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Heating the Coach

Yahoo Message Number: 78393

We are still trying to learn this new coach to us.
It got down into the low 50's last nite and we had the tempastate set at 68 but on the "gas" setting.

Dave

07 Country Coach Allure 430 #31495 12 Jeep GC Toad Mountains of So Cal
Dave & Jodi
2007 CC Allure 40’ Tag #31495
2012 Jeep GC
Big Bear Lake, Ca & Henderson, Nev

Re: Heating the Coach

Reply #1 –
Yahoo Message Number: 78398
Dave - If you have an RV Comfort thermostat the "GAS" mode means the hydro-hot diesel burner is on. Low 50's might be a bit cool for your heat pumps (ELEC mode). Also heat from the electronic equipment in your entertainment area gives a false reading to your front thermostat sensor. That is if it's mounted on the underside of the cabinet. Cold air leaking from your bedroom closet door chills the bedroom thermostat. Play around with adding/substracting from your two zone settings to compensate. At $4+ dollars a gallon for diesel, heating with electric (assuming $0.10 per kilowatt) is less expensive. And that doesn't take into account the cost of wear and tear on your hydro-hot unit. Converting electricity into heat is far more efficient than burning diesel in a combustion chamber. With an exhaust gas of 600F+, lots of heat goes out the tailpipe which, of course, you pay for with no return in comfort.
If you are planning on repeated cold weather stays you might want to consider electric heaters. Jeannie and I have used this approach with good results. More information about our setup is here: http://www.muniac.com/Winter_P2.html Good luck and stay warm.

At 07:30 AM 4/4/2012, you wrote:

Re: Heating the Coach

Reply #2 –
Yahoo Message Number: 84019
When using the "gas" setting make sure the diesel burner is turned ON.

Craig and Kathy Spiess
2007 Inspire #51959

2005 Honda Civic Hybrid (4 down)
So Cal

Re: Heating the Coach

Reply #3 –
Yahoo Message Number: 84020
Not necessarily. You can turn the electric switch only on but the electric will only keep up with heat demand in moderately cool temperatures, above 50 as a wild guess. Below 50 or so then you need the diesel burner and can leave the electric off, or have then both on and diesel will kick in less frequently.
If you're in a campground and paid for the electricity with your fee, why burn that $4/gal. diesel!? And if you have close-by neighbors, not having the diesel smell is appreciated.

Lee
--

Lee (leozbrowski@...) 2007 Country Coach Intrigue 12153
CAT C-13

Re: Heating the Coach

Reply #4 –
Yahoo Message Number: 84023
Lee is not exactly correct. The set point for heating on electric is BELOW the set point for the diesel, so if you have the diesel AND electric switches ON, the electric should never come on, unless there is a malfunction of the diesel. Sorry Lee ! As a point of interest only , on my newer Aquahot , I have 2 electric elements, whereas the older units have only one element. As a result I can get to almost freezing temps on electric . With electric floor heat and electric AquaHot , I have heated the coach at 18 F without diesel. Campgrounds hate us !!

Ron Baran 09 Magna 7025

Re: Heating the Coach

Reply #5 –
Yahoo Message Number: 84028
My experience is the opposite. On the ones I have worked on the electric comes on at 190 and the electric comes on at 180. So the electric tries to do the job and gets assisted by diesel if it cannot keep up.

Mikee

Re: Heating the Coach

Reply #6 –
Yahoo Message Number: 84030
I think mine does that too (electric is priority) because diesel never came on at 35 outside temp. Coach was nice and warm inside. I have the large Hurricane heater withe two electric elements.

Larry, 03 Allure, 30856

Re: Heating the Coach

Reply #8 –
Yahoo Message Number: 84033
Regarding electric versus diesel set point. It is real easy to check out. With the electric on, for a while so as to be satisfied, turn on the diesel. If the setpoint of the diesel is higher than the electric setpoint, the diesel would then come on. If it is lower , it would not come on.

Ron Baran 09 Magna 7025

Re: Heating the Coach

Reply #9 –
Yahoo Message Number: 84035
except for the initial start up when you turn the diesel on.

Mikee

Re: Heating the Coach

Reply #10 –
Yahoo Message Number: 84041
Informative thread, and much appreciated... For those that have a Hydro Hot with single electric element, how low of temp's can you handle without the diesel kicking in?
Same kind of question with the addition of the floor radiant heat also on assisting the electric hydro hot?
I suppose these all will vary between coaches that have different numbers of slides.
We have not yet been in cold enough weather (San Diego goes into Storm Watch phase when we hit the mid 40's:)!), to test this out yet. And, we also usually use electric plug in 1500W heaters to agment the electric Hyro Hot. (The DW likes rugs on the tile floor, and with the rubber backing, we don't use the floor heating.)
The last factor ties to 30A vs 50A supply, where running both electric Hydro Hot and floor heat together, would be too much.
We carry the smaller Heat Buddy, and have used it a few times to augment only the 1500W plug in heater... We've also used this with the Hydro Hot Diesel while boon docking. This combination has worked well down into the high 30's, with the only negative is that in our coach, the Hydro Hot diesel kicking on is a bit loud. When we know we may in an area with ongoing low temps, we also have a larger Heat Buddy that we would take in place of the smaller unit. (We could run both, using canned propane with the smaller if needed, but prefer to only have one unit running, as we have the extended stay attachment hosed into the coach from the rigs propane bottle.

We do not have a propane heat option in our coach.
OK - enough rambling on our rig's heating ability. My questions above are to help us plan for real cold times as we move to more extneded trips ahead. TIA for info sharing:)!

Best to all,
Smitty

04 Allure 31017 40' two slide High Cascade model
04 Allure Sold to a nice new owner! Now enjoying a 07 Magna Rembrandt 45' ISX600 #6775
"We're ONDROAD for THEJRNY!" (Toad and Coach license plates, say Hi if you see us!)

Re: Heating the Coach

Reply #11 –
Yahoo Message Number: 84060
I stay with the heat pumps down to about 36 or 37 degrees predicted, then switch over to full diesel heat, the single element electric heater has never been very effective in my experience. TWI 2004 42" Intrigue 11731

Re: Heating the Coach

Reply #12 –
Yahoo Message Number: 84064
CMarshall - Thannks, I honestly forgot about the Heat Pumps. The few times I tried them, the fan noise was pretty strong. Have not tried only running one zone, while in the other... Will add that to my experiments!
Yes, the single element does have a hard time keeping up, but it with the 1500w plugged in heater, have been pretty good for the few times we've needed heating.
Our coldest weather so far, was in the Teton's in September of 2010, where it hit mid 30's overnight. We were boondocking, and still learning the rig. I used the small Heat Buddy and the Diesel Hydro Hot, and we were very toasty... The battery level dropped pretty fast overnight, from memory down to 78%, on two AGM 8D's. So, we did the generator during the approriate hours to top back up, and set the thermostat down a bit lower, so it did not kick on as often the next few nights. Again from memory, we were at between 81-83% from this change...
We be still very much rookies on the heating of the rig in real cold weather, especially while in a boondocking mode. I did pick up a 3 month young Big Heat Buddy at a great $50 price (including external bottle attachment hose)off of Craigslist. So we ahve that now to blend into our colde weather heating....
Thanks again for reminding me of the Heat Pumps, I'll read up on them again, and play with different zone usage.

Best to all,
Smitty

04 Allure 31017
04 Allure Sold to a nice new owner! Now enjoying a 07 Magna Rembrandt 45' ISX600 #6775
"We're ONDROAD for THEJRNY!" (Toad and Coach license plates, say Hi if you see us!)

Re: Heating the Coach

Reply #13 –
Yahoo Message Number: 84065
A few years ago we were in Glacier at the end of season, it was nice in the day time middle 60's but was running close to 20 at night. So we put the Aluminum sandwiched insulation in the front window and over our bed window at night. We run the heat pumps till its time for bed and then switch over for diesel heat. The insulation in the front window cuts the cycling of the hydro-hot in half. I have blower fans with three speeds and run them in the middle if awake, and the front two on high and the back two on low when asleep for the night. I also run the front of the coach two degrees warmer than the bed room, which means on all but the coldest nights with the wind blowing the rear doesn't come on at all. Remember the plumbing bay is its own zone so if the temp is going to be below 28 degrees for any period of time you need to have the diesel switch on. If you have floor heat that really helps, too. If the wind is really gusting I pull in the slides as the floor insulation isn't much as the slide wipers don't keep the cold out. One time my hydro-hot flame sensor failed. I had to spend the night in Flagstaff and with the floor heat set at 96 degrees. We did just fine. Personally, I preferred the Coleman airs I had on my 84 Airstream 34' TT, they had heat strips and worked Quite well to just below freezing..TWI 2004 intrigue 11731

Re: Heating the Coach

Reply #14 –
Yahoo Message Number: 84074
Can you send a link for where to purchase this aluminum sandwich insulation .

Rich 2002 Magna

Re: Heating the Coach

Reply #15 –
Yahoo Message Number: 84081
I bought mine at Lowe's one time Home Depot another and smaller pieces at Camping World. I have been using the product over 25 years. TWI 2004 intrigue 11731

Re: Heating the Coach

Reply #16 –
Yahoo Message Number: 84107
Rich

I had a hard time finding it locally and finally went to a RV parts dealer who ordered it in. A 4 foot by 10 foot piece was $27. I have also started using it in the front windshield and it does seem to make a big difference.

Dan 2006 Allure 31348
 

Re: Heating the Coach

Reply #18 –
Yahoo Message Number: 84141
Thanks Barney. So this is what you are talking about. It really makes that much difference up front?

Rich 2002 Magna