Heating of basement-- poor a/c performance, --bugs/insects- stinky sewer smell--outs

[captmetal]

Living in michigan means cold winters, even the trips to the south means i will need to spend a day or two in freezing weather. i have been out camping as low as 17 deg/f but had problems with freezing water pipes,

i went on a discovery of how to heat the basement better. i looked at adding additional heat to the basement but it was not going to be a easy job.

poking around in the hidden area’s of the bas
ement i found how thor decided to heat the basement. i found a 2” heater duct leading into the water storage compartment on the 100 gal side of the coach., but the water pump, dump valves and small hoses were mounted on the opposite side of the coach, so how does the heat get across the coach??

there are some air gaps around the fresh water and waste tanks, also there is a utility passage (8x 10 inches) going completely across, it is hard to see, but removing the water control panel in the dump compartment will revel it and gain easy access.

it is obvious that having the heat exit the ductwork on the tank side would do little for heating the other side.

**AT THIS POINT THIS WHOLE PROJECT GETS COMPLICATED TO FOLLOW.**

OUTSIDE TV REMOVED- summer /winter issues

i need to gain access to the utility passage, so i decided to remove the outside tv to see if i could gain more access. i got the tv out and found that behind the tv are a variety of holes in the tv mount. ( photo shows this)

i got the access i needed, behind the tv is the utility passage and a cut-out in the floor to the utility passage.
as you can see the holes behind the tv. now trying to heat the basement with holes in the tv mount seems difficult, yes the door to the tv area seals tight but it still is heat going the wrong way.i sealed the holes with metal freezer tape. yes the tv and another bracket fill in some of the holes but not very good.

summer use of the outside tv, well if you have holes behind the tv in the summer cold a/c air can get out and do you wonder how bugs and insects get into the coach all the time?? they have there own entrance behind the tv.
some tv mounts may not have this issue. but my tv is in a fixed position and does.

BACK TO HEAT DUCT

the other access to the basement heat duct is via the return air grill below the fridge and to remove the drawers under the closet, from here you will see the utility passage and a nice section of the floor cut away for access.

SEWER SMELL

if you ever wonder why your coach may smell8 like the sewer hose the utility passage is why the odor from the dump compartment has access to the couch via this passage behind the return air grill area. in the photo you will see that i have a removable cover over the return air grill i made this for when i need to run the a/c as i will not have to cool the large area behind the grill.and easy to remove when i need heat.

the metal grill cover is sheet metal painted brown. it has slotted holes to slip off when the wood screws to mount the wooden when backed off one turn. easy on easy off

BACK TO THE HEAT #2

the utility passage is metal, and the water hoses just lay on top of the metal construction, in cold weather the metal will transfer cold to the water hoses very quickly, so i took a sheet of thin wood paneling to insulate the hoses from the cold meta;l, this was on the floor of the passage, one side of the passage is the waste tanks the other metal construction, a variety of tubes and wires were mounted there so i could not do much insulating.

the factory thor duct for the basement is 2” dia flex , i need to be able to push the duct down the passage from one side of the coach to the other the new duct need to be stiff and flexible. it just happens that home depot has a shop vac hose that is the correct diameter to attached and stiff/flexible to do the job ( and cheap!) pushing the duct across was not that bad,

THE RESULTS

with the new duct was aimed at the water pump , water controls ( i sealed a bunch of open holes see photo)
the air flow is very good to the other side of the coach the heater will pull return air from the utility passage creating a flow ofÓ hot air that circulates vs oem thor design. the photo show the exit air at 105f a very good temp!

the real test will be next week when i head to disney world and boondock in cold weather. i doubt there will any problems.

[Bob Denman]

You did a GREAT job of laying out what to do, and how to do it!
The best of luck during the shakedown cruise!
We'll expect a full report on our desks; upon your return!!

[Mr Sunshine]

You'll have no worries about staying warm in central Florida next week. We drove around all afternoon today with the convertible top down. You may not want to return to the frozen north land!

Hope all your problems are behind you.

[captmetal]

after spending 2 weeks on the road in florida , it meant coming back to the deep freeze in michigan, i got to experience snow in florida and below freezing for most of the drive back,

the last 2 days of the drive to detroit was at below freezing, from 28f down to 2f.

i had no issue with water freezing with outside temp at 15f or above, when i got down to 2-4 deg the water pump was starting to freeze and the shower was just frozen solid.

i was running coach temp at 64-65 deg-f, this became a problem at lower temp. running coach at 70-72 i believe would have provided enough heat for the basement to survive the 2 deg outside temp. and i was running the dash heat when driving reducing furnace operating time.

the shower freezing was a huge over site by me, the bath sink was also froze but thawed in 3 min of increase coach heat, the toilet was not, but almost.

1st: i kept the garage unheated, normally a wise move but at extreme lower temp and that the shower wall is also a garage wall the cold found a way in. i increased the coach temp to 72f and opened the door to the garage. water flowed in about 20 min

2nd, i now realize that the shower plumbing was not in the area of the basement heating zone i had worked on.

3rd: this means that i need to see how to get basement heating into the shower pipes, and to find a way to insulate the shower, basically this will be a new project into the innards of the coach, what surprises lie in store for me.

4th: washer/dryer hook up, these are in the garage, i do not use them now, but will installing a washer this spring, so th topic of garage heat will arise.

[Bob Denman]

Thanks for the update, and I'm happy to hear that you've got a real good idea of what needs to be done next!

[ghof]

I really like being from Michigan, away from that is😆

[luke2261thor]

I found that a combination

Farm Innovators TC-3 Cold Weather Thermo Cube Thermostatically Controlled Outlet - On at 35-Degrees/Off at 45-Degrees

Infrared bulbs

works great to heat up the water related bays in the basement.

Maybe install GFCI receptacles in the upper part of the basement might give you an option in extreme cold. I monitored the temp of basement where the water pump, holding tanks, water storage and found that the heat ducts going into the basement of my 2016 Thor Miramar are totally worthless . I did the test by looping extension cords through the bays. Of course, a "safe" setup would have to be created to run AC in the water bays, etc.