Winter Stair Vents

[Razrbk]

I'll be wintering in my fiver and wanted your opinion on whether or not to block the stair vents. Block or unblock??

[stengels]

Do not block. Need the return air for the furnace.

[waynemoore]

Blocked mine there is plenty of makeup air where the furnace is. People will say that the vents allow for warmer air to be returned to the furnace. But there is a vent hose in that area to keep the tanks and water lines from freezing so there is plentyof warmer air for the furnace. Plus in the summer it prevents hot air from entering though those vents.

[rohrmann]

The Atwood manual states these heaters require a minimum 33 square inches for return air. That is just shy of a 6" X 6" hole. Anything less and you will not be getting the most efficiency from these heaters.

[Mudchief]

On the older unit there was only 1 step that had a vent. Keystone found that was not enough so now there are 2.

[DQDick]

We always closed that area in the summer and opened it up in the winter based on the advise of the Atwood folks at a National Rally.

[waynemoore]

I would buy the requirements if the return vents were piped directly from the stair vents to the furnace but they are not. It's all open in that area so those sposed requirements are bogus. Next time they tell you that ask them about it not being piped direct.

[Mudchief]

You are right about the big open space but if you close those vents then it has to draw the return air from the cracks in the belly of the unit which will cut down the flow to the furnace. Plus you are drawing in cold air rather then warmer air from inside the unit.

[RovingHome]

We mainly heat with two electric heaters so the furnace only kicks on below around 25 degrees so we keep the stairs blocked when we know the furnace won't be turning on and unblocked when it does. One night we forgot to uncover it and there was a noticeable difference in the furnace efficiency. I thought it was broken until we realized the stair were covered, I opened the stairs up and the furnace almost immediately got hotter and quieter. It definitely makes a difference on our 3400RL.

[DQDick]

Yes, it will and in addition, as Dennis says you will be drawing outside air thru somewhere and if it's over your waterlines you could defeat the whole idea of running the furnace to keep them from freezing.

[Razrbk]

Thanks for all the responses. I'll be keeping the vents open when operating the furnace.

[DebNJim B]

this last winter was our first in the new rig, 2018 3731FL, and we blocked the vent because of cold air draft. Then the plumbing froze the first night it dropped into the teens. Opened the panel behind the conection area and could see light down below. Factory had not insulated correctly. I stuffed a foam pillow between the frame and body panel and once thawed out put a thermometer sender there to monitor. The furnace maintained 62 degrees after that. No more freeze up but rig is going in for warrenty to replace the outside faucet and pressure test the compromised plumbing and proper insulation in that area. Reopened the vent and no more drafts. It was all outside air.