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  1. #1
    Left The Driveway
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    Improve heat in bunkhouse?

    Hello everyone, I have a reflection 150 290BH. The heat in the bunkhouse is very bad. Especially if door is closed. From what I've read it's a common issue but I haven't read a good solution. If anyone has fixed this please let me know what you did. Thanks again.

  2. #2
    Setting Up Camp The Toyhaulers's Avatar
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    I've heard in a 5th wheel since heat rises to the bedroom, it is best to set the thermostat higher than you need and crack a window in the bedroom so you dont cook, so that heat will continue to be called for in the main cabin area/bunkhouse. Alternatively, you could purchase an indoor propane heater like this https://www.amazon.com/Mr-Heater-F23...8855749&sr=8-5
    The Toyhaulers
    Colorado
    2021 Momentum 353g
    VIN 573FM4023M1119242

  3. #3
    Left The Driveway
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    Hi, thanks for the reply. Yes that's what we have been doing so far. Thanks again

  4. #4
    Fireside Member Lv2gen's Avatar
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    I just got a 2018 290bh and the heat air flow is terrible throughout. My old Fleetwood would roast you. Grand design did several things to cut costs and weight in our model.

    Take out the bottom floor/ shelf of your bathroom vanity and you'll see they just cut a hole in the floor to try to get heat to meander up and out of the two unducted vents there for the front bedroom and the bathroom. Another owner has a great thread on this with great pics on how he put in a real air duct to the bedroom air vent. See the pic below. I also did this and it really helped the front bedroom. Now it's much warmer than the rest of the trailer so I'm going to change it the air register grill to one that I can close off to force air flow to the other ducts.

    Also going to split off that front bedroom air duct and put in a new air vent in the stair riser, like many other models already have.

    And finally I'm going to put in a 12 volt in-duct air blower in the rear bunkhouse duct to boost airflow back there. I'll wire it to the furnace blower so it goes on and off with that.

    Also, if your shower stall is flimsy and it's easy to push in around the shower control handle, that's because GD didn't brace or support it with wood framing. I cut it the back wall of my bedroom closet to access the back of the shower and put in 2x3 framing to support the shower control valve. No more flexing of the shower stall. It would have only been a matter of time before that would have cracked. Check out my post about that on here.

    Good luck. I've done other little things, just reply if you're interested. Click image for larger version. 

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  5. #5
    Left The Driveway
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    Hey, thanks so much for the reply!! Great info. I'm going to be looking into this once the weather heats up. Don't wanna attack it incase I break something and we need the heat! Lol. Appreciate the info. Thanks again

  6. #6
    Fireside Member Lv2gen's Avatar
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    Ha ha I hear ya. Luckily I live in the desert and it usually only gets in the 30s during the cold months. We head further south along the Colorado river in the winter for weekend trips and to the mountains of Utah for the summer. But these heater air ducts are still insufficient for even that.

  7. #7
    Long Hauler
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    We just run a 110 volt ceramic cube heater in the rear bunkhouse in Winter. It's got a thermostat, and really heats up the room.

    No problem in the Summer, as the a/c will freeze you out of the room.

  8. #8
    Seasoned Camper
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    We ran into this problem two weeks ago on a 3 night outing. It got pretty cold and the first night and there were complaints of waking up with a cold face in the bunkhouse. There were enough blankets to stay warm but the exposed skin got cold. The 2nd and 3rd nights, the bunkhouse door was left partially open and it was warm in there all night. Not ideal but it worked. Fortunately most of our camping is in the summer months where heat isn't needed.

  9. #9
    Fireside Member Lv2gen's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Bamaman View Post
    We just run a 110 volt ceramic cube heater in the rear bunkhouse in Winter. It's got a thermostat, and really heats up the room.

    No problem in the Summer, as the a/c will freeze you out of the room.
    I spend half or more of my trips dry camping so I don't have hookups. I did run my generator for a few hours to watch movies last weekend at the grand canyon, and I also used a portable ceramic heater to heat up the living room. Gong to do the other mods to make the furnace heat more evenly off grid. I spend the summer months in the Utah mountains so no a/c needed, but good to know. My used unit even has 2 a/c units if I ever need it.Click image for larger version. 

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    Last edited by Lv2gen; 05-04-2021 at 07:17 PM.

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