Fireplace thermostat solved

[Juiceman]

Like many of you from the Northern areas, we love the fireplace. It is enough to take the chill off in the mornings when we have shore power. We left it on the other day set for 71°F and it was 80+ when we got back from getting groceries. I thought dang, we have one of those with the bad thermostat, I'll call GD and get a replacement ordered.

The person at GD asked us to pull the fireplace and get the serial number on the back so he could open a case with the vendor. So, I removed it from the slide out cabinet below the TV. Pull up on the bezel and there are 4 screws, easy. Fireplace is just 10 inches deep and has nice handle indents on the sides so I put it on the floor and left it running. I left it there for the next hour while we did other things. I was sitting quietly in my wonderful recliner reading phone junk... and the fireplace goes "click". I think, crap, it works! Sure enough, 72°F on the thermostat on the wall.

Now, you have to understand our family. We are all engineers and/or farm people. It is our job to understand how things work. Wife starts in with a flashlight on that fireplace now in the middle of the living space. There is the temperature sensor at the top of the unit, right where the air draws into the box. Now, look at the cabinet where it was removed. Completely sealed, panels on every side and top except for 2 holes drilled into the floor for some wires, and a funny triangle cut out that runs the length of the slide-out to deliver the wires to the microwave, refrigerator, outlets, etc. The coldest part of the dang camper.

The air for the intake is not from the room, it is the cold air from the cabinets in the kitchen slide! That air never warms up to turn off the fireplace thermostat.

New project: cut holes in the walls of the "box" where the fireplace is mounted into the side cupboards, and one into the space where the drawer is above. Cover holes with maybe a floor vent, chicken wire or anything so stuff does not fall into that area. Now the air will come in from around the doors (loads of space there, look for yourself) and from the drawer (some space there). Plug up that triangle wire race with some pink insulation and stuff the holes in the floor where the wires enter.

Never a dull moment in RV Land!

[traveldawg]

I guess your cabinet for the fireplace is different than mine. Mine pulls air in from the TV area where the televator raises and lowers the TV. I'm going to check again tho to be sure. Although our fireplace works OK.

[Mr. Goodwrench]

Like many of you from the Northern areas, we love the fireplace. It is enough to take the chill off in the mornings when we have shore power. We left it on the other day set for 71°F and it was 80+ when we got back from getting groceries. I thought dang, we have one of those with the bad thermostat, I'll call GD and get a replacement ordered.

The person at GD asked us to pull the fireplace and get the serial number on the back so he could open a case with the vendor. So, I removed it from the slide out cabinet below the TV. Pull up on the bezel and there are 4 screws, easy. Fireplace is just 10 inches deep and has nice handle indents on the sides so I put it on the floor and left it running. I left it there for the next hour while we did other things. I was sitting quietly in my wonderful recliner reading phone junk... and the fireplace goes "click". I think, crap, it works! Sure enough, 72°F on the thermostat on the wall.

Now, you have to understand our family. We are all engineers and/or farm people. It is our job to understand how things work. Wife starts in with a flashlight on that fireplace now in the middle of the living space. There is the temperature sensor at the top of the unit, right where the air draws into the box. Now, look at the cabinet where it was removed. Completely sealed, panels on every side and top except for 2 holes drilled into the floor for some wires, and a funny triangle cut out that runs the length of the slide-out to deliver the wires to the microwave, refrigerator, outlets, etc. The coldest part of the dang camper.

The air for the intake is not from the room, it is the cold air from the cabinets in the kitchen slide! That air never warms up to turn off the fireplace thermostat.

New project: cut holes in the walls of the "box" where the fireplace is mounted into the side cupboards, and one into the space where the drawer is above. Cover holes with maybe a floor vent, chicken wire or anything so stuff does not fall into that area. Now the air will come in from around the doors (loads of space there, look for yourself) and from the drawer (some space there). Plug up that triangle wire race with some pink insulation and stuff the holes in the floor where the wires enter.

Never a dull moment in RV Land!

Very interesting find. Reminds me of when we had an Open Range trailer with a fireplace. On the owners forum, many people were complaining about their fireplaces not putting out enough heat. What someone found was that the cabinet was sealed so well that room air could not get into the fireplace to be heated, thus no flow and frequently kicking off the unit on the high heat safety! An easy solution was to cut a hole in the cabinet side and install a louvered vent. I used a small floor vent about 3 X 6 if I recall and the problem was solved. Coincidently, I now have a 2020 295RL and have already thought that I need to do the same mod...Now I will for sure. Thank you for investigating this and spuring me into another project.

[Ia_packer]

I have had this same problem on a 2019 model 295RL. I made some adjustments by putting a resistor in parallel with the sensor, so it would not head up so much. I have to use a different setting to get the temperature I actually want in the room, however, at least I have a 70-ish degree room now. My wife was not a fan of making changes to the cabinets since the look would change. I did figure out that the fireplace will slowly draw air in through the cabinets, however, there is a very long thermal lag there as one might think.

I had to smile at Juiceman's comment since I am an engineer too.

[Calbar]

@Juiceman what fireplace do you have. The Furrion in our trailer thermostat changes by 5 degrees at a time. 65, 70, 75, 80. To me these are too big of steps. Just curious about your fireplace. Likely with your trailer being 2 years newer some improvements so I would be out of luck to have a finer temperature selection but maybe not.

Thanks,
Rob

[srobins]

@Juiceman what fireplace do you have. The Furrion in our trailer thermostat changes by 5 degrees at a time. 65, 70, 75, 80. To me these are too big of steps. Just curious about your fireplace. Likely with your trailer being 2 years newer some improvements so I would be out of luck to have a finer temperature selection but maybe not.

Thanks,
Rob

I believe the remote control offers incremental temperature settings other than every 5 degrees

[Calbar]

I believe the remote control offers incremental temperature settings other than every 5 degrees

Thanks for the quick response. When I use my remote and up or down arrow it jumps by 5 degrees each time. Maybe I am missing something because I always thought that the 5 degree steps was strange and to large of steps. I wonder if there is a way to change the increments. Maybe need to play with it some more.

Rob

[jmbopp]

The Graystone fireplace in our Imagine would trip the safety thermostat in the heater. I pulled it out and determined the air intake was from the back of the fireplace but there were no air inlets other than the hole for the power outlet. We were at a seasonal site so the field expedient solution was to cut a series of overlapping 2" holes with a hole saw, giving me a 4" X 12" opening. That, and realizing the tv has to be up, meant the fireplace alone can heat the trailer down to 40 degree.

[Juiceman]

my Fireplace is the EveryLight... which I am not sure is a real brand. It looks like a lot of the others so it might be branded from another mfg.

I wish it had a much lower setting. Being from Montana, we camp in some pretty cool nights. It would be really great if it has a 60F setting, rather than starting at 72F. Maybe one of these vendors is listening!

[WhittleBurner]

my Fireplace is the EveryLight... which I am not sure is a real brand. It looks like a lot of the others so it might be branded from another mfg.

I wish it had a much lower setting. Being from Montana, we camp in some pretty cool nights. It would be really great if it has a 60F setting, rather than starting at 72F. Maybe one of these vendors is listening!

Our 2014 303 has a different fireplace than yours, don't remember which one now but it starts at 65 which is better but I too wish it was 60.