Furnace Problems

[Quad]

Well I've joined the too much and disconnected duct work club. Finally got around to pulling down my underlayment some for a look see and found my duck work disconnected from the front bunk area and dumping in the tank area with the other duct meant for that area. Not to mention it's got about 6-7ft extra coiled up.


2005 Silverado 2500HD D/A
2013 Laredo 321BH

[BulletOwner1]

Yep, been there. No disconnect issue but extra coiled up and crushed. Tank duct not pulled into the correct area. Modern RV construction practices just make one scratch there head in wonderment. Pride in workmanship is a thing of the past.

[Mike L123]

Yep, been there. No disconnect issue but extra coiled up and crushed. Tank duct not pulled into the correct area. Modern RV construction practices just make one scratch there head in wonderment. Pride in workmanship is a thing of the past.

I shud have taken pics and didn't, my bad. My brother was saying that his furnace sounded kind of noisy and was making a metallic "click or clunk" noise when it started up. I took the access panel off and found that the duct leading to the living area of his 28' 5r was only half installed/inserted into the plenum. The hole that the ducting went through was off-centered from the outlet at the plenum by over three inches and when the furnace was pushed into place at the factory it ripped the whole thing half apart. The support 1x2 that ran up/down under and between the fridge and floor was crudely pushed off centre to enable the duct to initially, at least, sit on the plenum outlet pipe. Whatta mess. 1.5hrs labor, had to remove the power panel to access the full length of the duct pipe, re-centered the support brace, refastened the outlet piece to the plenum, reattached the duct pipe to the plenum etc. etc.

Running smoothly now captain!

Cheers!

Mike

[Sloughpump]

At the end of the season, October 2013, I ran my 296RL to the dealer to take care of my list. I'm happy with my unit, and the repair issues were minimal, except one. My furnace comes on and seems to work fine, I can hear the blower, the electronics seem to b working. But, there is little to no air coming through the three floor vents. I mean it is like a car heater in the off position, you can feel ambient heat but nothing more. One cold morning the furnace ran 2 1/2 hours without heating enough to turn off. The dealer claimed a duct had come off, and claimed to fix the problem. I tested it recently. No change in performance. I believe I have the standard furnace. How much air should normally be coming through the floor vents? I'm going to have to return to the dealer this spring, (I still have warranty). What should I expect. Should I be asking about a higher output furnace? I archery hunt into well into November in MN/WI. Thoughts?

[JRTJH]

Your furnace is most likely working. It's probably in the ducting. If you can imagine tying a balloon to a 2 ft string and tying the string to the vent grills in the floor, the air should lift the balloon and cause it to move around, It probably won't stay "straight up on the string" but it will move around. That should explain about how much air you should have coming out of the grills close to the furnace. The amount will decrease slightly the further away you go.

If you know where your furnace is, remove the vented wooden grill covering the space and you'll find several 4" ducts attached to the air exchange box. They should be 1/4 turn rings with the spiral ducting pressed onto them (much like a dryer vent hose). if you remove one, you should get a blast of hot air through the hole. If you do, it's ducting problems, if there's no air there, it's your furnace fan.

Hope that helps some

[dm1401]

At the end of the season, October 2013, I ran my 296RL to the dealer to take care of my list. I'm happy with my unit, and the repair issues were minimal, except one. My furnace comes on and seems to work fine, I can hear the blower, the electronics seem to b working. But, there is little to no air coming through the three floor vents. I mean it is like a car heater in the off position, you can feel ambient heat but nothing more. One cold morning the furnace ran 2 1/2 hours without heating enough to turn off. The dealer claimed a duct had come off, and claimed to fix the problem. I tested it recently. No change in performance. I believe I have the standard furnace. How much air should normally be coming through the floor vents? I'm going to have to return to the dealer this spring, (I still have warranty). What should I expect. Should I be asking about a higher output furnace? I archery hunt into well into November in MN/WI. Thoughts?

2 weekends ago I thought I would look at my furnace, I wasn't impressed with the amount of air coming from it, it would blow off a piece of paper I laid on top of a vent, but not with much force. I removed the access panel and ran the furnace and found that the furnace leaks air every wear, at all duct joints, the front panel/cover was the worst area. I bought a roll of tin tape, and tapped the front cover to the main body, then I removed the ducting twist connect, removed the duct from the twist connect and put the twist connect back on the furnace and sealed up the edges with tin tape, then put the ducting back on the twist lock. Re-ran the furnace and put tape in a few more areas as required. Now if I put a heavy bath mat over the vent it will lift it about 3.5 inches!!!.
In total it took me about 3 hours as I was being very meticulas and could only lay in such a awkward position for so long, but it was worth every minute of it. I probably could have got the dealer to do it, but I doubt they would have been so particular.

[Sloughpump]

I'll be looking into your fix. I did take that wood cover off. I saw a smaller, maybe 2 inch duct, loose, and dumping air into the furnace area under the fridge. I'll check to see if that was reattached by the dealer. being half the diameter of the 4 inch ones, I thought maybe it was meant to heat the undercarriage. I'll check the system again before scheduling another dealer appointment. How difficult is it to remove the coroplast? Should I leave that to the dealer too?

[BulletOwner1]

That 2" duct in mine is routed down into the underbelly to provide heat for the tanks. The coroplast is just screwed to the frame. Use caution when re-attaching it. On my TT there was a location where it was attached with short screws. Those need to go back in the same holes as that is where the water tank rests on the frame and if you use the regular longer screws you'll poke a hole in the tank :eek: . Don't ask me how I know this :banghead: !