Rear heater under the bed

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ct78barnes

ct78barnes

Well-known member
Joined
Mar 13, 2010
Posts
108
Location
Bryan Ohio
I have a new coach and on our last trip it was real cold and tried to run the rear heater. Do you have to have the front heater on heat to get the rear heat to work. I have the button up front and it turned green and the fan came on but all it did was blow cold air. The wife went back and checked. Also does it take some time for the heat to get going because when the wife found cold air blowing she shut if off. We had been on the road for over a hr or two when we tried it.
 
May depend a lot on what type of coach you have. You didn't put it in your profile.

On my Winnebago brave, the gas furnace was in the rear under the bed. It was controlled by the wall thermostat and would put out heat within seconds of starting.

By you mentioning front heater, we only had a switch for motoraid heater in the front and it only works with the engine running, if it was cold the engine coolant could be turned off somewhere but withe the engine hot it too should heat very quickly..
 
Mine would not light till I cleaned out the bee's nest built in the exaust vent outside. Now I have a screen over it.
 
On my 1983, mine got hot as soon as you seen the temp gage go up in the engine. My guess is you might have valves in line to turn the water off. I have disconnected my as we don't use ours and saved a bit of antifreeze when I flushed the system out and replaced with new. Hope this helps.
 
The fans run for about 30-40 seconds before the burner ignites, and then it takes seconds more before heated air begins to flow. So figure 60-90 seconds to feel any heat from the ducts.

If you have two furnaces, in general they are controlled separately. If there is only one thermostat for two furnaces, it probably has two "zones", front and rear, and the temperatures are set individually. If you do not have two furnaces, the rear heat would be just a long duct from the single furnace.

It just occurred to me you didn't say "furnace" - you just said "heat". In some models, heat may come from a heat pump (reverse cycle air conditioner) or from waste engine heat (circulated hot water). Might either of these apply to your rig?
 
I believe you are referring to the MotorAid heater and it should blow hot air as soon as the engine is warmed up. It is in series with the heat exchanger in your hot water heater. Perhaps it was by passed at the water heater.
 
I'm thinking the OP is talking about the Motoraid heater.....long lines of antifreeze that flow from the Gas engine under the chassis, through the Water Heater, and then through a fan powered Motoraide heater, with a switch on the dash that turns the Motoraid fans on.

But, not sure since the OP hasn't said what he owns.  8)
 
FWIW, my HR has the heater under the bed and there is a valve underneath the stove that must be opened for the antifreeze from the engine to flow back there.
 
My Elandan has one, heater only, under the back bunk..I will now look for the tie-in to the water heater if there is one..since it's higher than the engine radiator how does it not become air bound??there's no venting that I saw..
This posting has me thinking about installing such a system on my DP..there's no aux heat for the coach..would be a nice addition.
 
Yes it is the  Motoraid heater and a 2011 Sightseer motor home. I saw the black hoses around the water heater when I turned off the by pass when winterizing the coach. Is there another valve to turn on the motoraid heater.
 
I have a switch on the dash of my Sightseer.  I flip it one way for high fan in the back or the other way for low.  Soon as there is heat in the front there is heat in the back.  And on high it will run you out back there and heat the whole coach, will on low too.  Mine also heats the water so we have hot water when traveling.

I don't know if there is anything to turn off or on for it along the way.  Mine is a 2005.
 
Because motoraid heats both water heater and rear register, water is allways flowing through hoses (no valves along the way).  Hose to water heater input connects to a tee in the intake manifold to front dash heater hose.  Water heater output hose goes to input connection on rear heat exchanger (fan motor control on dash).  Rear output hose goes back to engine radiator.  If rear heater is not getting hot then there is  blockage or someone installed a shutoff valve.  While the front dash heater has a vacuum controlled valve, the motoraid bypasses that so water heater can be heated in summer or winter.

Dave
 
Okay, so I seem to be the one to always need to ask the "stupid" questions...but, here goes anyway.  We have a Motoraid Waterheater and all I ever do is when we get to camp I hit the switch to either electric or gas and on it goes.  It seems to heat up rather quickly.  Now, it sounds like what you guys are saying is that I can also heat my MH while driving by using this somehow?  Am I totally reading this wrong? We freeze going down the road and that's why this has intrigued me so much.!  TIA  Mikie
 
Jim
The reason your water heats up so fast when you stop right after driving is because it was already very hot from the engine coolant heating up your hot water threw a heat exchanger in your water heater. When you turn on your electric switch it doesn't even come on as the water is already hotter than the electric element can make it. The electric element has a high temp cut off. To my knowledge the moteraid does not, that's why the moteraid water is hotter then running on electric when you stop right after running, Your engine coolant water can heat the hot water heater more than your electric element as the engine water has no limit & runs over 160 degrees. Be careful as when you stop you will have VERY hot water when running the engine. If you have a motoraid heater you should have a rocker switch on the dash with high, center off & low. It turns on the 12 volt fan that moves hot air in the floor duckworks. If you have this system I can tell you it works GREAT. I am not very good at explaining things so I hope this helps. Art
 
We freeze going down the road
Click to expand...
Mikie ...you have a diesel coach, so contrary to common sense you do NOT have the motoraid heater in the rear of the coach.  For some inexplicable reason, Winnebago puts the motoraid heater on the gas models only. You have only the motoraid water heater assist.  If we need more than the dash heat when driving, we use the generator and heat pump, or in extreme cold weather we use one or both LP furnaces.
 
I too, with the diesel, only have have the water heater not the coach heater.

What a shame, I used it a lot when traveling with my previous Brave gas coach.
 
I have ordered a 2012 Itasca Sunova 30A. It has a gasoline V10 engine. Will my new motorhome have this rear heater you all are talking about? In the booklet is states that I have a 6-gallon 110V/LP water heater w/motoraid/auto heater.

Thanks, Ron
 
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