Super Nova 6362 Poor Heat Circulation.

[nailerman]

:( Since we have owned this SN, the heat system in the thing has been terrible. You fry in the rear bedroom where the furnace is located in the left rear corner and the rest of the coach has this romantic polar effect, cold. Air Circulation to the BR is too much and non existent to the rest of the coach. Have only been able to check the hose from furnace under the wall closet in the BR. Cannot get to the rest without ripping up the floor most likely. Has anyone had this same problem and found a reasonable fix? I am so used to fixing Goofstream's screw ups because their back up is useless and local dealer is worse. Also one of the Domentic AC Thermostats just failed, this one does not run the furnace.

[Texas TC]

Our 6331 has no problem keeping the bedroom and living area warm. However, I do wish they had put an outlet in the toilet area of the coach. There is an air conditioner outlet but no heat in there.

JimBob has the same floor plan you have, maybe he will chime in with some idea of how his heating system works.

I will say that we use a portable electric heater as often as possible to save on propane. Our furnace is a propane eating machine. I bought a small electric heater several years ago at Camping World and with it setting on the kitchen sink area, it keeps the entire coach fairly warm without the need of the furnace. It may not be as proficient for those of you who have other zones in your coaches. Our floor plan only has effectively two rooms so it makes it easier to heat the entire area with only one electric heater.

Good luck!

[nailerman]

:D Thanks TC. We are going to do the same thing. If the AC give up the ghost, I think we will put in Heat Pumps. We have them on our boat and in 15 years, we have enjoyed a lot of late fall and early spring boating in Virginia. We have a heater on board the SN and probably will put another in the bed room.

It is too bad Goofstream was very careful to be as cheap as they thought they could get away with.

The other day, Mary and I talked about a southern trip and Texas was in the mix. Tonight I am in Greeley, CO, 18 degrees right now. I have customers in Port Neches and Burleson, TX.

We make a run to Florida each February for a National Pallet Meeting. Hoping to run to Key West on that next trip.

Thanks for all of your help SC

[Georunner]

Just wanted to chime in on the heating issue. We camp quite a bit when it is cold out, we live in Colorado Springs, and also use a small electric heater. However, I am careful to make sure the furnace runs at night when the temperature gets below about 25 degress so the tanks won't freeze. It can be a balancing act but I sure don't want to deal with frozen pipes.

[JimBob]

Jim Bob agrees with all relative to over kill for existing heat system as designed, in that no problem keeping bedroom warm, somewhat of a problem keeping rest of coach warm.

Our solution is two small ceramic type heaters, one in bedroom and one in the center of the coach, and they seem to do the job fairly well, as TC said, without sucking up propane.

On coldest mornings, we may fire up the coach heating system to take the "edge" off, but rely on small heaters otherwise. They go underneath or in the closet under the bedroom tv otherwise.

BTW, we are in St Augustine, love to have you drop anchor if you are close by......

Jim Bob
08 super nova 6362
08 Malibu Toad

Currently in winter quarters, St Augustine Fl.
http://jimbobmissbetteandbuster.blogspot.com

[nailerman]

:D Georunner, I just spent the last two nights in Greeley and Denver. It was plenty cold them. Thanks for the input.

[nailerman]

JimBob we just might do that. In later February we have a national meeting in Orlando this year. We are going to try to make Key WEst this year if time allows. Got to see it once.

Jacksonville, St. Augustine is a good area for use to stop. Will keep you posted. Hope it works out. :D

[wheelsup69]

I can't believe more people haven't commented on this. We have the 6362 floorplan on the Kodiak chassis and the heating is absolutely horrible. Overheats in the bedroom and bathroom, and terrible in the main portion of the coach. 3 heating ducts. One in the bedroom, one in the bathroom and one for the entire rest of the coach.

I must say it is somewhat embarrasing to have this nice of a coach and have a portable heater to keep people warm in the main part of the coach. How on earth did they think the one little duct in the living, kitchen dining area would be in balance with the bedroom and tiny bathroom!!!??? Am I missing something? There is a "fake" duct outlet under the entertainment center facing the dining area, but it does nothing.

Has anyone else come up with a solution. Do I just re-design the heat distribution myself and re-do it?

Frustrated in Montana!

[nailerman]

I wanted to follow up about the heat circulation in our SN, Bessie. A good RV shop here in Richmond found that the ducts were dumping most of the heated air into the basement storage compartments????????? More great work by Goofstream. Looking forward to next trip to see if this did the job.

[Georunner]

Now that sucks. Glad you found out what the potential problem might be. I kind of wondered why some of you had such a big problem with heating, and just figured that since I have the smaller model, that size of the coach was the issue. But if most of the heat was going elsewhere, you may have a lot of it fixed.

[nailerman]

That is why I use the name "Goofstream." The closest dealer at this time for me is in Salisbury, Maryland which is on Eastern Shore. Four plus hours each way. McGeorge used to be the dealer for them, but it took four months to get in and nothing was fixed though GS was billed for the Warranty Work.

I do not know if I opened a thread talking about the fuel tank (s) in the SN's, but the steel ones have a problem with rusting. I have seen rust around my filler. Planning on taking a fuel sample and also cutting a fuel filter in half to have a look. My IH dealer just advised that an aluminum one which is what they order on all of their vehicles is 2506440C93 FUEL TANK $1.342.88. Does not include freight or installation.

Best to all,

[Bugs]

Yes, the heating system has something to desire.

With the slide out on the drives side makes it a problem about running any duct to the front.

Here is my solution. I simply removed the refrigerator and the floor it sat on. I raised that floor about 3 inches or so and installed a smaller 18,000 BTU funace in the created space.
I ran 1 duct to the plywood cover under the drawers with an outlet. I ran 2 additional outlets under under the hideabed with 1 outlet equally spaced in each of the front panels.

The thermostat was placed on the wall above the hideabed.

The gas was tapped on at the rear of the refrig along with the 12 volt supply.

An inlet vent was put under the refrig.

The only loss was abut 3 inches from the cabinet above the refrig.

Works great. Now, you can run the rear furnace at a lower temp and the front at a lower and keep the entire coach toasty warm.

Only, problem was the outside intake and exhaust for the new furnace. The intake is accomplished by taking in air from the bottom louver for the refrig. We sliced the stainess intake outlet cover only using the exhaust on the outside just below the bottom refrig louver.

So far so good and no hot or cold spot.

[Jim&Karin]

I love your solution to the minimal heat in a 6362 layout. Did you have to vent the heater out the side of the coach? Could you post some photographs of your installation? Happy Camping, Jim

[Bugs]

Yes, the heater required venting to the ouside just like the rear unit.

Purchased the same Suburban except this one is like 18K BTU.

There was only one small problem. If you look at the stainless outside cover of the rear unit, you will see the bottom is the oulet and the top is the intake.

By sitting the furnace as low as possible, on the floor it still made the hole for the intake extend into the louver for the refrig. Since, we didn't want to cut a hole in the louver, we made an offset inside.

The air for the furnace comes in thru the refrig louver and is then pulled into the furnace.

A hole was drilled for the exhaust which is just below the refrig louver.

I will get you some photos tomorrow.

[Bugs]

Anyone know how to attach photos???

I tried to upload attachment but there is a 256 kb limit and the photos range from 445--950 kb.

[03heritagerider]

Click here>>> viewtopic.php?f=11&t=4048 (http://www.gsowners.com/viewtopic.php?f=11&t=4048)

If the above link does not work, click on the "Board Index" link at the top of this page, then click on "Comments regarding this site", then select "How To Add A Picture To Your Post".

[Bugs]

I must just be missing something.

When I attempt to upload a photo, a message appears stating the photo is too large.

Is it possible to make the photo smaller ??????

[03heritagerider]

Yes it is possible to resize the photo. You have to do that in your photo editing program prior to uploading.
I'm not sure I can help you, since there are so many variations of editing software, but...if you need help, send me a PM and we'll try.