we like to sleep in cooler temps anyway.
I would agree in part, but I also assume there was not a lot of precise engineering that went into the Redwood HVAC design, or we wouldn't be having this conversation. Air flow takes the path of least resistance, and if that path leads to the bedroom as the closest diffuser to the source, there is nothing you can do to equalize that flow to the most distant diffusers in the living room short of dampening the bedroom.
But it does... We eliminated 1 duct from the bedroom. That's a 50% reduction in air flow.
The simple answer is YES dampen the bedroom or whichever spot gets too hot & the furnace won't shut down. My bedroom has a closeable cover & has been closed for 5 years without not one furnace problem. Now the toilet room gets too hot so we just cover that vent partially.
Travelin' Texans
Former '13 FB owner
Currently rvless!!
Not deliberately trying to engage, but I take safety pretty serious. Especially in an RV...You have 20 seconds to get out in a fire. And it just so happens it will likely be less considering the furnace is directly under the master bed. I've even added an additional smoke detector and fire extinguishers on both sides of the bed. It's all about risk and equipment damage. If that overtemp sensor fails...
These articles are about home us, but the RV is not much different. There is one other fact that needs to be considered...Even if a fire does not happen, if you over-pressurize the ducts, remember that they are just foam slid end-to-end and then held together by some cheap metal tape (if they installed any) that falls apart when the heat melts the glue. There is the risk that you blow the ducting apart without adding the additional vent to relieve the pressure. I wonder how flame/heat resistant that flimsy duct really is? Can it handle the increased heat for long?
http://www.pacificheatingcooling.com/block-air-registers-vents/
https://www.angieslist.com/articles/dont-make-these-4-hvac-mistakes.htm
https://www.senicaair.com/article/closing-air-vents-may-seem-harmless-how-to-avoid-airflow-issues
And this is one RV article...
http://www.rvforum.net/SMF_forum/index.php?topic=48107.0
And if you do add a register, don't put it directly under the thermostat. You'll end up with additional problems...
Here is another article:
https://rvshare.com/blog/rv-propane-heater/
And attached is a manual (It may or may not be your particular model, but the instructions clear) ... There are minimum outputs. Reducing output increase duct temperatures.
The function of the heater high limit switch:
"High Limit Switch – a normally closed switch that opens if it gets too hot. Its purpose is to monitor temperatures in the Heat Exchanger and to prevent overheating that could burn a hole in the metal. Opening this switch turns off power to the gas valve and the Controller Board, shutting down the furnace. A hole in the Heat Exchanger would allow deadly poisonous gases to enter the RV interior, so this is a crucial safety device."
"Air Return and Ducts
Return air vents should be kept free of dust and lint and should not be obstructed. Vacuum the intake area and screen (and filter, if provided) to keep good air flow through the heat exchanger and to keep dist and dirt from building up around the fans, sail switch, limit switch, exchanger and ducts. Dirt in these places can cause switch malfunctions and internal heat build-up. Crimps in ducts can also reduce air flow into the room or cause the high limit switch to activate."
And if you ever need troubleshooting information, here is an excellent source:
My bedroom has a closeable cover & has been closed for 5 years without not one furnace problem. Now the toilet room gets too hot so we just cover that vent partially.
I can't remember if the bathroom had an adjustable damper or not on our 36RL. On some of the 5ers we had I replaced the round diffusers with some adjustable ones from here
I have two furnaces now and the rear bathroom still gets all the heat 🙂 Fortunately it came from the factory with dampers.
GiPCTravler - after 36 years in the fire service and fire engineering I guess I'm just inherently reckless with my family. 🙂
PS, I find very little risk of fire in popping a flexible duct, especially when the Redwood factory left most of them disconnected, torn, or smashed. The only real impact is the basement area was nice and toasty and the living space not so much 🙂
My bedroom has a closeable cover & has been closed for 5 years without not one furnace problem. Now the toilet room gets too hot so we just cover that vent partially.
I can't remember if the bathroom had an adjustable damper or not on our 36RL. On some of the 5ers we had I replaced the round diffusers with some adjustable ones from here
I have two furnaces now and the rear bathroom still gets all the heat 🙂 Fortunately it came from the factory with dampers.
GiPCTravler - after 36 years in the fire service and fire engineering I guess I'm just inherently reckless with my family. 🙂
PS, I find very little risk of fire in popping a flexible duct, especially when the Redwood factory left most of them disconnected, torn, or smashed. The only real impact is the basement area was nice and toasty and the living space not so much 🙂
Didn't mean to cause the ruckus or to hurt feelings...Risk is risk...
Popping a duct loose would not cause the fire. Not having enough "flow" can overheat the burner and/or overheat the box. In lies the fire hazard not to mention the carbon monoxide hazard.
Sorry about that. I've been in maintenance, construction, and engineering for 37+ years...
My bedroom has a closeable cover & has been closed for 5 years without not one furnace problem. Now the toilet room gets too hot so we just cover that vent partially.
I can't remember if the bathroom had an adjustable damper or not on our 36RL. On some of the 5ers we had I replaced the round diffusers with some adjustable ones from here
I have two furnaces now and the rear bathroom still gets all the heat 🙂 Fortunately it came from the factory with dampers.
GiPCTravler - after 36 years in the fire service and fire engineering I guess I'm just inherently reckless with my family. 🙂
PS, I find very little risk of fire in popping a flexible duct, especially when the Redwood factory left most of them disconnected, torn, or smashed. The only real impact is the basement area was nice and toasty and the living space not so much 🙂
Didn't mean to cause the ruckus or to hurt feelings...Risk is risk...
Popping a duct loose would not cause the fire. Not having enough "flow" can overheat the burner and/or overheat the box. In lies the fire hazard not to mention the carbon monoxide hazard.
Sorry about that. I've been in maintenance, construction, and engineering for 37+ years...
Then you certainly know these are direct vent furnaces and a popped duct cannot result in a carbon monoxide leak. Lack of airflow can result in shutdown of the furnace due to the temperature limit switch, but that can happen just as easily from throwing laundry against the vents or returns. It is not as significant of a hazard as you describe. Heck our bedspread was covering the bedroom diffusers most of the time when we slept, because that was where the bedspread landed.
No feathers ruffled, nor feeling hurts on this end - I just need to identify paranoia when it interferes with common sense. Without knowing the actual basis for the airflow calculations Redwood used for the design, neither one of us can be sure of anything, but I suspect these furnaces operate just fine with the bedroom diffusers closed the same as my house does with the entire basement or upper level closed. There are available software programs for even a phone that will let you input the register size, return, duct size and length, including those 2" that you don't see going down into the belly, and come up with a delta of how much of the furnace CFM is actually challenged.
My bedroom has a closeable cover & has been closed for 5 years without not one furnace problem. Now the toilet room gets too hot so we just cover that vent partially.
I can't remember if the bathroom had an adjustable damper or not on our 36RL. On some of the 5ers we had I replaced the round diffusers with some adjustable ones from here
I have two furnaces now and the rear bathroom still gets all the heat 🙂 Fortunately it came from the factory with dampers.
GiPCTravler - after 36 years in the fire service and fire engineering I guess I'm just inherently reckless with my family. 🙂
PS, I find very little risk of fire in popping a flexible duct, especially when the Redwood factory left most of them disconnected, torn, or smashed. The only real impact is the basement area was nice and toasty and the living space not so much 🙂
Didn't mean to cause the ruckus or to hurt feelings...Risk is risk...
Popping a duct loose would not cause the fire. Not having enough "flow" can overheat the burner and/or overheat the box. In lies the fire hazard not to mention the carbon monoxide hazard.
Sorry about that. I've been in maintenance, construction, and engineering for 37+ years...
Then you certainly know these are direct vent furnaces and a popped duct cannot result in a carbon monoxide leak. Lack of airflow can result in shutdown of the furnace due to the temperature limit switch, but that can happen just as easily from throwing laundry against the vents or returns. It is not as significant of a hazard as you describe. Heck our bedspread was covering the bedroom diffusers most of the time when we slept, because that was where the bedspread landed.
No feathers ruffled, nor feeling hurts on this end - I just need to identify paranoia when it interferes with common sense. Without knowing the actual basis for the airflow calculations Redwood used for the design, neither one of us can be sure of anything, but I suspect these furnaces operate just fine with the bedroom diffusers closed the same as my house does with the entire basement or upper level closed. There are available software programs for even a phone that will let you input the register size, return, duct size and length, including those 2" that you don't see going down into the belly, and come up with a delta of how much of the furnace CFM is actually challenged.
Agree with most...But if the burner box gets a hole from overheating, that would blow the carbon monoxide (and potential flames) directly into the ducts/vents. You can kind of see that in this photo.
Our 2013RL furnace was not bringing up the temperature in the first week after delivery in Jan. of 2013. I removed the wall in the basement and found all but one floor grill duct laying loose. Getting those ducts back up with hi-temp HVAV tape did the trick. I also reinstalled the ducts at the furnace. If I would have taken more time during the PDI on that very cold January day I could have spotted that issue. The duct tape that the factory used could not withstand the heat from the furnace. Our RW now gets toastie warm very quickly. A short time later the furnace control board failed at which time I inspected the ducts. All were firmly in place. The furnace has been dependable over the past four winters. Although we are part timers most of that time is in the dead of winter (Nov-Feb) each year at a nearby state park spotting and observing eagles.
Robert, there must have been a problem with those boards in the furnace that year, our 2013 36RL's furnace board packed it in as well, the replacement is going strong sine then.
