Covering heat vents

[Travler]

I have a 2012 Cougar 26sab and we like the bedroom cold at night..Would it hurt the furnace any if we covered the bedroom register and left the others open? It must do some damage other wise the registers would have a damper on them. Maybe I just answered my own question.. Just asking..

[outwest]

you can get damper versions of the registers. I've got foil under our register in the bathroom (put the screws that hold register through the foil). The bathroom heat would be nice but at the same time it gets awfully hot awfully fast.

I know that doesnt answer your question, but I dont see that it would hurt anything.

[JRTJH]

Although many owners do close off a register, here is the official "DO/DON'T" list from Airexcel, the Suburban Furnace manufacturer:

Can I close off a register so more heat goes to another part of the vehicle?

No, this is not recommended. Doing so will cause improper furnace operation and possible overheating of the furnace.

This and many other questions are answered at this site:

http://www.rvcomfort.com/suburban/service/furnaces_questions.php

[BulletOwner1]

In my experience, what will happen is that the furnace will heat up because it is not distributing the heat as fast as normal. When this happens in a properly functioning heater the overheat sensor turns off the burner while still running the fan to cool the furnace back down, and then the burner relights to produce heat. This cycle will continue until the thermostat setting is reached.

This is in fact how my furnace runs all the time. The "Thermal Package" on my Bullet includes a larger capacity furnace. No additional vents (???). So every time my thermostat kicks the heater on it will cycle (burner on, burner off, etc) several times before reaching the set temp.

Let me close with saying that this is the first RV I've had that has done this. Wish mine didn't operate this way but unless I add more vents to dispense the heat better it is what it is. I did go under the TT and check out the duct work, tried to smooth out the runs and shorten ductwork where possible to no avail. Switching from flex tubing to rigid may help.

[airforceret]

Home depot sells vent register filter (packs) for $3. What I did was install one of those in the bedroom register (to act as a baffle) to slow down the flow of heat to the bedroom area. It doesn't completely stop the flow, but minimizes it enough to keep it much cooler in there at night when the furnace is running. I've been doing this since the 1990s without any issues on 3 different models of campers. Good luck...

[Brantlaker]

My DW puts her slippers over it to warm them up and it slows down the warm air coming out, we also turn down the thermostat at night to 65 same as we do at home and crack the roof vent about a 1/2in.

[Andymon]

Although many owners do close off a register, here is the official "DO/DON'T" list from Airexcel, the Suburban Furnace manufacturer:

Can I close off a register so more heat goes to another part of the vehicle?

No, this is not recommended. Doing so will cause improper furnace operation and possible overheating of the furnace.

This and many other questions are answered at this site:

http://www.rvcomfort.com/suburban/service/furnaces_questions.php

hmmm...the one in the bedroom and the one at the rear both have dampening knobs.

[geo]

If you get into the underbelly, you might be surprised what you find. I have, and I was surprised! It appears that Keystone does not "cut to fit" when installing the ductwork. In the case of our Alpine, the furnace fed a "floor pass-through thimble" via flexible aluminum duct (like you connect to your clothes dryer). Below the floor in the underbelly, there was flexible, insulated plastic ductwork from the thimble to the vent registers. If an 11' section of duct was needed, then out of the box came a 20' duct, connect one end, connect the other, then curl the excess around and move on. The two vent registers at the back of our Alpine put out very little warm air - and most Alpine owners of the time complained of this "lack of warmth". (See past posts in the forum.) What I found was that the 6" flexible ducts were intertwined near the thimble (to take up excess length) and were crushed between the coroplast and the fresh water tank. When I installed tank heaters and underbelly insulation, I cut the excess duct away, routed the ductwork to minimize crushing and to maximize air flow. After this huge project, I found that the distribution of heat in the rear living area of the Alpine improved and the overheating of the bedroom ended. More warmed air was flowing back to the living area instead of the bedroom because the ducts were no longer crushed!

As I have stated recently, if you look in the Mods and Repairs section of the Forum, you will find multiple posts along with plenty of pictures to illustrate the above.

Ron

[FireMech]

I purchased a magnetic sheet fromt Walmart or somewhere and cut to fit the register opening. When it gets very cold I cover one of the vents furthest from the bedroom to increase air flow output. Works well and have done this a long time without damage.