Heater Floor Ducting

[homer3]

When attending dealer walk thru with sons (SoCal CPA) new purchasing the dealership rep suggested using window screen mesh for underside of floor ducting so small do not drop thru. I thought this would be a good idea, using Steel Screen Meshing especially with grand kids around. Has anyone done this.

[BulletOwner1]

Sounds like a good idea but my TT's ducting has so little flow I hesitate to put any restriction, regardless of how little, into the system. Another thing to think about, there is no filter on these systems like a home furnace so there may be some buildup on the underside of the screen over time.

[cmssorrell]

I done this last winter to the floor heater vents. I also put the screen on the outside refrigerator and hot water vents. Trying to keep the mice out!! It worked!

Mark

[ohiocougar]

Good idea. I'm going to try it to keep dog hair from falling down the vent

[JRTJH]

Camping World has 4" x 10" floor vents with louvers for $7. We bought 3 yesterday in Hammond, LA to replace the floor vents in our Cougar. The vent in the main cabin had about a half inch of "Bubba" in it just from this trip. DW usually vacuums the vents to remove the fur, but in this trailer, the vents are so deep it's hard to get enough suction without removing the vent. Hopefully the vew vents will keep the hair closer to the surface when closed.

[Bob Landry]

I use 1/8" hardware cloth for this type of application. I'm concerned that window screen material would provide too much of an airflow restrictions.

[Mark TC]

I was told on here dryer sheets keep mice out, so when I took my vent covers out to clean I put dryer sheets in in place of screens. They were big enough that I layed it over the hole then just set the vent in place and it pinched the sheets in place. Have not used the heat yet to know if there are any draw back


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk HD

[Tinbender]

[QUOTE=Mark TC;96416]I was told on here dryer sheets keep mice out, so when I took my vent covers out to clean I put dryer sheets in in place of screens. They were big enough that I layed it over the hole then just set the vent in place and it pinched the sheets in place. Have not used the heat yet to know if there are any draw back


If I understand what your saying correctly the drawback will be loss of air flow and an overheated heat exchanger in your furnace and the furnace will shut down on high heat sensor, lets not even get into "worst case scenario".

Any screen mesh installed in an air stream will restrict the airflow, how much depends on the mesh of the screen. The return air filter in a system restricts flow, the grills/registers restrict flow.

The air flow in a heating/cooling system is measured in CFM (cubic feet per minute) and the resistance to that flow is measured in static pressure. Any thing in the air stream increases the static pressure (air flow) including the duct walls and any elbow or other turn in air direction.

In a residential system the static pressure is usually engineered at about
.1 inches, as you know most of them are pretty quiet. In the RV systems I can't say for sure but I am guessing they are engineered at about 2.0 -3.0 inches just based on noise and typical duct sizes. The point is that your typical RV system (furnace or AC) is already operating under a huge load and any additional my push the equipment over the edge.

Not a great repair expense in the furnace system but in the AC system low flow can lead to an iced coil that can lead to a slugged compressor and that is expensive.

Tinbender

[Festus2]

Mark TC -
I would not recommend placing dryer sheets over your vents if you plan on using your furnace. The advice given by Tinbender in his post above gives you the reason why you should not restrict the air flow from your vents. While the dryer sheets might do a good job of preventing mice and other critters from entering your RV, the vents need to have adequate flow for the system to operate efficiently and safely.