Furnace removal from Concourse

Post project writeups, ideas, DIY mods and off the shelf modifications and improvements. Also "Known Issues" and their resolutions.
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Blue~Go
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Joined: July 31st, 2014, 1:01 am
Location: 1999 Concourse

Re: Furnace removal from Concourse

Post by Blue~Go »

I wonder how much the ducts might contribute? I noticed when I was looking at the Propex furnaces, that they have a new kind of ducting called "accoustical duct." From the picture it almost looks like it's made of felt. I know that one time I tried using some "ribbed" pool hose for a vacuum cleaner hose extension, and oh my, did that set up a howling! Of course in thinking about it, there is precious little ducting on a Chinook furnace. Maybe that's part of the problem: We are just listening almost directly to the "guts" of the furnace.

I have a refrigerator that uses a Danfoss compressor. Since there are specs for the fan, a few folks have replaced the stock fan with a more expensive (meaning like $20 instead of $5) fan that meets the specs, plus mounted it with some isolation, and made things much quieter. I wonder if there is any potential for that sort of mod?

(I didn't move the thread; it's just that we are now "talking" in the Furnace removal thread from last year. No worries though! This way we aren't mucking up your repair thread.

You know how some companies have a really sweet parking spot for the employee of the month? Chinook must have had "furnace installation duty" for the bad employee of the month :mrgreen: Talk about contortions.
1999 Concourse
A Rooney
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Joined: August 10th, 2014, 6:06 am

Re: Furnace removal from Concourse

Post by A Rooney »

I had not heard of the propex but looked it up and the unit I saw listed its amp draw at half what the suburban uses.Rooney
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Blue~Go
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Joined: July 31st, 2014, 1:01 am
Location: 1999 Concourse

Re: Furnace removal from Concourse

Post by Blue~Go »

Yes, that's one advantage of it. Although for me, it would be a short-use type of thing. Just a way to easily blast the rig with heat to warm it up, at which point I'd use the Wave.

They also have an outside mount one (heater is outside, ducts come in) that looks like it would mount tidily under the generator box and not affect ground clearance, but there were a few things potentially not in its favor. One is that the ducts are not metal (but maybe they could be) and you are supposed to insulate them, which I see as a mouse tempter. I mean, ooh, cozy warm insulation! But perhaps hardware cloth or something... The other is that the space to bring the ducts into the rig would be a bit cramped, but might be workable. It'd be just aft of the wheelwell under the stove. That would be a nice, central heat distribution point, and you can use two ducts. On the other hand that is the smaller heater (6,500 btu).

The one that is the same size but meant for indoors is really quite small - almost shoebox sized. They also have "accoustical" ducts for it (makes them quieter). Then you run the exhaust and intake air hoses out, vs. running the heat ducts in (the exhaust and intake are smaller/easier to run though). There is also another model for inside that is 9,500 btu. I don't see the accoustical ducts for that one yet though, and it's a bit larger (but nothing like the Suburban!).

I'm considering the 6,500 btu indoor one. I would be expecting it to just run constantly when I had it on to warm up the rig in the morning, or in the evening when coming home. Once warm I'd let the Wave take over. Or to keep the rig at, say, 50º overnight (that would probably not run constantly). But that would suit my purpose of a lazy way to blast heat to get it warm, I think. I'd probably mount it where the original furnace was, but against the outer wall where it would take like 1/5 the space. Just noodling at this point though. The Wave actually does pretty well and I like the silence. (But where the Wave doesn't do so well is quickly warming up the rig from, say, 38º in the morning. Plus I have to get out from under the sleeping bag - the horror.)

Another interesting possibility is the Truma Combi. It has been used for some time in Europe, but is now here (Propex is also European). The cool thing about the Combi is that it is a furnace AND a water heater (furnace part is hot air). It also has an automatic "dump" feature that if it's about to freeze, opens up a plug underneath and drains itself. Pretty clever. I have not had one in hand, but from the specs it looks like it might fit where our Suburban water heaters live (but I haven't made a mockup or anything, as water heating is lower priority for me). When you think about it, it does seem slightly silly to have TWO huge Suburban boxes heating things up (water and air).
1999 Concourse
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