question about tipd-sawdust in registers/blocked ducts

[planecrazy]

Hi


We purchased the 2011 Springdale 280 FWIK late december last year. We have not been able to get out in it yet. Have taken note of all of your tips;will check them out. Just wondering how you get the sawdust out of the registers & how do you repair the ducting if you do have seal problems??

[JRTJH]

Two ways to get the sawdust out of the ducts:

1) Vaccuum and flexible hose, try a piece of electrical conduit cover (the black plastic wire cover found all over your RV) or water hose taped to your vaccuum. Remove the floor grills, go in through the holes. be gentle, don't force anything or push too hard.

2. if you have a shop vac, turn the hose around and blow air into the ducts, cover the vents with a light weight towel to catch the sawdust as it flies out of the grills, then vaccuum the end runs.

How to repair the ducts: Get some good aluminum duct tape (it comes with a paper backing to cover the adhesive and is not cheap !!! Use it to seal the edges of the ducts where it comes out in the floor heat ducts and in the ceiling air ducts. I took my A/C center filter cover off, removed the rest of the ceiling fixture and was amazed at how many leaks/holes/voids were in the ceiling ducts at the A/C. I sealed all of them, then removed each of the round duct registers and sealed each of them to the ductwork. It improved my air exchange by at least 50%, probably more. The bedroom duct had so little airflow that you could hardly feel it, now you can feel it while laying in bed. Same on the other end by the chairs. Much better airflow. When you remove the ceiling covers, you'll see that there is a hole cut in the ductwork, and the register is installed over that, There's about a 1/4" void all around the register. I put 3" pieces of aluminum duct tape all around the register and laid it over into the duct, that sealed the voids and really improved the air flow. On the heat ducts in the floor, there were several "holes" at the corners of the ducts that were easily visible after the registers were removed. I sealed all of them, vaccuumed the sawdust, blew out the rest and used a flashlight/mirror to look at the ends of the ductwork to make sure it was crimped/sealed. In mine it was, but some people have noted that theirs was not sealed and they used some foam blocks to seal the ends of the duct run. If you do that, don't seal it just past the last register on the "dead end" part of the duct, you'll probably get a whistle/air rush sound if you do. Push the block about 6 to 8" past the last register so you don't get the noise.

Also, while you have your A/C filter cover off, double check the 4 mount bolts that hold the A/C on the roof. I had one that was loose and one that was dangling, not even threaded into the roof unit. Don't tighten them too much, they are supposed to only compress the rubber gasket about 1/2". I found that it only took a very small bit of "cranking" to get the gasket compressed. If you tighten it too much, the installation manual says the gasket will leak. I believe them. there has to be a good seal all the way around and if the gasket is tightened too much, it will "warp" slightly and not seal well to the roof.

[hankaye]

JRTJH, Howdy;

Thanks for the in depth answer.
Seems like you had been thru all of that before.

Got PIX ?

Always was easier for me to learn by "seeing" instead of trying to "visualize" what the words are trying to say.

Thanks,

hankaye

[JRTJH]

No, unfortunately, I didn't take pix when I had the A/C faceplate off nor when I was looking into the floor registers. As for visualizing them, If you take one floor register off, you'll see the square silver ductwork. Take a mirror and flashlight, look into it and you can see to the end or to the next register. Look for anything that might look broken, torn or not sealed, try to fix it. I found that using small pieces of tape, about 2-3 inches long was easier to handle than trying to use an 18" piece and getting it stuck to everything while trying to get it into position.

As for the A/C, there are a few pix on here of the inside and one in particular that shows the 4 bolts that I found were not tight. As for the ceiling registers, there are three small "indents" on each outer cover, I used a small screwdriver to pry outward on the "indents" one at a time. I found that was much easier than trying to pull the cover off. It won't break, but it sure seems to come close while pulling. Prying one of the indents out a little seems to make it come off a little easier. Once off, if you look up into the ductwork, you'll see the hole cut in the duct and where the plastic flange for the vent meet. feel along the edge and you'll see the 1/4" gap that I was talking about. I sealed each of those vents with the aluminum tape. Once you put the vent cover back on, you can't see the tape, so don't be afraid to come down about an inch onto the plastic. I think it'll hold better with that much "bite" on the tape.

Good luck, it's not a difficult job, and not even anything that will break or that you can destroy, provided you take it slow and don't have the mentality of "bigger hammers are best" LOL

Just be gentle and go slow, you'll be just fine on both the heat and the A/C duct cleaning/sealing.

Good luck and I'll try to answer any questions if you have any.