Heater vent or air intake vent.

[fredb54]

Hey all,

I called my dealer to make a appointment for service. I called regarding a heater vent in the kitchen that wasn't working. He informed me that the vent in front of the stove in a air return to the furnace. Thats seems odd to me, has anyone heard this before? I thought the air return was under the step to the master bedroom?
Also while I have your attention, has anyone had any problems with the Reese 16K hitch. The locking latch on mine keeps bending, which makes the hitch shift back and forth when starting and stopping? I've never had that happen with other units.

Fred

[dbrill]

The air return on my Mountaineer is right under the fridge (on the wall). If you are talking about a floor vent then it sounds odd, if you are talking about a larger vent on the wall the dealer is probably right. As for the hitch, I have the 16K and other than it needing some grease right now I have had no problems.

[Trailer Trash 2]

I think the dealer is refering to the vent in the kitchen as return air, it's like at home the return air there, but the heater also has a inlet and return air for the fire box which fents outside by the door it is the silver outlet outside your 5er, turn on your furnace and go feel the heat from it.

TT2

[Montana Sky]

I have vents on both side of my island for the furnace. My coach was built before they changed the location of the furnace, so the stairs are solid carpet.

[fredb54]

I spoke with a Keystone CSR today. They said that the fresh air return is under the step going to the master bedroom. The vent in question ( in front of the stove on the floor) should be working,that it's tied into a main duct that goes the length of the rig. If the last vent in the run is working, which it is, then there's no reason why that one shouldn't be working.
So their final answer was "if it's hot enough for me in the rig, do ya really want to mess with it ) Ok I think at this time I should quit while I'm ahead.I think the vent is not in the system for one of 2 reasons.
It was a install mistake
or
it is there for a option if there are heater performance issues..ya think?

As far as the Reese Hitch is concerned, I also spoke with Reese and they don't like the idea that the locking latch is bending.
So their sending out a new head unit for me and I'll return the old one back so they can examine it. Thats what I call customer service.

One down and one I'll have to investigate more.

Fred

[bobgay]

Fred, I'm having trouble visualizing how the locking latch being bent would make the hitch shift back and forth. That sounds pretty scary. Are you talking about the little swiveling latch that keeps the locking arm from being pulled out? Just trying to educate myself.
Bob

[fredb54]

Bob,
Yes,apparently that locking latch is the only thing that will keep those jaws closed. I was surprised that there isn't a secondary locking mechanism. If you don't use that latch, those jaws can be opened by hand...mine anyway.
It's not a fail safe design by any means, makes me think of investing in a bed saver for extra safety.
Looking on the bright side, I have a extra heater vent if I need it.
Isn't life grand, never a dull moment.

Have a great day

Fred

[cs413]

I had a living room vent doing the same thing so here's what I did. I removed the grill and put my hand down in the duct to see if there was airflow - and there was - plenty of warm air. I did 2 things: #1 - I Curled a thin piece of aluminum flashing a little shorter than the length of the vent and put it about half way down into the duct. I bent the top of the metal 90 degrees and made it long enough to put it under the carpet and vent. When the vent screws are tightened down it will stay in place. Worked like a champ.
#2 - I bought a new grill from Lowes with a diffuser on it and shut down the bedroom vent approx. 80% allowing more airflow to the rest of the vents. That vent had the most airflow since it is the closest to the furnace. Now the bedroom is much more comfortable and the whole 5'er stays the same temp. Very comfy now and best of all - saved a trip to the dealer.
The floor vent in question should be attached to the main duct, but the first test is to feel if there is any warm air in the duct. That should tell the tale.

[Yazoo]

If you block off your other vents you can feel if there is any air blowing out of that kitchen vent. I have a similar vent in out toilet area and it's pretty useless to expect much heat to come out of this little 3 inch hose, easier to leave the door open a crack.

[hazmic]

If the thermostat is close to that vent the furnace would not run very long because of the heat close to it. The rest of the camper would be cold. I have a 3475 so I have a different floor plan. My thermostat is next to the steps going to the bed room and the intake. I cover that vent with a rug and let the hot air go to the back of the coach and the intake is under the steps so the air moves from the end to the center and warms the whole coach. One of these days I will cover that vent altogether. Ours is nice and warm. Also restricting air flow is not a go thing to be doing by putting a diffuser in the main run.

[cs413]

The diffuser is not on the main run It's on the grill itself. I've been in the HVAC field for 12 years and we use diffusers to balance the airflow to all the registers in a room all the time. As long as the total CFM capacity of the blower motor feeds the rated CFM of the total of all the vents there is no problem. If one vent has no airflow, obviously the blower motor is not rated large enough for the amount of vents in the trailer, so restricting the airflow at the most powerful vent a little will not hurt. There has to be pressure in the main duct to be able to force air out to each run that goes to the vents. Hope that makes sense.