Furnace mod/fix question...

[Redhawk]

Hey Bruce, when you did the fix on your furnace, how much sheet meal work was involved? Can you give an estimate on any materials I may need?

My Elk is in a storage lot, so I'd like to be prepared when I go to work on it. Thanks in advance.

[brulaz]

Hey Bruce, when you did the fix on your furnace, how much sheet meal work was involved? Can you give an estimate on any materials I may need?

My Elk is in a storage lot, so I'd like to be prepared when I go to work on it. Thanks in advance.

I purchased a small furnace vent (use metal, it gets hot) and mounted it vertically under the pullout bed. IIRC the vent was positioned so only a single cut on the front plate of the furnace was necessary to accommodate it. Metal duct tape was used to seal it all together.
EDIT: Maybe not, perhaps two cuts, removing a piece down the middle, was necessary.

The flexible side vent to the bathroom was replaced with smooth-side Aluminum dryer duct and insulated. Leave space for more batteries if that's in the future.

A new large return vent was mounted low on the bedroom partition.
Misc. screws will be needed.

Think that's about it. Not much really.

You will need some wood cutting tools, but IIRC a sharp knife is all I used to cut through the thin plywood and fabric. I removed the front furnace plate and did that cutting in my workshop. You could probably do it with a hack saw if it was clamped somehow (or maybe even tin snips, I don't recall).

EDIT: and while you are in there, make sure the furnace is securely mounted. Ours was just forced in place and not screwed down.

[Redhawk]

Thank you very much....

[Redhawk]

I'm mainly concerned with the upholstry part of it. What did you do with the fabric?

[brulaz]

I'm mainly concerned with the upholstry part of it. What did you do with the fabric?

Once I figured out where to put the vent, I marked the four corners and used a razor to cut the fabric.

Made four cuts, one from each corner to the centre, or similar. No fabric was cut out.

Then folded the fabric wedges out of the way and cut the panel (with the razor too IIRC).

Then the fabric wedges can be pushed into the hole and folded around the edges, trimmed if necessary, and the vent inserted.

I forget how the vent is attached, maybe it was just a tight fit?

[brulaz]

Oh and by the way. The existing small round vent to the living area? Initially I just blocked it off. Now I have a couple of 12V receptacles mounted in it for charging the portable computers when boondocking.

[Redhawk]

I completed the furnace mod this morning, it took me a while to disassemble everything and to make sure the hole I cut in the upholstry was aligned with the hole I cut in the furnace cover/cap. I got lucky and hit it right on. There is A LOT more hot air coming into the main area now.

The only thing I did not do was install a larger cold air intake grill in the bed area, with the furnace running, there wasn't enough air going thru there to move a thin piece of paper, I saw no need to increase the size. Like Bruce mentioned, I suspect most of the cold air make up is drawn thru the 1" gap between the seat and supports. Probably designed that way on purpose.

[brulaz]

... There is A LOT more hot air coming into the main area now.
...

Amazing isn't it?

... Probably designed that way on purpose.

There is a lot of space for the return air there, but to be honest I don't think there was much thought or design put into the furnace installation at all.:rolleyes:

It's odd. There's so many areas of the Elkmont that are well thought out, but then there's one or two bits that are just slap-dash.

[brulaz]

...
The only thing I did not do was install a larger cold air intake grill in the bed area, with the furnace running, there wasn't enough air going thru there to move a thin piece of paper, I saw no need to increase the size. Like Bruce mentioned, I suspect most of the cold air make up is drawn thru the 1" gap between the seat and supports. ...

My original intent was to block off as much return from the kitchen area and force it to return through the bedroom area, increasing hot air circulation in the trailer. But restricting return flow under the pull-out bed (while not restricting the pull-out) was tricky. And as 95% of the time we're using electric heat anyway, I let it slide. It's pretty much at the very bottom of my todo list right now.

By the way, how is your pump noise? That was the other thing that really bugged me. Up in Ontario, most parks have electricity, but not that many have water. So we were using it all the time. Not so big a deal in Florida.

[Redhawk]

I compare everything to the 2619 since that's my only TT reference, the pump noise seems the same to me as the 2619. Certainly not what I would call "low level".

I have to agree with your statement about the good and bad. I find a lot af really nice improvements over our 2619, then find something that makes me think "what the hell were they thinking?" Or did someone with no pride of their job install that. My furnace install is cockeyed. The kind of thing that really bugs me.