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Old 11-29-2015, 03:50 AM   #1
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Freezing Garage!

We just came back from 5 days around 45 and nights as low as 27 up in the Dove Springs area. The floor vents in the bedroom, front bath, near the front door, and near the fridge all worked, but the one in the garage area did not. We had to shut the back off as it was freezing back there, so we could not use the back bath until during the day when things warmed up a bit. I can see ducting going down and to the left from the garage heater duct, but there was only cold. It's only about 3 or 4 feet from there to the duct near the fridge that does work. Anyone had this issue or know how to get to it?
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Old 11-29-2015, 05:06 PM   #2
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Same issue, one vent between the sliding glass door and bathroom. Makes no sense to have beds back there and no heat


We are connected to power and use a portable heater to help worm it up,
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Old 11-29-2015, 09:49 PM   #3
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Originally Posted by VCToyhauler View Post
We just came back from 5 days around 45 and nights as low as 27 up in the Dove Springs area. The floor vents in the bedroom, front bath, near the front door, and near the fridge all worked, but the one in the garage area did not. We had to shut the back off as it was freezing back there, so we could not use the back bath until during the day when things warmed up a bit. I can see ducting going down and to the left from the garage heater duct, but there was only cold. It's only about 3 or 4 feet from there to the duct near the fridge that does work. Anyone had this issue or know how to get to it?
I spoke to the Voltage rep a few months ago. They don't automatically equip the AC units with heat pumps because most people don't use their RV in the winter. However, there is an AC unit that comes with a heat pump that they install when requested.
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Old 11-29-2015, 10:23 PM   #4
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Just to add a bit to this conversation, I did a little research on replacing my garage AC with an AC/Heat Pump unit last year...

As I understand it from talking to the folks at Dometic... the zoned CCC2 thermostat system that most of us have will only work a heat pump if it is the #1 unit into the ducted system. It will NOT recognize a heat pump as the #2 or #3 unit.

Now, with the heat pump being on the main (#1) unit... that means that the heat pump would only be plumbing heat into the garage via the 2 ducted ceiling vents there (at least, only 2 vents in my rig). On the other hand, you'd also get some of that heat into the bedroom & bath via the ducted ceiling vents located there too.

Now that doesn't mean you can't install an AC / heat pump unit over your bedroom or garage. It simply means... again, as I understand it... that you'd have to control said unit directly from the switches on a ceiling mounted distribution box.

While that's not a problem in the bedroom... I could see where that was going to be a huge PITA in the garage, where I'd have to climb in the upper bunk to reach the controls each time I wanted to use it.

You may wanna do your own research on it... but just something to think about.
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Old 11-30-2015, 07:28 PM   #5
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My 3990 has a different rear ac unit than the front two. It is visibly larger, and I was always under the impression that was because it had a heat pump.... I have never tried to turn it on, but like said above, the thermostat does not have a heat option on zone two or three. I'm pretty sure there are no controls on the unit itself.
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Old 12-01-2015, 02:27 PM   #6
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VC, contact "Alan in Arizona", He put in a Camco Olympian Wave Gas Catalytic Heater in his Garage and ran a hose up to his tanks, I think you can find his thread under the Search.
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Old 01-10-2016, 04:40 PM   #7
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Interesting... Under a thread "Cover Vents in Garage Question", one posted saying in his 3200 that his vent is not only a furnace output vent, but the one blowing the best. Now i am back to wondering if mine is just not connected right?
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Old 01-11-2016, 02:05 PM   #8
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While repairing a water leak at my water heater I found some issues with the ducting running to the rear... The same people taping the ac ducts taped the heater ducts. I noticed a big difference in air flow to the rear after the repair.
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Old 01-12-2016, 02:12 AM   #9
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I would like to check the ducting.. Please let me know how you got behind that wall, behind the washer/dryer hookups and rear bathroom..
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Old 01-12-2016, 02:52 PM   #10
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Well, the furnace and and the plenum is under the bathroom on my 3990. I removed the electric fireplace to gain access to the compartment and crawled in. I don't know about other models, but mine has tank vents running right through the heater duct with a very large opening dumping heat. There are some small areas of the plenum itself I feel could use taping for a slight improvement, but I ran out of tape.

Keep in mind that the garage is never going to be as warm as the living room or the bedroom with only furnace heat. The garage floor has no insulation, and the under belly does not extent to that area.
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Old 01-12-2016, 04:38 PM   #11
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Be careful about taping up that opening. I was told that it is to keep your basement warm, so your pipes won't freeze!
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Old 01-12-2016, 05:19 PM   #12
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Be careful about taping up that opening. I was told that it is to keep your basement warm, so your pipes won't freeze!
There was factory tape in place, as if they intended for it to be taped. Like everything else it was poorly done. My ducting does have small holes that allow for some of the heat to escape into the lower compartments. I did not tape those.
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Old 01-15-2016, 09:57 AM   #13
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A cheaper option and one that will work with our thermostats is to add the heated element to the garage heater. A jumper in a control box needs to be changed for the thermostat to recognize it, but those element are less than $100. They put out floor heater type of heat, but I found in our Outback that it was more than enough, and we stayed in below 30 weather...

Cale
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Old 02-17-2016, 01:35 AM   #14
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I have the same problem with my 3605 as only having one heater duct in the garage area. That ducting as well is only a 2 inch ish duct work that goes from the plenum under the basement all the way back to the garage, thought about adding a inline duct fan but another project I do not have time for. In the mean time I use 6 moving blankets that I bought from Harbor Freight, placed on the floor after unloading the garage, place the carpet over the top an boom, instant cushion and insulation, just cam back from Northern GA where it was in the lower 20's at night and a dramatic improvement. I also supplement with an electric Heater when hooked to power
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Old 02-17-2016, 03:23 AM   #15
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A cheaper option and one that will work with our thermostats is to add the heated element to the garage heater. A jumper in a control box needs to be changed for the thermostat to recognize it, but those element are less than $100. They put out floor heater type of heat, but I found in our Outback that it was more than enough, and we stayed in below 30 weather...

Cale
Cale - please tell me what heated element / garage heater if you can.. Does it hook up to the back A/C so it can interface with our dometic thermostats?
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Old 02-17-2016, 04:16 AM   #16
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Old 02-17-2016, 09:15 AM   #17
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Cale - please tell me what heated element / garage heater if you can.. Does it hook up to the back A/C so it can interface with our dometic thermostats?
The part is in the post above. I will need to dig up my owners manual for the A/C system, but it discusses how the units are networked and jumpers that have to be changed to allow for heat pumps or heat strips. I quickly cried uncle when I dropped the garage plenum as there was a mass of spaghetti wiring in there. Wasn't interested at the time, so I have just used a space heater this winter. After doing some reading of other folks, I will have a catalytic heater next winter. Uses propane, higher heating capacity than the 1200 watt space heater, and cheaper on my electricity. I will put that in this spring when I get the propane dryer put in, will do it all at once.

Here is the manual for the Comfort Control thermostat, it covers a couple models...http://www.dometic.com/QBankFiles3/E...nual_17586.pdf

Here is some good info concerning the thermostats, most notably the error codes...http://www2.dometic.com/8dc07cfd-4b7...e4e0084e.fodoc

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Old 02-18-2016, 04:05 PM   #18
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I do the exact same thing Middlesb4 does and it works great! I was also thinking about cutting 2" pink foam to fit between everything underneath and only bring it along when I knew it would get cold for a little more insulation.
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Old 03-02-2016, 06:28 PM   #19
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Originally Posted by VCToyhauler View Post
We just came back from 5 days around 45 and nights as low as 27 up in the Dove Springs area. The floor vents in the bedroom, front bath, near the front door, and near the fridge all worked, but the one in the garage area did not. We had to shut the back off as it was freezing back there, so we could not use the back bath until during the day when things warmed up a bit. I can see ducting going down and to the left from the garage heater duct, but there was only cold. It's only about 3 or 4 feet from there to the duct near the fridge that does work. Anyone had this issue or know how to get to it?
Went to Tractor Supply and bought an electric fireplace (Wood burning stove type). We set it up in garage, temperature at 70 degrees and gave some ambiance to go along. So no more cold nights in garage!
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Old 03-02-2016, 07:08 PM   #20
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Here is what I had added to mine and has a separate thermostat.
Propex HS2800 heater - High output, blown air space heater gas powered
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