Heater under bed RPod 190
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Forum Name: Podmods, Maintenance, Tips and Tricks
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URL: http://www.rpod-owners.com/forum_posts.asp?TID=15017
Printed Date: 20 Jun 2025 at 3:58am
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Topic: Heater under bed RPod 190
Posted By: rcase13
Subject: Heater under bed RPod 190
Date Posted: 31 Oct 2021 at 6:57am
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Our RPOD 190 has the heater under the bed. The Thermostat is on the wall above this area. This causes the heater to short cycle and only heat this small area. Has any one successfully moved the Thermostat or figured out a way to duct the heat to the back of the unit? I searched and couldn't find any solutions to this poor design. ------------- 2012 Ford F150 5.0l 157"WB 4x4 ELD 2021 R-Pod 190 |
Replies:
Posted By: Pod People
Date Posted: 31 Oct 2021 at 10:05am
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Use the advanced search function and look for heat deflector. There are several posts (including a pattern/templaTe) about making a sheet metal deflector for the heaters. I know this applies to our 179, but not sure about your model. Our 179 also has the heater under the bed and the deflector essentially turns the heat 90 degrees out into the open area of the pod. It works very well. Safe travels Vann ------------- Vann & Laura 2015 RPod 179 https://postimg.cc/0zwKrfB9"> 
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Posted By: rcase13
Date Posted: 31 Oct 2021 at 10:16am
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Thanks for the tip. I didn't think to search for deflector. ------------- 2012 Ford F150 5.0l 157"WB 4x4 ELD 2021 R-Pod 190 |
Posted By: Tars Tarkas
Date Posted: 31 Oct 2021 at 2:30pm
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A strategically aimed small battery powered fan might really help. If you have shore power a lot of people prefer a 1500 watt portable electric heater to the roar of the onboard furnace. TT ------------- 2010 176 FJ Cruiser |
Posted By: rcase13
Date Posted: 31 Oct 2021 at 2:41pm
Yes one would prefer small electric heater if one had remembered to bring it!!   ------------- 2012 Ford F150 5.0l 157"WB 4x4 ELD 2021 R-Pod 190 |
Posted By: StephenH
Date Posted: 31 Oct 2021 at 4:52pm
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I used to put a fan in the opening under the bed to force the heat out into the open cabin area. Then I built the heat deflector. We still use the fan, but not in that area as the deflector works great to get the heat out from under the bed and distribute it in the cabin area. The other plus is that the rest of the area under the bed stays cool so some things that would not block the return airflow can be placed under there. I wouldn't stash my wife's chocolate under there, but clothes or shoes would be fine. It also makes sure the heat does not directly hit the DC to DC charger I installed for the LiFePO4 battery. ------------- StephenH Happy is the man that findeth wisdom,... http://www.rpod-owners.com/forum_posts.asp?TID=7712 - ouR escaPOD mods Former RPod 179 Current Cherokee Grey Wolf 24 JS |
Posted By: offgrid
Date Posted: 02 Nov 2021 at 6:45am
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I'm doubtful that a deflector is going to help if the concern is thermostat short cycling. Blowing hot air out from under the bed into the area where the tstat is located is quite likely just to make that worse. The real problem is a pretty high capacity (20 kbtu/hr) heater in a very small poorly insulated space. I'd try just placing something temporarily to divert the air and see if that actually helps reduce the short cycling before building a permanent deflector.
If that didn't work possible solutions are a lower capacity heater (electric, catalytic propane or using the water heater and a heat exchanger). All 3 have pros and cons and have been tried by forum members, do an advanced search and go back several years. Relocated thermostat with increased hysteresis (temp differential between turn on and turn off). Adding thermal mass under the bed to slow down heat transfer to the room. I carried extra water for boondocking and kept that and my drinks under there, placed while camping to make the hot air blow through them. Seemed to help some but be sure to take drinks out for awhile to cool down before drinking or refrigerating. Back on option 2. The furnace is just looking for a contact closure to call for heat, so just about any tstat would do. I like the little low cost little w1209 digital tstats, available from many suppliers on Amazon for under $10. They provide the contact closure terminals and just need 12v on another pair of terminals to operate. The 12v is readily available at the furnace or elsewhere. They are fully programmable for temp setting, hysteresis, time delay, close on hi or low and have a remote temp probe. The probe is a thermistor so you can extend the wires to it so the little tstat can be concealed where ever you want. Did I mention they're cheap? I'd suggest getting one, connecting it up temporarily, and placing the temp probe in a cold spot in the trailer. Then adjust the temp setting and hysteresis and see if you get results that you like. That might just make it too hot elsewhere in the trailer but it's worth a try. If you do you can wire it in permanently and just leave to old tstat disabled. ------------- 1994 Chinook Concourse 1995 RV6A Experimental Aircraft 2015 Rpod 179 - sold |
Posted By: Pod_Geek
Date Posted: 02 Nov 2021 at 8:52am
I'm still recovering from a bout of that. ------------- 2020.5 R-Pod 195 Hood River 2018 RAM 2500 6.4L |
Posted By: jato
Date Posted: 02 Nov 2021 at 10:51am
 Good point OG. Hysteresis in natural systems is often associated with irreverible thermodynamic change such as phase transitions and with internal friction; and dissipation is a common side effect. ------------- God's pod '11 model 177 '17 Ford F-150 4WD 3.5 Ecoboost Jim and Diane by beautiful Torch Lake "...and you will know the Truth and the Truth will set you free." |
Posted By: offgrid
Date Posted: 02 Nov 2021 at 3:44pm
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I've been dissipated from too much hysteresis for years now ...
Here BTW is the definition for control systems I was using (from Wikipedia). If it's set too narrowly it results in short cycling, too wide and you freeze/overheat. Standard household thermostats don't usually have an adjustment for hysteresis because the heater is relatively small compared to the thermal mass of the house so short cycling isn't a problem like it is in a travel trailer. In control systems, hysteresis can be used to filter signals so that the output reacts less rapidly than it otherwise would by taking recent system history into account. For example, a thermostat controlling a heater may switch the heater on when the temperature drops below A, but not turn it off until the temperature rises above B. (For instance, if one wishes to maintain a temperature of 20 °C then one might set the thermostat to turn the heater on when the temperature drops to below 18 °C and off when the temperature exceeds 22 °C). IIRC the little w1209 tstats also have a time delay adjustment which could be another way to reduce short cycling. The idea is to just play around with the location and settings till youre happy with it, it's not going to hurt anything. ------------- 1994 Chinook Concourse 1995 RV6A Experimental Aircraft 2015 Rpod 179 - sold |
Posted By: jato
Date Posted: 02 Nov 2021 at 4:45pm
Most impressive young Skywalker ! ------------- God's pod '11 model 177 '17 Ford F-150 4WD 3.5 Ecoboost Jim and Diane by beautiful Torch Lake "...and you will know the Truth and the Truth will set you free." |