Furnace vs Heat pump

[Foxfire]

My 31sl has the same problem as my 28 TT had. When using the furnace there's one register in the bedroom, one in the bathroom and only one register in the living dining room. When the furnace is on, the bedroom is hot the bathroom is a steam room and the living dining room is tough to heat up.
We had heat pumps installed in my RW. This weekend we got a chance to try it out. What a pleasure to have heat come out of a dozen different registers all throughout the rig. It heated all the rooms uniformly and not one room much warmer than the others. If you close the bedroom door the bedroom became warmer than I liked it but a much better solution than using the furnace. IMHO

[atom ant]

Ya even with the heat pumps the bedroom can get pretty hot unless you close down the vents.

You can get adjustable vents and block down the bedroom and bathroom -

http://www.dwincorp.com/index.php

[Rick and Mindy]

Originally Posted by Foxfire

My 31sl has the same problem as my 28 TT had. When using the furnace there's one register in the bedroom, one in the bathroom and only one register in the living dining room. When the furnace is on, the bedroom is hot the bathroom is a steam room and the living dining room is tough to heat up.
We had heat pumps installed in my RW. This weekend we got a chance to try it out. What a pleasure to have heat come out of a dozen different registers all throughout the rig. It heated all the rooms uniformly and not one room much warmer than the others. If you close the bedroom door the bedroom became warmer than I liked it but a much better solution than using the furnace. IMHO

We have the 31sl also and we still have not been able to figure out how Redwood ran the heat ducts in the floor. First, we wondered why only one duct in living room area when it is such a large area, then we discovered that we think there is a vent at the base of the island on the rear side but we believe in order to get the air out of it some kind of deflector needs to be built otherwise the air goes into the island area. For some reason there are several holes under or in the island allowing the furnace air to go into the island. Haven't completely figured it out yet but the first time we used ours, the island drawers to the left of the sink got so hot that if you had a candy bar in them it would melt. We are still investigating. The dealer we purchased from contacted Redwood about the heat in the island and never really got an explanation. The tech at the dealership was able to cover a hole he found in the island area and did resolve some of the severe heat that was in the island.

[Foxfire]

Speaking as a Redwood newbie owner but using my knowledge as a mechanic some of it makes sense. If Redwood is advertising their rigs to be good to -20 degrees it makes sense to have heat where the water pipes run. I haven't noticed any unusual heat in the island but I have noticed a lot of heat in the floor under the shower pan. When you step into the shower barefoot the floor is definitely warm to the touch. The 2 places that have water the island and the bathroom having extra heat running there makes sense.
I'll be in the rig Wed. for 2 weeks and will pay attention to any extra or excess heat in the island. But as far as I can see there's still only one heat register in the living, dining room.

[Rick and Mindy]

Originally Posted by Foxfire

Speaking as a Redwood newbie owner but using my knowledge as a mechanic some of it makes sense. If Redwood is advertising their rigs to be good to -20 degrees it makes sense to have heat where the water pipes run. I haven't noticed any unusual heat in the island but I have noticed a lot of heat in the floor under the shower pan. When you step into the shower barefoot the floor is definitely warm to the touch. The 2 places that have water the island and the bathroom having extra heat running there makes sense.
I'll be in the rig Wed. for 2 weeks and will pay attention to any extra or excess heat in the island. But as far as I can see there's still only one heat register in the living, dining room.

I agree with the extra heat where pipes are but it was excessive in the island. We have not noticed that the shower pan is warm. Do you have a cutout in the kick plate at the bottom of the island to the right of the sink? That is where we are thinking maybe the intent is for warm air to heat the kitchen area.

[atom ant]

When I had the basement apart, I noticed 5 3" flex ducts, of which some were tapped with 2" leading to the belly directly below the floor and one up and over the basement ceiling to the basement grille in the ceiling by the front.

I have 2 in the living room, 1 in the bedroom, 1 in the bathroom. There is a grille on the stairs, but I think that may be return air - that leaves one mystery one I may have to chase down next time out.

[NW Snowbirds]

Originally Posted by Rick and Mindy

I agree with the extra heat where pipes are but it was excessive in the island. We have not noticed that the shower pan is warm. Do you have a cutout in the kick plate at the bottom of the island to the right of the sink? That is where we are thinking maybe the intent is for warm air to heat the kitchen area.

We have the 31SL and the heat pours out of the island duct which exits beneath the trash drawer. You should also check that the ducts are connected to the manifold coming out of the furnace. It is necessary to remove the sidewall in the basement adjacent to the convenience center. There are three ducts attached with metallic duct tape. The tape looses it "stick", the manifold falls off and the hot air fills the sub basement area eventually going thru the ducts. This situation has happened to many of us RW owners. It's possible that may help explain a warm shower floor.

[Rick and Mindy]

Originally Posted by atom ant

When I had the basement apart, I noticed 5 3" flex ducts, of which some were tapped with 2" leading to the belly directly below the floor and one up and over the basement ceiling to the basement grille in the ceiling by the front.

I have 2 in the living room, 1 in the bedroom, 1 in the bathroom. There is a grille on the stairs, but I think that may be return air - that leaves one mystery one I may have to chase down next time out.

If I remember right, the Redwood brochure states that redwood used a solid duct that runs through the middle of the unit. If that is true, why would you run flex ducts to all the registers? Am I reading the brochure wrong?

[Foxfire]

I know the register on the stairs is an intake, there's also an intake to the right of the refrigerator down near the floor but on the vertical wall under that 3" deep closet. I didn't notice a vent anywhere on the island but I'll look this weekend.
I did see the manifold for the ducts in the basement there is a cut out just barely big enough to tilt your head and look in which is directly under the shower floor.
Stuff to keep me busy while trying to relax while on vacation.

[Rick and Mindy]

Originally Posted by NW Snowbirds

We have the 31SL and the heat pours out of the island duct which exits beneath the trash drawer. You should also check that the ducts are connected to the manifold coming out of the furnace. It is necessary to remove the sidewall in the basement adjacent to the convenience center. There are three ducts attached with metallic duct tape. The tape looses it "stick", the manifold falls off and the hot air fills the sub basement area eventually going thru the ducts. This situation has happened to many of us RW owners. It's possible that may help explain a warm shower floor.

I had the duct come loose from my bedroom register and I had to fix that. It was taped up with duct tape. I've looked under the belly but I have a hard time seeing where all the flex ducts end up. So, far after my first fix, we seem to be getting air through all the vents but not much under the island, and that may be why the island gets so hot. We have quartz countertops and even that got very warm to the touch.

[Rick and Mindy]

Originally Posted by Foxfire

I know the register on the stairs is an intake, there's also an intake to the right of the refrigerator down near the floor but on the vertical wall under that 3" deep closet. I didn't notice a vent anywhere on the island but I'll look this weekend.
I did see the manifold for the ducts in the basement there is a cut out just barely big enough to tilt your head and look in which is directly under the shower floor.
Stuff to keep me busy while trying to relax while on vacation.

We called it a vent in the kickplate at the end of the island(living room end) but it is just a large cutout, no cover over it. You are right, it is difficult to see under the belly but you can unscrew the walls and then you can get a better view. I've only taken the wall with the cutout door down because I made the door much larger to gain access to the filter. The filter is a whole different project as you have probably already read about on the forum.

[ichabod123]

Originally Posted by atom ant

When I had the basement apart, I noticed 5 3" flex ducts, of which some were tapped with 2" leading to the belly directly below the floor and one up and over the basement ceiling to the basement grille in the ceiling by the front.

I have 2 in the living room, 1 in the bedroom, 1 in the bathroom. There is a grille on the stairs, but I think that may be return air - that leaves one mystery one I may have to chase down next time out.

Don't quote me on this but I believe there is a smaller hose that is directed to the tanks and also heats the basement

[atom ant]

Originally Posted by ichabod123

Don't quote me on this but I believe there is a smaller hose that is directed to the tanks and also heats the basement

Yep, that was my "belly" reference

[NW Snowbirds]

We called it a vent in the kickplate at the end of the island(living room end) but it is just a large cutout, no cover over

Ours has an expanded metal grate (register) over the end.

[rcflame]

We had the problem in out Carriage. Your home supple stores has a flexible magnetic sheet that is make for covering registers. I just cut it size and put it over the register. Cheaper and easier than trying to find the correct register that you could shut down.

[Foxfire]

Originally Posted by Rick and Mindy

We have the 31sl also and we still have not been able to figure out how Redwood ran the heat ducts in the floor. First, we wondered why only one duct in living room area when it is such a large area, then we discovered that we think there is a vent at the base of the island on the rear side but we believe in order to get the air out of it some kind of deflector needs to be built otherwise the air goes into the island area. For some reason there are several holes under or in the island allowing the furnace air to go into the island. Haven't completely figured it out yet but the first time we used ours, the island drawers to the left of the sink got so hot that if you had a candy bar in them it would melt. We are still investigating. The dealer we purchased from contacted Redwood about the heat in the island and never really got an explanation. The tech at the dealership was able to cover a hole he found in the island area and did resolve some of the severe heat that was in the island.

Ok we're at the camper, I checked there is a register in the bottom of the island directly under the waste can on the vertical kick. The island is divided into 3 compartments. The waste can has a floor under it as does the double door cabinet. It too has a floor under it. This prohibits any unwanted heat from getting into the island at those locations. The third part which is the cabinet with the 3 drawers does not have a floor under the plate drawer and is open to the kitchen floor and the heat pours in from around the register and in where the sink waste pipe is. There so much heat the pipe is HOT to the touch.
The good part is while I was rooting around I found drawer slide parts and a dozen different screws laying loose on the floor. It was like a jackpot.

[Rick and Mindy]

Foxfire, Have you been using your furnace heat all the time or is it just occasional? We really noticed the heat on the quartz countertop above the 3 drawers when the furnace was being used quite a bit. It will be awhile before I will be able to investigate further. Thanks for checking yours out and letting me know what you found. Can you tell where the heat for the kickplate vent is supposedly coming from? If there is a hole in the flooring then shouldn't there be a flex duct or something directing the heat to the vent? Sometimes I wonder if the engineers ever actually use one of these.

[johnboytoo]

is it possible they left the same floor registers as on our 38GK for the different floor plan ?

the old adage measure twice and cut once may not have been followed and the put the vent 6 inches toward the kitchen
one is near the sofa (under the kitchen slide when closed !!!) and
one is just under the magazine rack on the living room side of the island ?

[Foxfire]

Originally Posted by Rick and Mindy

Foxfire, Have you been using your furnace heat all the time or is it just occasional? We really noticed the heat on the quartz countertop above the 3 drawers when the furnace was being used quite a bit. It will be awhile before I will be able to investigate further. Thanks for checking yours out and letting me know what you found. Can you tell where the heat for the kickplate vent is supposedly coming from? If there is a hole in the flooring then shouldn't there be a flex duct or something directing the heat to the vent? Sometimes I wonder if the engineers ever actually use one of these.

It was 25 degrees last night and when we got here today the camper was 45 degrees inside. They are calling for 28 to 30 tonight so we will be using the furnace quite a bit for the next few days. The vent under the garbage can can't be seen because that cabinet has a bottom or floor, as does the double door cabinet. Only the cabinet with the plate drawer doesn't have a bottom or floor in the cabinet and you can see the floor tiles. That floor is hot and has the sink drain running down through it.
After being here in the freezing weather I still hold that RW is pumping heat into the cabinet to keep pipes from freezing. The next time you use the furnace also pay attention to the shower floor thats also hot to the touch. When we pulled into the camp ground people said their pipes were frozen this morning not so in this rig for the last three weeks. So it may seem wrong but they might have actually done it on purpose to heat the water closets.

[Rick and Mindy]

Johnboytoo may have the best answer of all. Redwood probably tries to be consistent in all their models and he said that his model has the living room vent and one next to the island below the magazine rack. I've never understood why there are not 2 vents in the lower part of the coach. That's a very large area to heat with 1 vent. Maybe originally there was supposed to be 2 vents and that is why the hole in the kickplate. I find it very hard to believe that Redwood intended to provide heat in the island because if the belly is heated and the living room and kitchen are heated then there would be no reason for the pipes to freeze. We may never know. I may have to cut a hole in the island flooring to get a better look at where the heat is coming from.