Thread: Im confused
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Old 01-05-2011, 05:35 AM   #5
Art-n-Marge
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Join Date: Apr 2009
Location: Murrieta
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I guess the point is that if a manufacturer went through the trouble of putting a grated cover in the rig somewhere then it's best not to impede the airflow (as miniscule as it might seem). If the cover has no holes it is not a return. Ours happens to be the first step face to the bedroom, but they can be lots of places depending on the floor plan, where the furnace is located, even where the thermostat is located. I don't know all the possibilities except that I should not cover up the venting unless I knew for sure.

For example, some owners know for sure the grated cover is for the furnace and must leave it uncovered, unless it's summertime and you know you won't be using the furnace and you want to prevent losing any cooling they will put a cover over it.

A return only provides a way for circulated air to be returned to the device causing the circulation, like a furnace or an air conditioner. It blows (heated or cooled) air into an area (our rigs), then the air being pushed needs a place to go and it will tend to go to the return grating and back to the device (furnace or air conditioner). The better the insulation, then the more important it is to keep the respective "return" clear of obstruction. For a furnace the return is near the floor so that cooler air is returned to the furnace to get heated and for an Air Conditioner, the return is typically at the A/C unit (keep those filters clean) so that warmer air is returned to the units and therefore a different "return" method.

I had a setup like what grumpys259rkd describes in another RV and behind it was pipes, conduits, wiring and all kinds of interesting stuff, but the gap was still used as the return to the furnace. A return is pretty much some holes that allows the furnace to draw air from inside the RV to reheat and force back into the coach. You certainly don't want outside air since furnaces and A/Cs should be recirculating the air in the RV. ONLY exhaust from the devices gets expelled to the exterior.

There you have it. Heating and Air 101. I learned all this some time ago from all kinds of folks like Gas company workers, Heating and Air people and Ozz!
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