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Old 06-25-2017, 06:36 PM   #1
scottz
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Furnace Ducting - Terrible Workmanship

I was trying to figure out why I did not have any air flow to the bedroom furnace floor register and found this behind the front compartments rear wall. They box in two of the frame rails to create an air duct that feeds the bedroom register. The entrance to this air duct is behind the wall, above the vacuum. Apparently the duct was in place first and whomever installed the vacuum simply disregarded the fact that a furnace duct was there and shoved the vacuum in breaking the duct off. Bad design, there is no way the duct and vacuum can occupy the same place.

Not sure what my options are. About the only thing I can think of is to relocate the vacuum. Of course, that will leave a big hole in the wall. Let me know any suggestions.

The other thing I cannot figure out is how heated air gets to the kitchen/living room registers. Looking through the registers it is also a duct made by boxing in frame rails. However, there are only three outputs off the furnace (last photo); the large one is the one that is supposed to go to the bedroom (broken off), one of the small ones goes directly to a vent in the floor of the bathroom, the other small one hangs down in the under belly, not connected to anything. So, how is air getting to the kitchen/living room registers (3)? I verified that heated air is coming out of them. Do you suppose they are using the entire underbelly as a plenum? Or is that small duct supposed to connect to something? I'll have to pull the under belly cover off to figure it out; not happy about that.
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Old 06-25-2017, 06:46 PM   #2
Mudchief
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The floor duct is built into the floor and the furnace blows the air out of the bottom to the duct. What you see on the side is the 3 ducts that you have identified.
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Old 06-25-2017, 06:57 PM   #3
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No need to pull your underbelly. All Montana's have the small hose just hanging down into the space between your flooring and belly pan. That's how Keystone keeps the tanks and water lines from freezing kinda sorta. Some really late models have tanks heaters as well.
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Old 06-25-2017, 07:00 PM   #4
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Thanks. I'll run out and check to see if I can find the fourth output going out the bottom. Mine also has tank heaters.

Any suggestions on what to do about the duct broken off by the vacuum?
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Old 06-26-2017, 05:12 AM   #5
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I cant see what is above that duct connection, but if there is enough space above you could cut a new opening for that duct and close off the existing one. Maybe out the top or side if there is room to do so.
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Old 08-01-2017, 08:09 PM   #6
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I'm new to the this forum after recently purchasing a 3160 RL. While installing my satellite dish I noticed the same issue with my heat duct versus the vaccum hose. ScottZ how did you get the problem corrected? I'm thinking of getting better dryer vent hose and shaping it to work with the vaccum hose. I do need heat since I do spend my winters in British Columbia skiing.
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Old 08-02-2017, 12:46 AM   #7
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Arch319 View Post
I'm new to the this forum after recently purchasing a 3160 RL. While installing my satellite dish I noticed the same issue with my heat duct versus the vaccum hose. ScottZ how did you get the problem corrected? I'm thinking of getting better dryer vent hose and shaping it to work with the vaccum hose. I do need heat since I do spend my winters in British Columbia skiing.
A better hose will not solve the problem. The problem is that the vacuum barely fits under the duct work adapter; no way to fit a hose in there.

Here is how I fixed it:

1. Loosen the four corner screws holding the vacuum in place. Only loosen them a few turns, do not take them out. There are ears behind the vacuum (like a cut-in outlet box), if you loosen them too much the ears will fall into no-mans land and be really hard to get back; trust me on this one. Pull the vacuum out to provide access to the heat duct. Once the vacuum is out, the problem will be obvious; the vacuum and the heat duct cannot occupy the same place at the same time.

2. If you didn't trust me in step one, loosen the screws holding the InCommand center in place, gently lay it out and retrieve the ears that fell behind it.

3. Remove the adapter that provides the connecting point for the duct coming from the furnace. Mine was held on by 4 screws and they put silicon on it before screwing it in place. It was tough to get the silicon to let loose, but keep working on it. It will get bent up, but you can fix that. Wear gloves; sheet metal is sharp.

4. You will find the round part of the piece you just removed is about a 4" or 5" long. It only needs to be long enough for the hose clamp to grab; about 1/2".

5. Straight out the adapter (bent up form pulling on it to break the silicon seal), and cut it down leaving just enough for the hose clamp to grab.

6. Reinstall the adapter with some silicon and the screws.

6. Reinstall the duct coming from the heater.

7. There will now be enough room to install the vacuum without hitting the heat duct.

It's not a real hard job. Certainly took me less time than even one trip to the dealer.
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Old 08-02-2017, 12:53 AM   #8
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More photos of the furnace duct repair.
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Old 08-02-2017, 09:10 AM   #9
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Thanks ScottZ
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Old 01-21-2018, 11:20 PM   #10
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Hi Scott I have same model only a 2016 did you find out what is feeding registers for living & kitchen area. Thanks for the great write up & pictures.
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Old 01-22-2018, 12:14 AM   #11
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I think they box off the area between two frame members; use that as a duct.
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Old 01-22-2018, 05:26 AM   #12
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More of that "Old World Craftsmanship" from the Montana assembly guys in Goshen!
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Old 01-22-2018, 08:55 AM   #13
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Quote:
Originally Posted by scottz View Post
I think they box off the area between two frame members; use that as a duct.
Thanks for the info
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Old 01-22-2018, 06:30 PM   #14
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The bottom of the furnace heat exchanger is open and mates to the top of the square metal heat duct that runs from the furnace to the ducts in the living room/kitchen. My duct wasn't totally sealed at the rear and I had reduced air flow out of the floor registers. I sealed it with fire block foam.
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Old 03-08-2019, 06:32 AM   #15
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Scottz
What are the electrical outlets attached to the wall for? One has a cord in it the other above it is a silver box with a what looks like a 30 amp outlet.
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