We turned our electric heat on and a few minutes later went outside. On the outside of coach (side opposite door) there is a vent. There was air coming out of that vent very strong that was hot enough to burn you. Got scared and turned it off. Is that normal for heat to come out of that vent that is extremely hot??? Please help!
Not exactly sure, but I suspect that vent you are referring to on the roadside is the intake/exhaust from the gas furnace. When you say you turned the electric heat on, are you referring to the heat pump/A/C on the roof?
Also, if the room temperature is substantially below the thermostat setpoint, both the electric and gas heat (the hot exhaust from the vent that you felt) will come on.
Yes, that is the propane furnace. It blows a propane flame in a fire box that the air is blown around when the furnace is running to heat the air, the propane flames excess heat and fumes must exhaust out the side of the trailer.
If you turn the "Electric" heat on and the set point on the thermostat is more than 2 degrees above the actual room temp, the heat pump and the propane heat will come on.
If you want just the "Electric" heat pump to come on, you must set the thermostat set point closer to the actual room temp and slowly bring it up and the room warms up, this will keep the propane furnace from coming on.
That is the vent for the gas furnace.. when you turn on the electric heater, if the set temp is more than 5 degrees higher than the actual temp, the gas furnace will fire up and get the temps where they need to be, once in that zone then the electric heat pump will start.
When I first got my RW, it scared me also, thanks to the fine people here, i was quickly at ease...
Agree with all the points above...
Aside from that, this is really a stupid design.
If I want to run the heat pump, I should be able to run JUST the heat pump.
If I want to run the furnace, I should be able to run just the furnace.
I suppose a potential reason for this set up is to move the air around and off of the ceiling while the furnace is running. I can't imagine any other reason. But I can use a floor fan if I am that interested in moving air around.
I'm surprised that they just didn't go ahead and turn on the fireplace at the same time as well...
I have read everyone's input here and now understand. Thank you all so much. This is the first time I've used this forum and I'm very impressed! Very thankful for people who have already been down the path and paved the way for others. Sure makes it easier!! Thank you!
GipC - its setup that way so that when it gets cold enough that the heat pump won't work anymore it automatically switches to the furnace.. in mine at least, the system works quite well. We were out a couple weeks ago and started out with the heat pump. Overnight it got down into the 30's and it switched to furnace. Makes me happy when I don't have to climb out of bed to reset a thermostat. Lol
Agree with Vaughan, the design is to allow the furnace come on as emergency backup if the heat pumps aren't keeping up, usually because they shut down <~40 degrees. My house does the same thing.
The annoying part on the Redwood design using TWO heat pumps is, the heat pump compressors shut down <40, but the 2nd heat pump doesn't have furnance backup so it doesn't know to shut the fan down. Even though the furnace is running, that pointless air coming out of the ceiling from the 2nd heat pump can throw a bit of a chill. If you have two heat pumps and you suspect it will drop below 40, shut the 2nd one off (the one without the furnace).
When starting up like you did, if you just let them both run, the heat pump will take over once the temp gets close and the furnace won't have to come on again unless the heat pump cant do it.
PS - don't warm yourself up on that hot exhaust - especially wearing nylon! My buddy did that years ago on my camper and his down coat became permanent, to both him and my camper!
PS2 - The heat pump doesn't heat your underfloor plumbing - just so you know. Only the furnace does that.
GipC - its setup that way so that when it gets cold enough that the heat pump won't work anymore it automatically switches to the furnace.. in mine at least, the system works quite well. We were out a couple weeks ago and started out with the heat pump. Overnight it got down into the 30's and it switched to furnace. Makes me happy when I don't have to climb out of bed to reset a thermostat. Lol
Vaughan - We had similar experiences during a couple of chilly evenings while crossing the Prairies. When the outside temps dropped below 40 F the furnace cut in to keep the inside and basement warm.
Most of the time I remember to set the thermostat within 5 degrees before turning on the heat pump, but still occasionally forget and curse as the furnace cuts in.
The system actually works rather well, especially when the fireplace is used during the day.
Just a final "add" to what the thermostat does. If you lose 12V power to the thermostat, upon power up it sets the temperature that the heat comes on to 22C (or the F temperature equivalent). Must be a safety setpoint.
