75 replies to this topic

[d2richland]

Ours may also work fine once it has caught up as you say. And I suppose it could actually be meant to work that way to keep it from cycling on and off too much as it does the initial warm up...who knows. Thanks again for the input; anyone who knows anything about thermodynamics is way ahead of me.

[Stalking Light]

It might work better if the cabinet doors were open while the camper is warming up, I haven't tried that.

[Advmoto18]

Charlie, I have a 2015 Hawk and my stat is mounted in the same location a yours.  Mine is fairly responsive with just a bit of lag.

 

Are you sure it isn't reading accurately for its location?  Having said that, I have noticed my camper can be as much as 10 degree warmer at standing head level than at the thermostat's location.   Further, materials (wood and plastics) in the bottom half of the camper will remain cooler longer after being "cold soaked" than the atmosphere.  The thermostat might be reading/picking up temp from the "cold soaked" cabinets.

 

Have you ever boarded an airliner after it has sat in the COLD on the ramp all night?  It can take 30 minutes, once engines are started, to warm a "cold soaked" airplane up.  Yet, the air inside the fuselage is relatively warm.  We would set the temp in the cockpit based on our reading.  It would show 80'F and we start turning it down to a cooler setting.  Minutes later, the flight attendant would ring saying they were still freezing.  I think you are seeing the effect of "cold soaked" materials vs atmospheric temp.

Edited by Advmoto18, 30 December 2015 - 01:13 PM.

[Stalking Light]

That's what I have said, I think it's a combination of the cabinets as a heat sink and the smaller amount of air space in the Eagle as opposed to the bigger models. Putting some Reflectix between the thermostat and the cabinet helped as does a small USB fan to circulate the air. I have also read about folks insulating their cabinets, but I haven't gone down that road yet.  As a problem, this is certainly one I can live with.

[Advmoto18]

It really isn't an insulation issue.  Once a material chills to outside air temperature, it is "cold soaked".  No amount of insulation will prevent "cold soak", but rather, delay the onset of "cold soak".  Of course, a continuous heating source will delay the onset of "cold soak".  But, that is practical for most of us and our campers.

 

I agree, something we can live with in our campers.

Edited by Advmoto18, 31 December 2015 - 12:13 AM.

[Wallowa]

Kinda of like an "oil thread" and we are beginning to kick the can around the block...

 

"heat sink'..."cold soak"...flip side of the same coin or if you like think 'cabinet material and camper walls'.  In our camper we are trying keep the heat in and not the cold out.

 

Look, the heat inside escapes to the colder outside through the weak insulation or gaps in the insulation of the camper...how can you mediate that?  Put a poor conductor of heat [insulation] between the warm inside and cold outside...or, if you prefer, "flip the coin over" and you use insulation between the cold outside and warm inside to retain the heat in the camper.  Think of a Thermos bottle.  Whether it is hot or cold water you want to insulate from the outside temp to prevent the inside liquid from either losing or adding heat; you need the insulating layer between the high temp and low temps.

 

Insulation is not magic.  It is based on the type of non heat conducting material [the less conduction the better the insulation] and the thickness of that layer.  Yes, reflective surfaces do lessen the absorbing of radiant heat sources; the number one radiant source is solar.  Reflective surfaces do not retain heat, they reflect radiant energy.  Put bubble wrap between reflective layers does insulate, but only if the bubble wrap, dead air space, is thick enough to make a significant difference in heat loss. 

 

I have ideas for reducing any convective heat loss and for adding insulation without reducing the scarce storage spaces in the camper.  But.

 

In the end heating my Hawk will be akin to heating a slightly insulated tent; terribly energy inefficient and with many temperature layers or pockets of differing temperatures.

 

I accept that and with the heater blasting and lots of correct bedding or clothing it will be a great refuge from the outside!  Beats the snot out of my backpacking tent....

 

Cheers,

Phil

Edited by Wallowa, 31 December 2015 - 12:41 AM.

[d2richland]

Yes, we can live with it, but I do think the problem lies with the thermostat itself. Maybe it's not designed to work well in really cold temps (18 inside the camper yesterday morning). Or maybe it's just a dud. But here's a pic to illustrate what I mean. The top thermometer has its sensor inside the cabinet and the door is closed. As you can see, it reads 50 degrees while the installed thermostat is showing 21 degrees. And as I understand it, the sensor on the installed thermostat is inside the thermostat itself, not in the cabinet behind. So if anything it should register a reading that is higher than the one reading from inside the cabinet.

 

No, it's not a problem; it's just that I like things to work as I think they OUGHT to.  Appreciate all the advice here!

 

 

[Timothy McGowen]

I think I might try mounting the thermostat with some 1/4" or 1/2" spacers allowing air behind the thermostat.

[Wallowa]

I agree with Richland...the thermostat should work and reflect the correct temperature [s]...

 

My ignorance again, does the temp reading on the thermostat show the temp that it is set at or the inside temp?  Is there a function switch from inside to set temp?  Would also like to know where the thermostat sensor is for the inside temp and hence the cut-off for the furnace.

 

What does FWC say about this apparent issue?  Stan?

 

Phil

[d2richland]

In that pic, the 20 is supposed to reflect the current temp inside the camper. The 60 to the right is the setting at which the furnace should turn off. The sensor is somewhere inside the thermostat unit I believe. (This is based on a pic that DesertDave posted on another thread showing how he replaced the stock stat with a model that has a lower set point. In his pic, there were no openings to the inside of the cabinet so I have to assume the stat and sensor are all self-contained. Please, anyone correct me if I'm mistaken about this). 

 

We likely would have assumed that the stat simply took a really long time to warm up to the correct temp, except that anytime I do a reset of the stat, it immediately comes up to the correct temp. 

 

We haven't contacted FWC about this yet but in reading through various postings it sounds like the lag is not an uncommon issue.

 

We're headed out on a trip in a few days to (hopefully!) warmer climes so I'll try to keep track of how it operates then and post back.