Some issues 2012 cougar 322qbs

[Mikezayed]

Hey all!! I just picked up this 5th wheel this past summer and we love it. But just as anything that's aged a bit, I think I need to fix some things on it to be 100%.

I found out this past weekend my LP regulator is garbage. The last time me and my wife were at the unit she forgot to turn off out furnace and it sucked the 1 whole tank down. No biggie, just switch the regulator to the other tank right? Well nothing happened and I thought since nothing happened, we were out of LP. Go and buy a 65 dollar grill tank just to get through the night and head back to the unit. It's already 1130pm at this point. Pull the empty tank and go to install the new smaller tank and the line wont reach. Again, no biggie and go and grab the other tank from the non door side and much to my surprise, it's not empty, far from it in fact. Okay, cool with me. I install it on the door side of the unit where the regulator is and throw the smaller tank in on the other side so there isnt a open line (wasnt sure if it would bleed off so did it just incase). Turn the regulator to full side and nothing. Go inside and light stove and it works for about 10 seconds and dies out. I proceeded to mess with this back and forth for the next hour and half, haha. Finally got it to work and got the heat going. So I'm going to replace the regulator but I want to get the absolute best I can buy. What are my options, and I dont care the cost. I just want it to work.

Now, after that fiasco, I get the heater started and set to 70. Figuring its gonna take a little while for it to warm up since it a larger unit. I head in after about 30 mins and still no chill was taken out of the air. The furnace was runing full tilt and blowing hot air but it didnt feel like it was alot. I could be wrong. I finally fell asleep in the unit with 2 blankets, fully clothed about 230am (heater had been running since about midnight at this point) and I was still able to see my breath. So not sure what's going on. I do hear the furnace "cough" every now and then so I'm wondering if the furnace just isnt getting enough fuel since the regulator is having issues. But it seemed like the airflow could have been stronger. Is there anything I can do to make it better?? When I woke up the next morning about 930 it was better in my room, but the center of the unit was still cold and the 2nd bedroom over the 5th wheel was still quite cold as was the bathroom. This is my 1st 5th wheel but I have had 3 other travel trailers so I'm sorta new to the 5th wheel world. Maybe a larger heater assy or bigger blower?? Its supposedly has a 30,000 btu heater and I dont know how true it is (as I bought this used and am going off what the dealer is telling me). My wife and kids go with me often so I wanna make sure their bedroom is warm in the winter if they decide to go, and as it sits, I wont be able to take them since i dont want them to be cold overnight.

I know this was a book but I wanna give out as much info as I could. I dont have all the info about the unit but i know it's all 100% original and stock. Nothing has been replaced to my knowledge. I appreciate all the help and such.

[tech740]

Last summer i traded a 2011 322QBS. I replaced both the lines that ran to my regulator when I had that type of issue. One thing I can tell you is that the front bunk room doesn't get a lot of airflow and the back bed room will roast you out while you wait for the thermostat to warm up. We put a digital home thermostat in and that helped with the swings, but the thermostat being up by bathroom is a bad spot.

[sourdough]

I don't have your trailer but I will say that with a trailer that size I would really like to have a 35k furnace.

[JRTJH]

Welcome to the forum.

You didn't address where you are located, how cold it was or whether you had any auxiliary heat or not... So, this is a "sort of guess"

Yes, you likely need a new regulator. Marshall regulators are probably some of the best. There are probably 2 regulators on your trailer. On the side with the "auto changeover regulator" is the one you were probably "fiddling with"... On the other side of the trailer you'll find a small "red high pressure regulator". Its purpose is to prevent liquid propane from flowing through the "crossover propane pipe". If I were you, I'd replace both regulators, however there may be nothing wrong with the regulators that you have, or it could be the "red high pressure regulator" that caused the lack of flow when the auto changeover regulator switch tanks. Some troubleshooting is in order...

You can download the 2012 Cougar brochure on the Keystone website. Here's the link: https://www.keystonerv.com/media/239...-west-2012.pdf

There is, according to the brochure a 30K BTU furnace in the 2012 Cougar fifth wheels. Additionally, according to the brochure, the walls are R-9, the roof is R-14 and the floor, if you count the "foil bubble wrap" is R-29. When you consider the furnace efficiency is about 50-60% (30K BTU means only 15K to 18K BTU is actually heating the inside of your trailer. The rest is going out that little 2" hole and "heating the big outdoors"... Go out and put your hand near the furnace exhaust, you'll see what I mean.....

So, with 15-18 thousand BTU's in a poorly insulated "big box" with lots of single pane (R-1) windows, if it was "pushing 25F or so, you may not get a "comfortable trailer in an hour or less"... However, by morning, it should have been warm enough to at least walk to the bathroom in shirt sleeves.... So, you may have an issue with the regulator not delivering enough propane, but typically the furnace won't operate if it doesn't get the correct gas pressure and sense the appropriate flame.

Most people who camp in colder weather will augment the furnace with electric space heaters in the cabin. Realize that there's no heat under the floor from those electric heaters, so you will also need to run the furnace to protect the water lines and the holding tanks.

I hope this gets you started with answers to your questions. There's a wealth of information on the forum and a number of recent threads have addressed the propane system, the furnace and winter camping expectations... You should find enough reading to keep you busy for several days on the forum.

Again, welcome to the group.

[Mikezayed]

I didnt even think about where I am and such Haha. I'm in Illinois, and my camper is in Marseilles. It was about 34 and dropping and was about 30 by the time I got the heater started. I did forget the mini heater I usually carry, so I kinda froze my butt off haha.

I know the auto changer valve is bad since the switch ontop just spins. At first I thought the plastic handle just popped off and after getting back into the slot it just didnt feel like it was grabbing. I had to spin it in little increments to find the sweet spot and get fuel flow. And even then I kept hearing the slight coughing from the furnace. I did put my hand on the exhaust side of the port and it was pretty strong and warm. I'll definitely look into changing both of them, since I'm sure the auto changer is broken and the other tank not pulling at all.

By morning my room was good but the rest of the camper was quite cold and the front was even colder. Would it be possible to upgrade the furnace in the future if u wanted too, to maybe a 50 or 60k unit? I dont use water or the tanks in cold weather since our campground shuts off water in late October. So I'm not worried about the tanks and I usually only stay a night to make sure the mice haven't ran amok in the unit while I was gone.

Hope this helps out a bit more. I plan on keeping this unit longer theb my previous unit (I didnt properly winterize it and blew a couple lines underneath that caused all sorts of issues) which was only about 5 years. We really love this unit for the size and comfortablility so putting some money into it is worth it for us. Thanks again for everyone's help, I really appreciate it!!

[Customer1]

Don't guess and don't just throw parts at it. Follow these instructions, build a manometer and test your system correctly.

http://www.rverscorner.com/manometer.html