2006 Adventurer Thermostat Calibration

[SCHAAL1]

The Thermostat in My 2006 Winnebago Adventurer 37-B seems to be out of calibration. The display seems to read much hotter than the actual temperature. Is there a proceedure to calibrate this thermostat? Thanks, Denny. 

 

[John Hilley]

How far off is it? Have you put another thermometer next to it?

 

[SCHAAL1]

It seems about 15 degrees or so higher than actual temperature. I'm going to compare it to another thermometer in next few days.
Have to go to R/V storage after work.

 

[John Hilley]

It may be useful to bring it out into free air. The one place panel may be warmer behind the thermostat.

 

[SCHAAL1]

I compared the thermostat to an external thermometer and the thermostat is about 8 degrees higher. I suppose it could be due to temperature inside box thermostat is mounted to?????

 

[carson]

It may be useful to bring it out into free air. The one place panel may be warmer behind the thermostat.

Good point, John. My old rig had the thermostat mounted on the wall abutting the bathroom wall.. a thin wall.
  The small bathroom was cold with the door closed  brrrr. (An A/C outlet and a heat outlet in the bathroom)

Who knows, that may be the problem.

 

[John Canfield]

Denny - is this a new problem with the thermostat?  How long have you owned the rig?

 

[SCHAAL1]

Hi John,
I have owned the rig for 5 years, It's not a new issue but something I've paid more attention to lately. I've always felt that the thermostat was inaccurate. I was wondering if the thermostate can be calibrated? Thanks for your interest and reply.

 

[John Canfield]

There is no calibration that I'm aware of, you have basement air I assume?  If you're the DIY type you can replace the Coleman-Mach with an after-market version.  I documented the process when I changed mine, there's a thread about that in the Winne board and a write-up on my website in the RV pages.

The easiest thing to do is relocate it like John suggests and see what happens.

 

[Gary RV_Wizard]

It's not really inaccurate, but the temperature it senses may not be representative of the interior as a whole. The sensor is either in the t-stat unit or a remote connected by wire. In either case, the sensor is reading the temperature at that point only and temperature varies a lot inside any RV. Wall-mounted temp sensors will almost always be hotter or colder than the air nearer the center of the room, and can change quickly. A warm or cool air duct nearby can change the reading, but the inherent temperature of the wall quickly changes it back when the flow from the duct stops. Drafts from other vents or returns can have odd effects too. I have two zone remote sensors that some idiot interior designed placed within several inches of halogen bulbs. If the light is switched on, the thermostat thinks the temperature in that zone skyrocketed!  I removed the bulb in one of them, since there were plenty of other lights anyway, but later replaced the hot halogen with a cool LED bulb to solve that problem. The other one is needed in the galley work area and we just adjust the set-temperature when using those lights. The stove & microwave heat also affect that sensor (more inspired design by the RV manufacturer!).

 

[travelingsages]

I have had two thermostats in my 2007 Suncruiser.  Both of them read 3 degrees high. There is no adjustment on these. I have not wanted to change to a residential thermostat because they will not power the basement A/C exactly like your current thermostat does. John would know better than I do but it is either it won't power both stages independently or won't allow the fan to run at different speeds.

 

[Gary RV_Wizard]

Both of them read 3 degrees high.

Higher than what?

 

[John Canfield]

..I have not wanted to change to a residential thermostat because they will not power the basement A/C exactly like your current thermostat does. John would know better than I do but it is either it won't power both stages independently or won't allow the fan to run at different speeds.

You can add a switch for high and low fan speeds as some have done, I didn't bother since we never ever run the fan on low speed.  The only other accommodation with a residential thermostat is that you can't easily put the unit in gas heat only which has not turned out to be an issue.  We've had a few months experience with the Ecobee thermostat and I'm calling it a complete success  .

 

[Gary RV_Wizard]

Both of them read 3 degrees high.

Higher than what?

Sorry - that probably sounded a bit snarky but was intended to be an honest question. Obviously you compared the t-stat reading to another measurement, and I was inquiring as to where that other measurement took place and what sort of thermometer was used.