Traveling with the furness on? - Montana Owners Club

ChuckD · 01-01-2011, 07:48 AM

I know this has been discussed before, but....We are planning on traveling Buffalo NY to Lakeland Fl starting in February. Because of the cold we would like to leave the furness on 45 degrees. Because of visiting family and friends it will take about a month to arrive in Lakeland. We will be making several overnite stops on the way. What are the pros and cons of traveling with the furness on. Thank you for all your possible help.

Ozz · 01-01-2011, 07:49 AM

In my professional opinion (as a Journeyman pipefitter HVAC company owner-operator) no problem.

oldelmer1 · 01-01-2011, 08:07 AM

I have never done it, but from what I've read, ditto on what Ozz says.

But be carefull when fueling up.

Trailer Trash 2 · 01-01-2011, 08:11 AM

Me..... I dint think running down the hwy with the heater going is cost effective or worth it, its a waist of energy,

it dosen't take that long to heat up the Monty,

at least it dosen't mine, now cooling it down is a diffirent story.

H. John Kohl · 01-01-2011, 08:42 AM

Quote:

quote:Originally posted by ChuckD

I know this has been discussed before, but....We are planning on traveling Buffalo NY to Lakeland Fl starting in February. Because of the cold we would like to leave the furness on 45 degrees. Because of visiting family and friends it will take about a month to arrive in Lakeland. We will be making several overnite stops on the way. What are the pros and cons of traveling with the furness on. Thank you for all your possible help.

Chuck,
Great question. The one missing question is what are you trying to gain?

Tom S. · 01-01-2011, 08:42 AM

Besides the obvious advantage of having a warm camper when you arrive, keeping the furnace running will also eliminate the condensation you get when heating up a cold trailer.

Ozz · 01-01-2011, 09:00 AM

If we do not heat a space, there is more than air to heat. The carpet, walls, furniture and every mass inside it coos to the temperature of outside, or close to it. Warming the air after it being off for a period of time makes a very uncomfortable home for a couple of hours. A closed trailer and with the slides in, would be fairly easy to keep at 45 degrees.

ChuckD · 01-01-2011, 09:15 AM

John Kohl, In answer to your question, what is it I am trying to gain is.... Thinking the outside temp could be well below the freezing point for several hundred miles we were concerned about can goods, heating up the inside when we arrived to our overnite, I just thought maybe keeping it as low as possible, but above freezing. I am thinking the chill factor may well be below zero for the first part of the trip. Not really sure if its a good idea or not, so I ask for your input... Thank You

H. John Kohl · 01-01-2011, 09:40 AM

Quote:

quote:Originally posted by ChuckD

John Kohl, In answer to your question, what is it I am trying to gain is.... Thinking the outside temp could be well below the freezing point for several hundred miles we were concerned about can goods, heating up the inside when we arrived to our overnite, I just thought maybe keeping it as low as possible, but above freezing. I am thinking the chill factor may well be below zero for the first part of the trip. Not really sure if its a good idea or not, so I ask for your input... Thank You

Chuck,
Thanks for answering. Ref the Chill factor, for non-living beings there is not chill factor. Just the temperature outside. The wind might find places to creep in but no chill factor.

Now the physics of heating the trailer. If you depart in the morning and the trailer is 60 degrees (not sure how long you will travel that day but for discussion lets say 6 hours) then I am guessing it will take a couple hours to get down to 45. I do not have any study to document my guess. If you stop for lunch and turn on the heater during the stop it will bring up the temperature again. Then about an hour before you arrive you can turn on the heater or turn it on as soon as you pull into the RV park for the night.

If I was doing it I would look into a remote thermometer and monitor it from the truck. That would help give you a reference on the temp inside.

It will be interesting to see what you find out and how it works out.
Safe travels.

exav8tr · 01-01-2011, 09:54 AM

Is there no 110VAC component to the furnace? I thought the control panel was DC but the blower was 110VAC. If there is a AC component, wouldn't an inverter be necessary? I am probably off base on this as I don't boondock. Having said this, I have the utmost respect for OZZ but as I have said before, and I know others disagree, but I consider it a safety factor to travel with these things running, as do many RV techs. Isn't the heater located near the wheels that ocassionally go kaput and take out part of the Monty? I know, go back to sleep Phil, we all do it.......Don't hurt me too much with your replies.....

H. John Kohl · 01-01-2011, 10:02 AM

Phil,
The furnace fan runs on 12VDC. It is a major current draw when running and needs to be watched close when boon-docking

exav8tr · 01-01-2011, 10:06 AM

Thanks John, I figured I was wrong the way folks were replying. So much to learn and so little time!!!!!

Ozz · 01-01-2011, 11:34 AM

Hey everyone is entitled to their views. Believe me, if there was a big danger with running the furnace while in transit, the Lawyers would make the manufacturers put an interlock on the furnaces so you can't run them while moving.
We ran ours all the time while moving to keep the cats warm.

scductman · 01-01-2011, 12:30 PM

I have also run mine. I will turn it on maybe 100 miles before destanation if it is cold so the DW can be warm when setting up inside. I normaly run it at about 60d to just heat up alittle before camp.
bobby

mhs4771 · 01-01-2011, 12:46 PM

Chuck, I'll be watching this thread, as we're thinking of a trip in early Feb from the Genesee Valley to the Tampa area. Taking our 04 Trail Blazer down to the DD in Holiday and trying to decide if we want to just drive the Blazer and fly back, or go with the Monty and spend a month or so there. And before anyone ask, no we wouldn't tow the Blazer behing the Monty, one of us would have to drive it.

lasater · 01-01-2011, 02:20 PM

The last time I left South Dakota and ran through Wyoming, I passed through a bunch of sub-freezing temps. I left the furnace on and set at 50 degrees. This was only to prevent any freezeup in the belly or basement. When I stopped for the night, I turned the thermostat up to 70 and had a warm coach by the time I finished the outside setup.

By the way, don't forget that when you go through the Boston area, you cannot go through any tunnels with the propane bottles. They are considered HazMat and you will be stopped. You have to figure routing around any tunnels. I don't know about tunnels in New York, but I would bet they have a similar restriction.

dieselguy · 01-01-2011, 04:36 PM

For those of you that have traveled with the furnace on ... did there seem to be any issue with the fact that only 2 vents were blowing hot air as the others were covered up with the slides. In other words ... did anything get noticably HOT? This could be just the case in my floor plan as I realize all vents are not of the same location per fiver.

ChuckD · 01-01-2011, 04:47 PM

Well I got different ideas from several of you and I think they are good ones, Thank You..I still have time to think about what I should do and right now I am leaning toward H.John Kohls idea about a remonte temp gauge in the trailer and the truck and when the trailer cools down below what I am comfortable with, stopping and starting the furness. I like the idea of having a semi-warm unit when setting up..I really am considering all you points here.....there is a lot of knowledge you guys/gals are sharing.

Ozz · 01-02-2011, 12:29 AM

Quote:

quote:Originally posted by dieselguy

For those of you that have traveled with the furnace on ... did there seem to be any issue with the fact that only 2 vents were blowing hot air as the others were covered up with the slides. In other words ... did anything get noticably HOT? This could be just the case in my floor plan as I realize all vents are not of the same location per fiver.

Shouldn't be a problem with a low setting on the thermostat. Usually, there is around a 40 degree temperture rise over the intake air, 60 in the trailer gives you 100 degree supply air, 50 degree trailer air give you only 90 degree supply air, so you would not have real hot supply air at all.

bncinwv · 01-02-2011, 01:56 AM

For what it is worth, if the outside temperatures are on the cold side, we always travel with the heat on at about a 60 degree setting on the thermostat. Out furry creatures travel in the rig (in training crates) and we always think of their comfort as well as ours. We monitor the temperature in the rig with a remote thermometer. By the way, in cold weather, the temperature drop when traveling is very noticeable. The same is true for hot outside temperatures, we travel with the air conditioner on via generator and again monitor the temperature. This is not given as advise as your decision will be your decision, just letting you know what and how we do.
Bingo

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