After a brief search, I've read here about the 2 fanspeed Atwood furnace. About a coach buck by the time you get it and the updated required thermostat. I can't see ponying up for that on the hope that it'll let us sleep better that what we have. This one cycles on and off every few minutes. Uncool. So! I am looking for reviews from them that have installed one, as well as any other suggestions y'all might have for quiet (er) heat that doesn't involve shore power. Thanks!
We put a two speed in our Grandvilla but I can't remember the details. I'm sure we had to use their thermostat. We were happy with the result.
Jay, My experience was that I just had to live with the rear furnace and its fast cycling. I am not sure but I surmise that its due to the smaller area that it heats and it takes less time to rise to temp and thermostat cut off.
One fix is to use a small ceramic heater in the hall to heat the bedroom, but.. this will not allow furnace to supply heat to bays if needed.
Gary B
Nature of a propane furnace. Fan comes on first then it lights. So it gets colder. Then when the thermostat clicks it off the high temp circuit keeps the fan running until it cools down.
Too cold. Too hot. Noisy. Maybe the two speed would help.
Most old Foretravels had the furnace and thermostat across from each other sort of. Always wondered about relocating the thermostat. Never did it.
Spent countless nights too hot, too cold.
Maybe a fan to move air around a bit?
Take the cover off of the thermostat and see if there is a small adjustable needle on the backing plate. this is the Heat anticipator.Normally you set this with a amp meter,but you can also set it without one. If you have one move it to a higher value some,this will increase the temp spread some so it won't short cycle so much. Here is a video that may help you .Adjustment of the thermostat anticipator without a meter - YouTube (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4mldGGxAVIs)
Oh hey thanks for that! I'll certainly give that a go before replacing the furnace....
@Jay I just replaced my rear furnace with a 2 speed Atwood. You do have to use their thermostat. Makes sense as it has to to tell the furnace wether to be in low speed mode or high speed.
I do like it better than the original Atwood. It is quieter but still makes more noise than I'd like. Nature of the beast I guess. I found it at Excalibur XT Furnace, 23,000-34,000 BTUs - 3.59 (http://www.adventurerv.net/excalibur-furnace-2300034000-btus-p-8601.html) for $675. It was a pretty easy remove and replace.
It almost always runs in low speed mode although you can manually select either. In auto mode if the set temp is 3º more than the current temp it will switch to high speed mode until it gets to within 1º then it switches back to low speed mode.
Let me know if you have any questions.
see ya
ken
And they are loud furnaces. Same issue (noise) with the AC. On AC we put fan on low instead of automatic, air is more evenly cooked in bedroom and compressor cycling less obtrusive
Love the quiet of the AH heat
Yes to fan helping, at lest we did that in the 279. Gary's ceramic solution a good one as well
Bays cool much faster than living space and propane furnace may not keep all bay plumbing from freezing. We use regular space heaters for interior heating and small 200 watt personal heaters for bays. Our propane furnace is mostly off.
Often one of the reasons a propane furnace cycles off & back on is because the furnace's internal high-heat switch opens before the wall thermostat is satisfied. The best fix for a high-heat cycle is to add another duct so the furnace can get rid of its heat faster. Cycling on high-heat is never a good idea.
We think that all propane furnaces are loud.