Low heat output

[Montana_5429]

I just picked up my Mountaineer 342PHT today! When I run the furnace, I get tons of heat from the rear duct and the kitchen duct, but the 2 forward ducts, bath and bedroom, have real low air flow. I covered both rear ducts with heavy towels, and I only got a small increase of air flow in the forward ducts. Could I have disconected hose under the floor? Where would I access it? Thanks

[sreigle]

The older Montanas, like our 2003 and our 2001, have the same problem. On the Montanas, on later models, the furnace was moved to between living and bath areas and some of the newer ones get far more heat upstairs. I assume d the same was true with Mountaineer but perhaps not.

I doubt there is a lot you can do. We keep an electric heater upstairs. When we need to make sure the furnace runs downstairs to keep pipes from freezing we close the door to the upstairs and use the electric heater to augment the heat up there. We have been comfortable that way. Coldest we've been in is 5 below Fahrenheit. And several days without getting out of single digits.

Sorry not a solution. You could check to make sure there are no holes in the ductwork. It likely goes through the basement storage area. Ours also has a duct passing through the front locker.

[JH Sechelt]

Our 2006 2980RL is somewhat the same. Our rear ducts and bedroom ducts work great but the one by the entry door has little air flow. The good part about that, it dosn't blow on the infamous remote thermostat. Ours seems to work OK (for now)

J & D

[sreigle]

I forgot to mention there is also the possibility of blockage. On ours there are four screws buried in the carpet on the step to upstairs. Find (not easy) and remove those screws. Underneath is the junction box with two hoses exiting to the upstairs duct. You could remove the ducts to check for blockage there. On our 2880RL we had more heat in the bath area than the bedroom area. Reversing those hoses in the junction box helped quite a bit. We still would need an electric heater upstairs in really cold weather, though.

[Montana_5429]

I get about 50% heat from the rear duct, 40% from the kitchen, and about 5% each in the bath and bedroom. This seems way too unbalanced. Blocking the rear and kitch doesn't improve the situation too much. The furnace is between the rear and kitchen ducts. My stairs are against the wall by the door, so I might not have that step access panel. I'm gonna open up the basement access and look in there tommorrow.

[Montana_5429]

I looked inside the basemsnt access panel and found out that the heat from the rear of the camper comes into the front through a flexable silver hose. It looks like the hose may be too long. It hangs in kindof an "S" shape. Do you think if I shorten the hose to give it more of a straight run, I may get more airflow?

[sreigle]

I was told by our dealer's service manager that each bend or turn in the hose reduces the airspeed. I don't know if he knows what he is talking about but shortening and straightening the duct might help. It seems to me whatever volume starts through the duct would exit the duct but I'm not an expert on these things. Maybe the bends create backpressure and actually do reduce the volume getting all the way through.

If you try this, please let us know the results.

[sgf]

The dealer is correct ,one 90 degree bend is the same as adding 6 extra feet of pipe to that run.Also check that the silver tape around the grilles has not come loose under the grille. This will also block air flow. I removed all the cheap flex duct and installed hard pipe in as short a run as possible. Made a good bit of difference and doesnt rip like the old did in the storage area.

[Montana_5429]

Update - I shortened the hose in the basement to remove most of the "S" bend. It did improve the heat output somewhat to the upper part of the trailer. Not real dramatic though. I'm considering closeable vent covers for the 2 lower heat vents to force more heat up there, but even by blocking them it doesn't seam to punch alot of air up there.

What do you think about blocking off the 2" duct the goes under the house when your not in real cold weather? Do you think that would help?