Insights on insulating the Underbelly

[sjturbo]

Thanks Geo, I guess I should have known it was temporary! Since don't like to do things more than once, is the flexible duct 4" or 6"?

[geo]

Originally Posted by sjturbo

Thanks Geo, I guess I should have known it was temporary! Since don't like to do things more than once, is the flexible duct 4" or 6"?

Sjturbo -

On our Alpine, the flexible duct that supplied heat to the holding tank valves was a flexible uninsulated aluminum 2.5" duct. The duct that supplied heat to the "wall" vent that was part of the kitchen island was an insulated, flexible 4" duct. There was a "rectangular cross section" distribution plenum that ran along the ceiling of the storage basement which supplied warmed air to the bedroom and a 2" diameter vent to the storage basement. This plenum was connected to the furnace by a 4" uninsulated flexible aluminum duct. The two floor vents in the living area at the rear of the Alpine had two 6" insulated flexible ducts which ran from the "furnace thimble in the deck" back along the starboard side of the Alpine, crushed beside the fresh water tank, and back to the vent connections in the underbelly. The "furnace thimble in the deck" was connected to the furnace by 6" and 4" uninsulated, flexible aluminum ducts.

Of note, it was the 4" duct from the furnace thimble back to the "wall vent on the kitchen island" which was crushed by the shore power cable, had about 8' of extra duct (which I removed) and was soaked (at the vent connection side under the kitchen) with ATF due to a hydraulic hose or ram leak. This ATF leak occurred before I took possession of the Alpine, and since it was hidden in the underbelly, it was not noticed in the PDI. When I started my insulation project, at first when I peeked inside the rear underbelly, I thought I had a water leak. Upon further inspection, I saw it was red ATF and started thinking I had a hydraulic leak. Then I realized that I had one hydraulic ram which was different (and beat up as a salvage piece) from the others, and noticed ATF had been sprayed across the ceiling of the underbelly and the I-beams. And, that the insulation of the 4" kitchen duct was completely soaked in ATF. Even after cutting 8' from the extra duct, the insulation was still "wet" with ATF. It's all in my posts of the underbelly/tank heater project.

Ron