Furnace Register Locations? Furnace under "coffee bar"?

[dpisano]

GDers.

Just took my 2018 Imagine 2950RL out for its maiden voyage this weekend in North Carolina. Running the furnace all night, I noticed the main living area wasn't heating up quickly based on the heat registers being under the island and one in the bedroom and bathroom. My wife opened up the drawer under the coffee bar and said "heat just poured out". I went over and touched the counter top and even that was warm to the touch. It appears the furnace is under the coffee bar and/or there is also a register underneath it.

While I like the camper, there are a number of weird design choices I just can't understand.

1. heat register location? Why not put a piece of duct and register under the coffee bar directing the heat out inside the living area?
2. The circa 1998 Furion DVD player. Why not supply a real AV receiver with multiple HDMI and optical audio inputs on the front?
3. The area the Furion union and glass above the fireplace could easily accomdate a full sized audio receiver with one output needed to TV.
3. No Smart TV? Who uses DVD players anymore? Its 2018?
4. No full motion TV mount. Can't even access the HDMI inputs on the back of the TV as I can't get the TV off and the damn TV mount is fixed.
5. Fresh water connection inside storage area of camper? Bad idea all around.


Thanks for listening to my vent. Any comments, ideas, solutions, or suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

DP

[ksbowman]

I know we are talking two different animals, but my 303rls has the return air under the coffee bar and behind the stool in the bathroom. If yours is a return air too I would say you have had a duct come off your furnace. Pull a drawer out and see if you can see your furnace.

[Hokensalem]

The old saying 'can't please everyone'. I owned a Forest River TT before we got the Imagine 2970RL. I will say for a fact this GD is at least 100% better designed than any I've had.

[boyscout]

@dpisano, I don't know anything about Imagines, but on Reflections and Solitudes there have been reports of improperly-installed duct work which can direct heat to places other than where it's supposed to be sent.

Some of it is easily checked and repaired (at least on Reflections and Solitudes) by opening the utility area where the furnace is located and checking the ducts coming from it for kinks and too-sharp angles, tears, and poor connections.

On our Reflection Grand Design had used a very poor-quality aluminum duct tape that was falling off after less than 15 hours of use of the furnace. One of the resulting failure points was blowing much of the furnace's output into the utility area under the bathroom floor instead of into the living areas of the trailer.

[dpisano]

@dpisano, I don't know anything about Imagines, but on Reflections and Solitudes there have been reports of improperly-installed duct work which can direct heat to places other than where it's supposed to be sent.

Some of it is easily checked and repaired (at least on Reflections and Solitudes) by opening the utility area where the furnace is located and checking the ducts coming from it for kinks and too-sharp angles, tears, and poor connections.

On our Reflection Grand Design had used a very poor-quality aluminum duct tape that was falling off after less than 15 hours of use of the furnace. One of the resulting failure points was blowing much of the furnace's output into the utility area under the bathroom floor instead of into the living areas of the trailer.

Thanks Boyscout, that makes perfect sense! With the massive amount of heat coming out, the duct falling off the furnace or failing tape makes perfect sense.

[Mr. Goodwrench]

Do a search on here for hot hutch. It seems to be a common problem. Next time out, I am going to investigate our hot hutch too and use some of the repair methods found on the forum. Good luck with yours.

[offtohavasu]

GDers.


3. No Smart TV? Who uses DVD players anymore? Its 2018?



Thanks for listening to my vent. Any comments, ideas, solutions, or suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

DP

We do. We have so many DVDs for the kids, it's not worth the time to transferring them to digital, and having a DVD player, there's no need to.

[TyeeMan]

dpisano - We have a 2970RL which is almost the same as a 2950. Get yourself some foil tape, remove the drawer closest to the wall on the coffee bar and fire up the furnace. You'll probably feel hot air leaking from various places. Use the foil tape to fix those leaks.
I was thinking the same thing as we were in our camper for the last time this year this last weekend. Why only two vents under the island and they point towards the rear of the coach?
My uneducated guess is that if they point a heat vent towards the coffee bar or dinette area, the thermostat might satisfy too soon leaving some areas cold. But once everything in the camper comes up to temp I think it's very comfortable.

That said, if I could add a steam function to the heat duct in the bedroom it would be a perfect sauna. Cryeye it get's hot in there!!

[dpisano]

dpisano - We have a 2970RL which is almost the same as a 2950. Get yourself some foil tape, remove the drawer closest to the wall on the coffee bar and fire up the furnace. You'll probably feel hot air leaking from various places. Use the foil tape to fix those leaks.
I was thinking the same thing as we were in our camper for the last time this year this last weekend. Why only two vents under the island and they point towards the rear of the coach?
My uneducated guess is that if they point a heat vent towards the coffee bar or dinette area, the thermostat might satisfy too soon leaving some areas cold. But once everything in the camper comes up to temp I think it's very comfortable.

That said, if I could add a steam function to the heat duct in the bedroom it would be a perfect sauna. Cryeye it get's hot in there!!

Thanks TyeeMan,

I called GD today and they said to put an insulating barrier under the bar, between the furnace and cabinetry. I am going to remove the drawer over the next of couple of weeks and formulate my plan. I left the drawers open during the night to let heat escape out into the main living area and we woke up Monday morning with cracks on the front side of each of the drawers. GD is going to replace them, but it would seem the extreme temperature range and associated contraction and expansion cracked the drawer fronts.

I was thinking about buying some sort of "duct cover" for the furnace with a reducer and cutting a whole in the bottom and putting a register at the floor. When my mobile technician is out repairing the other warranty items, I will ask him for some ideas. He has seen it all :-)

[TyeeMan]

When you come up with your insulation barrier plan please post it, I'm sure others with 2950/2970's will be interested.