Miscellaneous / Off-topic: Furnace and A/C running at the same time

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Furnace and A/C running at the same time

Printed From: R-pod Owners Forum
Category: R-pod Discussion Forums
Forum Name: Miscellaneous / Off-topic
Forum Discription: Pull a chair up to the campfire and chat. No religious, political or weapons talk, please.
URL: http://www.rpod-owners.com/forum_posts.asp?TID=12790
Printed Date: 28 Apr 2024 at 5:52am
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Topic: Furnace and A/C running at the same time

Posted By: podwerkz
Subject: Furnace and A/C running at the same time
Date Posted: 23 Apr 2019 at 1:57pm

Leave it to Dometic to make something as simple as a wall thermostat, complicated and confusing.

This new r-pod has a modern looking wall-thermostat, ok, cool. It lights up in a pretty blue color and you set the temps up or down, and based on the mode you have set, it runs the furnace or the roof air conditioning unit.

Pretty simple. Right? Wrong!

I could not figure out why the A/C blower fan was coming on with the furnace blower....I thought for sure that the darn thing was messed up...

Nothing in my paperwork about it.

So I go online and after looking all over the Dometic website, (not the Forest River online owners manual) I find the thermostat manual pdf and there is this almost hidden information in the manual:

If set for 'high' or 'low' A/C blower speed in FAN mode, the A/C fan will automatically come on when the furnace does, to help circulate air. Huh? With the noise that they both make when running, it's like a wind tunnel in there! (running the roof air blower, of course, requires a shore power hookup)

All you have to do is go back and set the A/C blower to 'auto' and it will not run the A/C blower when the furnace is on, but who would know this without looking online in the manual?

Jeeze.

And of course I also found out 'there is an app for that'....this wall thermostat is Bluetooth compatible!

You can download an app and control the roof air or furnace from the comfort of your folding chair as you sit next to the campfire 30 feet away....who in the WORLD would really need to do THAT?

C'mon Dometic and Forest River, people buy r-pods for the basics, and the simplicity of camping....we really don't need no stinking 'smart thermostat' with bluetooth, do we? Old-fashioned switch and dial thermostats work well, and last practically forever, and are easy and cheap to replace in 10 or 20 years.

Here is a link for the manual...the relevant info is on page 22:

http://manuals.dometic.com/download.php?file=2220 - http://manuals.dometic.com/download.php?file=2220

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r･pod 171 gone but not forgotten!

Replies:

Posted By: Richand Cindy
Date Posted: 23 Apr 2019 at 3:30pm

We were shocked that during our walkthrough the dealer actually pointed it out to us. He said many people were calling in to report a broken thermostat. There have also been many postings here the past couple of years about the problem. You must be on auto or else you get the dreaded a/c and furnace fans running simultaneously. Surprised FR for spring for a bluetooth thermostat, probably Dometic makes them all like this now

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OLD 2017.5 RPOD 180 + 2015 Jeep Cherokee Trailhawk
NEW: 2018 Passport Elite 23RB + 2017 Ram 1500 Diesel

Posted By: Kup-Pod
Date Posted: 23 Apr 2019 at 3:56pm

Lol, I had the same thing! I went through a whole weekend of camping in the fall with the fan and the furnace running at the same time... it was deafening. It wasnt until i got back home, connected to the forum and found my answer. This forum is great for these kind of "unknown issues"!

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2017 RP-178
2021 F150 5.0l
"Lead me on a level path"

Posted By: podwerkz
Date Posted: 23 Apr 2019 at 4:46pm

When I first discovered this situation, I reached down and opened the power center door and flipped the A/C circuit breaker OFF, which shut down the roof air blower, BUT....I thought it was a weird thing, so that's when I went surfing the web for an answer.

This all started when I relocated the thermostat, I didn't like where it was and I was always bumping into the plastic panel and knocking it off, or my elbow would activate the panel and light it up or change a setting. It's mounted at 4 feet from the floor...I'm NOT 4 feet tall, nor am I skinny or small!

On my pod, which does not have a slide, the thermostat is at about elbow level and right across from the fridge and microwave...I was always bumping into it. So I moved it about 18 inches higher, about eye-level, and I don't bump into it now.

And I can actually SEE the darn thing now!

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r･pod 171 gone but not forgotten!

Posted By: campnb_us
Date Posted: 01 Nov 2021 at 2:38pm

Thank you so much, not just for your explanation...but for your (the) resolution. (First time I ever responded to anything like this, and even had to reset my account....but your help was worth it).