3400RL furnance - Page 2 - Montana Owners Club

Parrothead · 11-23-2006, 07:35 AM

Brad
We just take the things off the knick knack shelf and put them away and then get them out when setting up.
Happy trails............................

Bluegill · 11-23-2006, 09:09 AM

Quote:

quote:Originally posted by richfaa

We have been experimenting with the furnace for over a week now as the camper sits along side the house, Slides out in a normal camping configuration. The temps here in Northern , Ohio along Lake Erie have been in the mid 40's during the day and the mid 20's over night (23 this AM) The Camper thermostat is set at 70. We have thermometers scattered throughout the camper. near the back window, On the Counter, In the bathroom, On the bedroom dresser as well as the camper thermostat. Yes the furnace cycles on and off more that it does in the house.... This is a camper.It may be well insulated for a camper but in comparison to a well insulated house,,it is not. The camper thermostat works as advertised and keeps temp within 2 degrees of the set temp. Yes it is warmer in the bedroom..hot air rises so that is no surprise. Here in my PC room 2 floors over the furnace room I have the vent nearly closed..while it is 4 degrees cooler down in the family room that is mostly underground. We do not find the temp variations in the camper to be any different than here in the house..in fact..My opinion is that the camper temps are more constant across the length of the camper. Can the furnace in the camper seem louder...of course..you are never far from the furnace and fan in the camper.Stand 3 or 4 feet away from the furnace and fan in you house and check out the noise level. Does it cost more to heat the camper...of course...it is a camper .. insulation not to compared with your house.Let us always keep in mind that these are "Recreational vehicles) not houses and we use them in conditions that they are not designed nor constructed to withstand...All things considered they do a heck of a job.. Temp on counter of the 3400 reads right now 70...temp on bedroom dresser 73...I am not in a panic over that..

Hey Rich, I did a job in Ashtabula OH a few years ago. A chlorine plant if I remember correctly. About 80 miles from ya.
(sorry I got off topic, i just now realized where you are)

richfaa · 11-23-2006, 09:13 AM

That's not far from us..We camp up there during the summer and just returned from that area on a wine buying tour.

Bobcat · 11-23-2006, 02:17 PM

Just had a couple of freezing nights here in Louisiana. We set the furnace on 67 and have two electric heaters. One small in the bedroom and one in living room. The furnace still came on a couple of times. The temp inside stayed at 70. I have had a cold and can not sleep with the furnace heat, too dry.
A few thing we noticed: Cold air comes in around the base of the bed, we store our bedspread there at night, this takes care of that. When furnace is on more heat comes out of the rear vent(back of trailer) going to get some adjustable vents.
Lots of cold air come from under the steps in our 3400RL, need help on this problem.
I also made skirting for the 5er out of 6 mil plastic sheeting, great for blocking the north wind.
Main thing is, we use furnace as little as possible.

Mrs. CountryGuy · 11-23-2006, 02:24 PM

Bobcat,

You want to run that furnace some when it drops to freezing and below if you are hooked up to water, to keep it from freezing up, but you know that!

Interesting about your skirting, how did you attach it???

Bobcat · 11-23-2006, 02:33 PM

Yea, it runs enought for that. It's amazing how the skirting helps. Temp under trailer much warmer.

Bobcat · 11-23-2006, 02:41 PM

I intended to use velcro strips just like used when you purchase a skirt, but too cold to attach. Used a light tape, so no glue would be left, I was beating the clock on that day. Warmer weather next week, will do it right. I sewed a pocket in the lower part and put poles in to weight it down.

richfaa · 11-23-2006, 02:56 PM

Quote:

quote:Originally posted by Bobcat

Just had a couple of freezing nights here in Louisiana. We set the furnace on 67 and have two electric heaters. One small in the bedroom and one in living room. The furnace still came on a couple of times. The temp inside stayed at 70. I have had a cold and can not sleep with the furnace heat, too dry.
A few thing we noticed: Cold air comes in around the base of the bed, we store our bedspread there at night, this takes care of that. When furnace is on more heat comes out of the rear vent(back of trailer) going to get some adjustable vents.
Lots of cold air come from under the steps in our 3400RL, need help on this problem.
I also made skirting for the 5er out of 6 mil plastic sheeting, great for blocking the north wind.
Main thing is, we use furnace as little as possible.

Lift your bed then unscrew the plywood covering the hydraulics for the bedroom slide...You may find a few leaks under there where wires and cable come up through the floor.Under the steps is the front side compartment..You need caulk, tape, Insulating material. Crawl around on your hands and knees all over the camper and look for cold air drafts..you will find some..Sit at the computer desk and look out the PC inlet..Most likely you will see daylight. That is just the way it is..

JimF · 11-24-2006, 08:52 AM

Glad to see that we are not alone on the 3400RL Furnace issue. Keep the t'stat on 68 and it's hot in the bedroom, etc. We did notice something different than you previous folks have mentioned. The heat vent in the kitchen sucks air into the vent, the vent just past the cabinets barely blows, the rear vent works pretty well. All in all the heater has issues by design and pillows over the bedroom duct, and all the other “fixes”, are just a patch for something that Keystone should address.

This was our first outing in our unit, other than a 2 day shakedown by the house, and the unit is by all RV standards pretty good, but there are design issues that require correction. I for one will be taking this up with the dealer and the factory.

Thanks for letting me vent.

P.S. you shouldn't have to buy a new vent to fix this, Keystone should..

Cat320 · 11-24-2006, 01:11 PM

The bedroom in our 3400 gets hot, too. Seems to be because the hot air blows stronger out of the bedroom vent than out of the rear/center vents.

richfaa · 11-24-2006, 01:47 PM

Isn't it sort of a normal thing that the upstairs is a bit warmer than the downstairs. I know that's the way it is here in our house.We note a @3/4 degree difference in the temp in the living room area vs the temp in the bedroom in the 3400.Not only do you have the hot air emitting from the register in the bed room but the natural tendency of warm air to rise will cause additional warm air to flow up the stairwell and into the bedroom area. With gas heat it is nearly impossible to get a constant temp throughout your house why would it be any different in a camper..am I missing something here??

Parrothead · 11-24-2006, 02:16 PM

We do not have issues with our furnace. Everyone is different and requires different comfort levels. I agree with Rich (Wow) that even in a stick house there is not a constant temperature in every room of the house. I don't expect it in my RV either. Maybe because we keep the vents open in the bedroom we don't notice it but our bedroom does not seem to be hot. A lot depends on the outside temperature and again, your comfort level and whether you are looking at even the slightest difference.
Happy trails.....................

dsprik · 11-24-2006, 05:36 PM

Bobcat, I just saw a Jayco Designer - full body hi gloss - believe it or not, he had suction cup hooks stuck all the way around the front part of his 5ver. These were posioned just right to hold a standard tarp with eyelets nice and neatly around the nose. I need to see if if I can catch this guy and find out how he keeps these suction cup stuck on... Also, wonder how these suction cups would hold on our standard filon sides??? His arrangement - with white plastic tarp - looked very sharp and neat.

Bobcat · 11-25-2006, 02:31 AM

I like the suction cup idea better than velcro. Warmer weather Monday, I think I will try the cups first. I image just moisten the cup and make sure surface is clean. Of course then, I will have to put gromets on.

rickfox · 11-25-2006, 01:03 PM

I purchased adjustable registers at Lowes for about $3 per register. I believe Keystone is dumb for not putting them in to start with, but for $12 and 30 minutes of work, I now have them adjusted just the way "I and wifee" like.

Bluegill · 11-25-2006, 01:26 PM

Hmmmm... Lowes huh ?
I can see myself heading there tomorrow. Thanks for the TIP !

drifus · 11-29-2006, 12:37 PM

Yes get the adjustable vent for the bedroom, I use a magnet to hold the flapper in place. I then got a directional plastic vent topper for the rear vent to direct the heat towards the living space.

Dave

rickfox · 11-30-2006, 09:25 AM

I was out looking at a new RV dealership the other day just to see what they had. Some real nice Carriage products in the $100K plus range. They had some really nice floor registers for the heating duct. Nice brass plated expensive stuff.

No adjustment - they were expensive but no more functional than the junkers on the Monty. Seems like even the high cost manufacturers do dumb things.

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