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Electric/Gas Heat Pumps on Class A Discovery

Grey_Mountain
Explorer
Explorer
While on a quick trip to Nebraska, we were using our heat pumps on "Electric" to heat the coach. At one point, the they quit blowing heat and started blowing cool air. They also automatically switched to "Gas." Unfortunately, we had just run out of propane. Is there any connection between the two events? Don't understand how there could be, but when it comes to things like that, I'm a pretty good wordworker...

GM
2006 Discovery 39S Tin Teepee
Honda CR-V Toad
Enrolled member of the Comanche Tribe
English Bride
Bichon Frise bear killers:
Lord Shonefeld von Reginald-Friese IV.
Lady Annabelle von Lichenstein-Friese III.
12 REPLIES 12

dougrainer
Nomad
Nomad
magicbus wrote:
When I had a heat pump setup in my previous coach it had electric elements just like the one in my house. They provided heat backup when it got too cold out.

Dave


You need to state Year/Brand/Model RV and what Brand HP in your unit.
I suspect you may have had Basement model RVP(Coleman) HP units. NO Mass produced Motorhome/RV built in the last 20 years with roof top HP, has any electric coil on top to heat when sub freezing temps. Almost ALL roof top HP units are built by either RVP or Dometic and those do not have electric heat for HP's. Other roof top HP makers only were in business for a few years. Now, some Roof top RV units can have an optional HEAT Strip. But, that is NOT a Heat source for heating the complete RV. They only put out 5600 BTU's of heat which will never heat an RV in sub freezing temps. Doug

magicbus
Explorer
Explorer
When I had a heat pump setup in my previous coach it had electric elements just like the one in my house. They provided heat backup when it got too cold out.

Dave
Current: 2018 Winnebago Era A
Previous: Selene 49 Trawler
Previous: Country Coach Allure 36

Grey_Mountain
Explorer
Explorer
dougrainer wrote:
5 degrees is the actual set temp difference. Doug

http://old.rvcomfort.com/rvp/pdf_documents/t_stat_electric_heat_function.pdf


Thanks, Doug. BTW, my nephew is a police Sgt with the Carrollton PD. If you should happen to get stopped, mention my name. He will see that you get one free phone call.

GM
2006 Discovery 39S Tin Teepee
Honda CR-V Toad
Enrolled member of the Comanche Tribe
English Bride
Bichon Frise bear killers:
Lord Shonefeld von Reginald-Friese IV.
Lady Annabelle von Lichenstein-Friese III.

dougrainer
Nomad
Nomad
5 degrees is the actual set temp difference. Doug

http://old.rvcomfort.com/rvp/pdf_documents/t_stat_electric_heat_function.pdf

janstey58
Explorer
Explorer
With our Discovery when running the heat pump, if the HP cant keep up, and the temp difference between set temp and actual temp is greater than 3 degrees the thermostat will engage the gas furnace to "catch up" since the HP heats well, but a bit slowly.
Jeff and Kim
2015 Fleetwood Discovery 40E
Freightliner Chassis 380HP DP
2012 Ford Escape Limited Toad

wildtoad
Explorer II
Explorer II
Grey Mountain wrote:
I will file this incident away in the "The Joys of Camping" file alng with "What happens if you drag your TOAD a hundred miles with the parking brake on?" and "Do not try to steal a horse when there is someone already in the saddle" along with other little incidents about which SWMBO will not let me forget.
And lest we (I) forget - Sometimes what appears to be a great problem, has a simple solution.
Thanks for all the help.

GM


Once while leaving Hunting Island State Park, was flagged down by a fellow camper. Mind you I had only gone about 200 feet. He told me my wheels werenโ€™t โ€œspinningโ€. Sure enough I had done everything correctly hooking up just forgot to release the parking break. I didnโ€™t think anything else about it until I got home and drove the car the next day. Had flat spots on all four tires. Luckily they were due for replacement anyway.
Tom Wilds
Blythewood, SC
2016 Newmar Baystar Sport 3004
2015 Jeep Wrangler 2dr HT

Grey_Mountain
Explorer
Explorer
I will file this incident away in the "The Joys of Camping" file alng with "What happens if you drag your TOAD a hundred miles with the parking brake on?" and "Do not try to steal a horse when there is someone already in the saddle" along with other little incidents about which SWMBO will not let me forget.
And lest we (I) forget - Sometimes what appears to be a great problem, has a simple solution.
Thanks for all the help.

GM
2006 Discovery 39S Tin Teepee
Honda CR-V Toad
Enrolled member of the Comanche Tribe
English Bride
Bichon Frise bear killers:
Lord Shonefeld von Reginald-Friese IV.
Lady Annabelle von Lichenstein-Friese III.

stickdog
Explorer
Explorer
With our heatpump we also have the option to run the fan on AUTO, High, Medium and Low. If it is set on anything other than AUTO the fan will continue to run after the furnace takes over the heating job.
9-11 WE WILL NEVER FORGET!
FULLTIME SINCE 2010
17 DRV MS 36rssb3
17 F350 King Ranch CC DRW 4x4 6.7 4:10 B&W hitch
John
โ€œA good traveler has no fixed plans, and is not intent on arriving.โ€ Lao Tzu

Lwiddis
Explorer
Explorer
โ€œUnfortunately, we had just run out of propane.โ€œ

In that size coach with an experienced RV owner in March in Nebraska? And your question is? Why would you not keep your propane tanks full?
Winnebago 2101DS TT & 2022 Chevy Silverado 1500 LTZ Z71, WindyNation 300 watt solar-Lossigy 200 AH Lithium battery. Prefer boondocking, USFS, COE, BLM, NPS, TVA, state camps. Bicyclist. 14 yr. Army -11B40 then 11A - (MOS 1542 & 1560) IOBC & IOAC grad

Grey_Mountain
Explorer
Explorer
Aha! moment! Somewhere in my mind I kinda sorta knew that. We have only been out once before when the temps got that low. It got pretty cold that night, and that's most likely what happened. This was a hurry-up trip due to a medical emergency in Nebraska, and I did not anticipate that. We are now back in Oklahoma and the current temp is 79 degrees.
Thanks for the information.

GM
2006 Discovery 39S Tin Teepee
Honda CR-V Toad
Enrolled member of the Comanche Tribe
English Bride
Bichon Frise bear killers:
Lord Shonefeld von Reginald-Friese IV.
Lady Annabelle von Lichenstein-Friese III.

wildtoad
Explorer II
Explorer II
On my unit, the heat pump and furnace are controlled by the same thermostat. Yours is most likely similar. When the outside temp gets to the point that it no longer can put out heat, it will automatically switch to furnace mode and is supposed to switch back when the outside temp warms up. If the heat pumps continued to blow air after it switched to furnace, Iโ€™d have the system checked.
Tom Wilds
Blythewood, SC
2016 Newmar Baystar Sport 3004
2015 Jeep Wrangler 2dr HT

DrewE
Explorer
Explorer
There's certainly a connection between switching to gas and blowing cold air when you're out of propane. There's no direct connection between running out of propane and the heat system switching to gas mode, which is to say running out of propane doesn't cause it to switch.

RV heat pumps typically don't operate at outside temperatures below something like 30 - 40 degrees, and automatically switch to using the furnace for heat at that point (or possibly electric resistance heat strips, if you have them on your units). If you don't have propane, the furnace clearly isn't going to produce heat.

Needless to say, the system operating on gas mode will use propane and so eventually cause it to run out if not refilled in due time.