High efficiency gas furnace for bus

[Scott & Heather]

I'm about to pull the trigger on purchasing a Napolean gas furnace for our coach. They have one that will fit in horizontal mode in our luggage bay which will be designed to vent properly for such application. Anyway, the company (out of Canada) also happens to make something called a "condo" pack which if they can eventually make a hair smaller, and a bit more efficient, might be an all in one a/c and heat solution for our coaches. They even have a hydronic version of this you could tap into your coach heat system for. Very cool out of the box thinking on their part:
http://www.napoleonproducts.com/downloads/hvac/brochures/Condo_Pack_Brochure.pdf

[TomC]

Why do you want such a mega huge furnace like that? I'm using a Suburban 40,000btu propane RV furnace that runs on 12vdc. All it has is a combination intake/exhaust on the side. Remember, if something goes wrong, you have to get it fixed. If you use some weird furnace, how are you going to get it serviced? The Suburban (and Atwood) are carried by just about every RV shop. I mounted mine in the basement. It is very quiet. Good Luck, TomC

[eagle19952]

I'm about to pull the trigger on purchasing a Napolean gas furnace for our coach. They have one that will fit in horizontal mode in our luggage bay which will be designed to vent properly for such application. Anyway, the company (out of Canada) also happens to make something called a "condo" pack which if they can eventually make a hair smaller, and a bit more efficient, might be an all in one a/c and heat solution for our coaches. They even have a hydronic version of this you could tap into your coach heat system for. Very cool out of the box thinking on their part:
http://www.napoleonproducts.com/downloads/hvac/brochures/Condo_Pack_Brochure.pdf

At first glance, I would jump on this. as u well know my system is very similar and has served well for longer than i have owned my coach.(Installed in 1990.)
Very similar here, made in Dallas TX http://www.firstco.com/

AND serviceable by any HVAC contractor in the world...
tho i prefer electric heat.

[sledhead]

why not just do a heating system with all your furnace , ducts in the basement then up through the floor where you want them

http://www.alpinehomeair.com/viewproduct.cfm?productID=453069463 

less power off the pole or genne

dave

[eagle19952]

why not just do a heating system with all your furnace , ducts in the basement then up through the floor where you want them

http://www.alpinehomeair.com/viewproduct.cfm?productID=453069463  

less power off the pole or genne

dave

i would not wish to lose that much cargo space...ducting eats a lot but i would, and have dedicated a small closet area in the coach with ducting integrated into the arc of the roof... which is a difficult to utilize otherwise

[Dave5Cs]

Dave the one you put up says at the bottom of the Specs (not intended for Mobil home, read safety sheet?
Dave

[sledhead]

thanks Dave I just looked it up as a type of furnace .... but it would not stop me from using it ... after all the nay sayers tell me I couldn't use a split unit house a/c and it has worked amazing for 6 years   

 

[TomC]

Now compare to the size of RV propane furnaces. You could have 2-42,000btu Suburban furnaces in a much smaller envelope than that huge home style furnace. Good Luck, TomC http://www.airxcel.com/suburban/products/furnaces

[sledhead]

yes       Tom but at about 1/2 of the efficiency on the r/v crap    house is 96 %   r/v ....  ?  my guess is about 55%

dave

[TomC]

Dave-yes you're correct on efficiency. But what is more important-burning a bit more propane, or sacrificing a lot of space for an HVAC system? Me-I design in sometimes saving space to the fraction of inch. I used a 40,000btu Atwood on my bus that heats just fine, and I'm using the 42,000btu Suburban on my truck, since it has just a small exhaust/intake plate on the outside. Good Luck, TomC

[sledhead]

Tom I am with you as it would be nice to have a r/v heating system as efficient as the new home stuff but I have never seen 1 . I have a small 12 k btu r/v furnace in the mci and due use it as a back up when needed but what I hate about it is the exhaust on the outside is so hot if you get near it , it will burn you

way less heat on the inside ?

dave     

[Scott & Heather]

Update on this, we did indeed purchase a two stage goodman 40,000 btu furnace. It's small enough to fit in the air handler bay in between the battery box and generator bay. And it's 98% efficient. Problem is that I haven't hooked it up yet. So far just one of my Atwood Air Command 15,000btu heat pumps has been keeping it toasty in the bus down to 30°F. They shouldn't work at that low of a temp, but it does. It goes into de-icing mode every so often and boy does it rain water off the roof when it defrosts, but once the defrost cycle completes, it goes back to cycling heat. It's really really nice. Guys I can't say enough good about my Atwood air commands. Seriously. When running the single front unit in heat pump mode, plus my fridge plus my chest freezer, plus my electric water heater, I'm getting 22 hours out of 3 gallons of gas in each of my twin Honda EU3000is gennies.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[dbenck]

Hi Scott, keep in mind that this furnace can not handle freezing. This
will crack the secondary heat exchanger and condensate piping. You
will get about 1 gallon of condensate per 100,000 BTU's consumed
which is corrosive with a PH around 2.9 to 4 that has to go somewhere.

David P. Benck
Somerset, WI

[luvrbus]

The roof top manufactures changed the Freon spec used from years back the newer roof tops with the Freon change are working down in 30's easy now fwiw

[DoubleEagle]

Yep, the heat pumps I had twenty years ago would stop making heat when it got into the lower 40's, but down into the 30's is only a little better. When it gets really cold, heat pumps will not deliver.