Any long term issues with removing heater conduit?

[CreekRob]

I’m up at 9000’ and had to remove the heater conduit between the faceplate and the heater. Any issues with leaving it that way forever?

 

[kmcintyre]

I haven't had any issues after a few years, but wondered about the heat that isn't being directed to the grill, heating up the wood cabinets. I have found it interesting too that Atwood claimed there was no reason that the duct would cause an issue yet FWC went with a new manufactuer.

 

[Jon R]

I haven't had any issues after a few years, but wondered about the heat that isn't being directed to the grill, heating up the wood cabinets. I have found it interesting too that Atwood claimed there was no reason that the duct would cause an issue yet FWC went with a new manufactuer.

I think all the discussion in various threads on this forum about what is physically going on made a very good case that the slight flow restriction on the output of the room air slows the fan down a tiny bit, and since the room air fan and the combustion air fan are on the same shaft, the sail switch may not receive enough air velocity to move the switch in lower air density (high altitude) conditions.

I haven’t had to remove mine yet, but I share the concern about getting the cabinet face material hot. Often heating like that over the long term causes discoloration. A compromise might be to replace the corrugated dryer vent material with a smooth wall material like pvc vent pipe. However, the person who said they simply enlarged the area of the “sail” on the sail switch with some lightweight tape seems to have come up with an elegant solution that would leave the duct alone. It’s a bigger project to access that area, though.

 

[heinphoto]

No problems after removing it 2+ years ago and it definitely helped to resolved the issue we were having with the furnace at higher elevations.