75 replies to this topic

[Stalking Light]

I use a very small USB fan that I purchased at Campers World to break up the thermal layering. I converted one of the power point (cig lighters) to a duplex USB outlet purchased from West Marine that it plugs into. I also installed another one on the opposite side near the bed. These are also handy for charging various. The power draw is almost nil. It is silent and vibration free. It moves the air just enough to create a more consistent quality environ absent the thermal layering that happens in between furnace activation.

 

Sounds like a handy item, thanks.

 

I put a small piece of Reflectix behind the thermostat and will see if that helps.

Edited by Stalking Light, 19 December 2014 - 05:16 PM.

[craig333]

It may be just a crappy thermostat. Mine seem to respond very quickly.

[Stalking Light]

Possibly, but mine works great when it gets warmed up. I think the cabinet is acting as a heat sink and it needs to be warmed up too, I'll see if the Reflectix changes the behavior any.

[d2richland]

Stalking Light, did you ever resolve the issue of the thermostat's slow warmup? We have the same issue with our new Grandby. We have been checking it out getting ready for a trip but it just seems this is a strange way for the thermostat to work. 

 

We were testing this morning (20 degrees outside) and it showed 41 on the thermostat after running the furnace for more than 15 minutes. I turned the furnace off then did the reset as indicated in the instructions and it immediately showed the correct temperature of 65 degrees. Later in the day we tested it and again it wouldn't show the correct temp until we did a reset. If it really was the cabinet acting as a heat sink it seems the reset wouldn't make any difference.

 

Just curious if you learned anymore about yours. Thanks!

[Wallowa]

Following this with interest.  The relatively uninsulated cabinet holding the thermostat, and I assume the heat sensor, is in a poor place to register the temp in the camper but rather is more influenced by the cold coming in from the cabinet through the camper wall.  In addition it is fairly low in the camper to measure temp above that level and of course heat rises.

 

Personally, I will go with the neoprene recommended by Sagebrush and skip the Reflectix.  Radiant heat loss is not the problem; conductive and perhaps convective heat loss is keeping the heater thermostat lower than camper temp.  The cabinet is a good insulator keeping the cold in and heat out away from the sensor.  Eventually the cabinet will heat up and the senor will register temps closer to that level inside the camper.

 

Just my WAG and I could be wrong!

 

Phil

Edited by Wallowa, 29 December 2015 - 04:04 AM.

[Stalking Light]

Reflectix helped but the thermostat still warms up slower than the air in the camper.

[nikonron]

I would install a different thermostat, had a digital in another camper that I had and never had a problem with it. Believe it was a Hunter brand.  Ron

[Stalking Light]

It is a digital. The thermostat is fine, just takes a while for it to warm up compared to the small amount of space in the Eagle.

[d2richland]

Thanks for the replies. 

 

Wallowa (my old home town!):

 

"The relatively uninsulated cabinet holding the thermostat, and I assume the heat sensor, is in a poor place to register the temp in the camper but rather is more influenced by the cold coming in from the cabinet through the camper wall.  In addition it is fairly low in the camper to measure temp above that level and of course heat rises."

 

 

We initially thought the same thing but now I'm not so sure. I just ran another test using a second thermometer (#2). I dropped the sensor into the cabinet that holds the thermostat (#1) then turned the furnace on. After 20 minutes or so, #2 was registering 50 degrees and #1 hadn't made it up to 30. I suppose that could be explained if the #1 sensor is buried inside the cabinet wall or something but that would be really poor design IMHO.

 

What this doesn't explain is what happens when I turned the furnace off at 50 degrees, let it shut completely down then did the reset (hold both arrow buttons in and push the Heat switch to on). When I did that #1 instantly reset itself and matched the temp displayed by #2. It shouldn't do that if the actual temp at the sensor of #1 was less than 30.

 

Maybe a replacement is in order.

[Stalking Light]

You may in fact have a bad thermostat. Mine eventually catches up to the air temp and stays that way, so mine seems to be working fine. I've not tried resetting my thermostat, I just turn the heat off for a while if the air temp gets too hot during the initial warm up.

 

It's been a number of years since I had any thermodynamics courses, but my working theory was that the sensor was just too close to the cabinet heat sink and adding the Reflectix helps isolate it. That does seem to be the case in my instance. Reflectix is basically mylar sandwiched around bubble wrap, so it does more that just slow radiant heat transfer.