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Old 01-06-2023, 09:52 AM   #21
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Carlos View Post
Just a thaught, the sail switch is in the combustion air circuit not the heated air circuit ie air from outside not from inside [at least on my 17B] possibly trying to filter out hair from the wrong circuit.
Most of the newer Dometic furnaces have the sail switch in the cabin (interior) air portion of the furnace. Escape changed to a version of the Dometic furnace that provided outside access to the circuit board & sail switch, eliminating the need to pull the furnace to clean or change the switch.

A few, such as my 2017 21C have an Atwood AFSAD12, Serial #72088178, Item 32838 furnace that must be removed to get to the sail switch, and it is in the combustion side (outside air) side of the furnace.

I never needed to replace or clean the sail switch in my 2011 17B which had the Atwood Everstar 12,000BTU furnace; no idea which side of the furnace contained the sail switch.
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Old 01-06-2023, 10:51 AM   #22
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I can't comment on other than my 2019 17B which definately has the combustion air fed from outside, ie has two holes in the cover plate one for exhaust and one for combustion air [one concentric with the other, not a great ides IMO] most furnaces I have had dealings with have had two tubes to the outside one for exhaust and one for combustion air. Certainly many sail switches are only accessable by removing the furnace but I still believe they are in the combustion air system separate from the warm air circulating system
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Old 01-06-2023, 11:14 AM   #23
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Vermilye View Post
I never needed to replace or clean the sail switch in my 2011 17B which had the Atwood Everstar 12,000BTU furnace; no idea which side of the furnace contained the sail switch.
FWIW the older Atwood 8012-II Everest Star furnaces have the sail switch in the cabin airstream.
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Old 01-06-2023, 05:51 PM   #24
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Thanks for the updates. I started to do solid duct but realized the alignment is why the flex-duct. Wasn't sure but had thought about realigning front of furnace. Still have the solid duct out, just need to cut length, thanks for that measurement too! Like the intake filter, will be installing that as well. We used few times since new and had failure. Boxer hair, very little but enough. Gotta plan for moving batts inside soon. So many projects, so much more time for them, not all bad! :-)
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Old 01-06-2023, 09:50 PM   #25
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I did the solid duct which, as you have seen, does not line up with the face plate. So I replace the face plate, both for that reason and to further increase the air flow. I added a piece of window screen material and also a piece of welded wire hardware cloth (painted black) to cover the opening.

We travel with cats. Since doing this two years ago we have had no issues with the sail switch. Air flow is great and the furnace has not had a single hiccup.
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Old 01-06-2023, 09:55 PM   #26
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I moved the furnace the bit that I could and sliced a slight angle on my duct cut. I reinstalled the factory grill. It doesn’t line up perfect, but you can get it close enough to use a solid duct with no problem.
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Old 01-07-2023, 11:38 AM   #27
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Originally Posted by davidmurphy02 View Post
I did the solid duct which, as you have seen, does not line up with the face plate. So I replace the face plate, both for that reason and to further increase the air flow. I added a piece of window screen material and also a piece of welded wire hardware cloth (painted black) to cover the opening.

We travel with cats. Since doing this two years ago we have had no issues with the sail switch. Air flow is great and the furnace has not had a single hiccup.
What an elegant solution David! Thank you for posting the picture, it helps a lot.
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Old 01-08-2023, 03:49 PM   #28
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Originally Posted by davidmurphy02 View Post
I did the solid duct which, as you have seen, does not line up with the face plate. So I replace the face plate, both for that reason and to further increase the air flow. I added a piece of window screen material and also a piece of welded wire hardware cloth (painted black) to cover the opening.

We travel with cats. Since doing this two years ago we have had no issues with the sail switch. Air flow is great and the furnace has not had a single hiccup.
I like your idea of opening up the faceplate, I wiggled a few spots on the faceplate and after a bit these pieces snapped off.
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Old 01-12-2023, 07:04 PM   #29
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I wanted to follow up on this showing my eventual solution. I went back and forth about adding an actual filter like some have suggested (a low MERV version), but I didn't want to have to swap it out whenever it got dirty.

I really liked David Murphy's solution, so I proceeded with that. The only thing I did differently was mound the screen in front of the wire bond instead of behind it. I was originally concerned that the air intake would tend to suck the screen back, so the support of the wire bond would prove helpful.

However, once the furnace turns on, the airflow is so powerful that it tends to push the screen more than it tends to suck it back toward it. So it probably does not matter.

It is important to note that it is probably a bad idea to use any type of fiberglass or plastic screen. I used a standard screen door metal screen, which seems to be fine.

I also cut a small wood block to fit underneath the pipe. It does not seem necessary to do this, but David did it, and I can recall some washboard roads that could cause some problems, so I would err on the side of caution and add some support under the pipe. The solid-wall pipe does move a lot more air than the stock collapsable hose.

Finally, I'll speak to this more when I Finally get around to posting my 21C delivery review, but I found more shoddy workmanship when removing the furnace vent moulding. You can see in the picture that Escape ended up drilling two holes on each side for the moulding rather than one, probably because someone made a mistake. Not the end of the world, but they also pretty much stripped out one of the two screws that hold the moulding in place. So when I reinstalled it, I had to go to ACE hardware and pickup some longer screws so the moulding would stay in place.

I'm pretty happy with the results and because it now pushes more air than before you really don't need the directional vent cover that comes with it. My only concern is how the screen will hold up to the heat, but it seems fine so far.
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Old 01-14-2023, 12:09 PM   #30
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For those who have to clean the faceplate filter frequently, would it be worth hinging the wooden cover? You'd likely need a thin foam frame on the back to seal out air.

David, looks like you're not using the black plastic directional piece that directs air up/down or left/right. Any problem with that? Thanks.
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Old 01-14-2023, 12:20 PM   #31
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I suppose you can do about anything in terms of hinging the moulding frame. I'm not up to that task with my minor league woodworking skills.

I did notice that I could put the black grate back on, but I do not see the point as the welded wire protects the screen from being punched through, and the screen is easy to vacuum. In terms of airflow, the solid duct does allow for a greater airflow and it heats up the trailer rather quickly on moderately cold days we are currently having (about 45 to 50 during the day). I don't see the need for forcing the air up/down or left/right, so I'm leaving the black grate off for now.

We should have some good data soon as whether our Golden Retriever will win the battle over our new furnace filter intake. His hair is long so I'm hopeful the screen will be more than sufficient to catch it. I'll follow up in March/April.
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Old 01-14-2023, 01:15 PM   #32
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Originally Posted by h2owmn View Post
For those who have to clean the faceplate filter frequently, would it be worth hinging the wooden cover? You'd likely need a thin foam frame on the back to seal out air.
You really don’t need screen over the supply air outlet but it appears a few are designing it that way. Unless the furnace is also pulling dirty return air from other areas you should only need to clean the front side of the screen. The area around the supply air outlet is supposed to be the return air path to the furnace so the air is going in.
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