I called Atwood today to find out about changing out my furnace, thech department said (1) it will not work with the duo therm comfort control (2) they are going to stop making the furnace because the OEM's are not putting the in coaches,so I guess I will look at replacing our furnace with a new Xcaliber.
Hi Bill, I plan on changing our furnace with the two-stage Excalibur XT. I don't care that the furnace won't work with the current Duo therm thermostat and would rather have a separate thermostat for the furnace anyway. I actually hate four button thermostat because access to the zones is ridiculous having to try to get two buttons to register at the same time. It works maybe 25% of the time... I will probably do the change over to the 5 button setup, but wish /i could identify another alternative.
Don
Don, the push button switches on the 4 button thermostat can be taken apart easily (don't lose the spring) and the contacts can be lifted out and cleaned with contact cleaner. I did this with mine and it has been working fine for over a year.
I changed over to the newer style of thermostat and consider it one of my favorite upgrades.
Products - Dometic (http://www.dometic.com/enus/Americas/USA/RV-Products/climate/ac-display-page/?productdataid=66938)
It required the thermostat and a new circuit board for each AC. No changes required for the furnace.
Atwood can not say how long parts will be available for the 2 stage furnace.
Did they say when they would stop making them? The current Attwood Xcaliber still works, but I want the two stage option for quieter operation in our single furnace coach. Also, having a separate thermostat to control the furnace would allow the heat pumps and propane furnace to work concurrently, which is not possible with the current setup.
Don
Is the thermostat in your link the one you replaced your four button with? Very interesting! Please share your source and part number for the control boards. I like the one in the link much better than the five button option...
Don
An RV repair guy I work with says the 2 stage Atwoods are not very reliable. He's changed out several for the single stage versions.
I was thinking about changing ours to a 2 stage, but have reconsidered.
The AC boards will be different depending on the exact model of AC that you have along with year and options (heat strip, heat pump, etc). I contacted Dometic who were able to supply me with the circuit boards and I bought the thermostat from somewhere else online.
This is the general type of circuit board that needs to be replaced in each AC unit.
Dometic A/C Comfort Control Center Board Kit - Air Conditioner Parts - Air (http://www.dyersonline.com/dometic-a-c-comfort-control-center-board-kit.html)
It was a straightforward replacement but if you decide to do it, make sure to take pictures of the wiring coming off of the start and run capacitors to minimize confusion when putting everything back together since there are quite a few wires that will have to be connected and reattached.
I have seen several of the 2 stage atwood furnaces that would soot up real bad. I think that when they are in slow speed there is not enough air for complete combustion. I think that they should have some way to reduce the amount of fuel into the burner on slow speed.