Furnace change on Escape 21 a shocker

[Mary F]

Originally Posted by Jim Bennett

Oh, and you most definitely would not want the furnace on the galley side. The exhaust gasses under the awning would be awful. We spend a lot of time sitting at the table under the awning, and this would be a definite deal breaker for us.

Good point, Jim. Thanks for the insight.

[steve dunham]

Originally Posted by Jim Bennett

Oh, and you most definitely would not want the furnace on the galley side. The exhaust gasses under the awning would be awful. We spend a lot of time sitting at the table under the awning, and this would be a definite deal breaker for us.

Our Casita has the furnace on the galley side and under the awning . My wife uses the warm exhaust air from the furnace as a hand warmer when the outside temps are chilly . Maybe not the intended purpose but who am I to argue .

[cpaharley2008]

Several high end Airstreams have either furnace or water heaters on the curb side, just saying it is doable.

[rbryan4]

Originally Posted by Jim Bennett

Makes good sense Robert, but what are the odds on that actually happening?

Post of the day!

[PGDriver]

I can hardly wait to try out my new furnace once we get our trailer. When I think back to the old gravity fed Hydroflame units with no fan I'm glad the units have evolved to what we have today.

I too could not find any specs on this furnace so I contacted Atwood and they got back to me right away with the following.


Hello Doug,

This is our new replacement for the 79/80 series furnace. It is a great little furnace for smaller applications. Feel free to post the PDF of the manual.
Hood, Jeff @ AWC


Oops just tried to attach the .pdf and its to large, Glenn, Jim, Donna can any find a way around this?

Cheers
Doug

[dave macrae]

Originally Posted by Jim Bennett

Where did you find the specs on this furnace? I can't see a spec for a AFSAD12 model on Atwood's site.

Maybe the furnace could be put lower in that cabinet, and allow 3 drawers above. You can believe that Reace has his thinking cap on with this.

Jim , I believe it has to be that high as the wheel well is under there. The bottom door below those drawers or soon to be furnace is very shallow.

[dave macrae]

I personally think the new location is much more practical. Its much more central and will heat the trailer more evenly.

[FMLNM]

Originally Posted by Escape While You Can

Once again, I'm very impressed by how Reece and Tammy listen to their customers. Bravo!

Ditto that.

[Donna D.]

Originally Posted by PGDriver

I can hardly wait to try out my new furnace once we get our trailer. When I think back to the old gravity fed Hydroflame units with no fan I'm glad the units have evolved to what we have today.

I too could not find any specs on this furnace so I contacted Atwood and they got back to me right away with the following.


Hello Doug,

This is our new replacement for the 79/80 series furnace. It is a great little furnace for smaller applications. Feel free to post the PDF of the manual.
Hood, Jeff @ AWC


Oops just tried to attach the .pdf and its to large, Glenn, Jim, Donna can any find a way around this?

Cheers
Doug

PM sent

[Jill]

Wow Reace's quick response is impressive and very much appreciated. His solution sounds reasonable to me, especially if the face of it can be painted to blend in with the cabinetry better. Thank you Reace!

[Brian B-P]

Originally Posted by reace

I looked at the Suburban furnace and it is (in my opinion) junk. I think I would have more of you upset with that move.

I have an old Suburban NT12 in my current trailer - it is 35 years old, but I doubt the design has changed much. It is very noisy, but I don't have an opinion of the design other than that. It certainly won't be a more advanced design than any Atwood.

[Brian B-P]

Originally Posted by reace

The furnace is by Atwood, not Dometic.

Bob may have been referring to the recently announced purchase of Atwood Mobile by Dometic:
Dometic Group and Atwood Mobile Products have signed an agreement where Dometic Group will purchase Atwood Mobile Products LLC.

The new product design and product line decision by Atwood must pre-date the Dometic takeover.

[Ron in BC]

Originally Posted by reace

Hello all,

, I was able to get two drawers in above the furnace. Tomorrow I will order new drawers and a new, slightly wider trim ring for the furnace grill to match the drawer width.

Hopefully in the next day or so I will have the new doors and can show the new mock up.

Reace

Jim: seems like there's a pretty good chance that you will see it.

Ron

[currinh]

Originally Posted by Escape While You Can

Once again, I'm very impressed by how Reece and Tammy listen to their customers. Bravo!

With this, no one can argue. Thanks.

[Bobbito]

Just a further note about why the loss of drawer space was so important to us. We camp in cold weather a lot and have ordered the oven, something we used at least once a week in our old trailer. The oven, however, takes away valuable drawer/cabinet space in the kitchen. We are grateful to keep even one more drawer, especially if it isn't overly shallow in depth. I expect the drawers above the new furnace location should be full depth.

Bob K

[Brian B-P]

Without having seen the specs of the new furnace (which I assume Doug will be posting in the forum's Files section rather than attaching to the discussion), it appears that the unit is poorly proportioned. In contrast, Atwood's larger furnaces are quite long, wide, and flat; they use the available depth of the cabinet in which they are inevitably mounted, and stack well with other interior components. I have two larger RVs, both of which have these larger Atwoods mounted under the refrigerator, taking less height than even the old 8012. The Propex furnace is similarly proportioned. It's unfortunate that Atwood didn't make the new furnace in these more usable proportions.

A Propex HeatSource furnace might fit well standing on edge inboard of the wheel well, taking just as much height, but using less space because it is sharing with the wheel well... if the combustion air inlet and exhaust fit. I'm not trying to specifically push the Propex, just exploring modern alternatives that might fit better than Atwood's design.

[padlin]

Originally Posted by Brian B-P

Bob may have been referring to the recently announced purchase of Atwood Mobile by Dometic:
Dometic Group and Atwood Mobile Products have signed an agreement where Dometic Group will purchase Atwood Mobile Products LLC.

The new product design and product line decision by Atwood must pre-date the Dometic takeover.

Correct. I really hope the furnace change is for the better, time will tell. Seems I'm still a bit miffed and skeptical of Dometic for obvious reasons. Sorry if I offended.

[Brian B-P]

Reace, while you have your cabinet shoehorn out, could the furnace be shifted rearward as much as possible, so that the cabinet space beside it (forward in the trailer from it) can be used as a bin accessible from the bed side? Every little bit of storage helps...

[GerriJ]

For what its worth, the first thing you see when you open the door of the original 5.0 is the furnace. However, until now I never gave it any thought. Its interesting that just a couple of days ago Gerri and I were commenting on how the furnace in all the RV's we had ever owned since the late 80`s (4) had not changed. Personally I like the look (I have only seen the picture posted here) of the new one better than the old. I was never fond of that furnace colour.

[Oregonian]

Originally Posted by gbaglo

If stuff didn't change, we'd be sitting around a fire in a cave.

Funny, and very true!