Heating Duct Question

nfisherman · 07-10-2022, 05:03 PM

I pulled down the coroplast underbelly material on my White Hawk to fix a couple of things. Perhaps I shouldn’t have done that because it led to other things to fix. I noticed that the heating ducts are 4-inch aluminum foil flex ducts. They’ve been crushed nearly flat where they run between the fresh water tank or the frame and the coroplast. I can’t believe the air flow will be very good when I need heat this fall. Has anybody found a good duct material that’s less likely to get crushed in tight spots?

Route 66 Traveler · 07-10-2022, 05:29 PM

Are the crushed ones for the underbelly heat, of for the registers throughout the RV? If there is too much blockage in the heating ducts it will cause the furnace to over heat and shut off. If they are for just the underbelly heat I would be considering removing them and replaced with new…from Home Depot or Lowe’s.

dxrobertson · 07-10-2022, 05:35 PM

Could the flex duct be re-routed around the tank, so not to crush? That would be my 1st attempt at correction. This assumes it initially wasnt installed properly to blueprint specs, a corrective action.

nfisherman · 07-10-2022, 06:05 PM

I removed more underbelly material and the duct mess got worse. I found a tee connection with a 2” duct that extended about 2 feet. That was for underbelly heat. It seemed fine. I found about 5 feet of flex duct that was just wadded up in a lump between the furnace and the register because someone didn’t want to cut off the excess duct. I also found two spots where the duct was ripped almost in two. Someone tried to repair it with aluminum tape but the tear was wide open. There’s no way I was going to have decent heating.

There’s no way that I can see for the ducts to go around the fresh water tank. One duct does run to the side of the tank but two more go under the tank. There’s no room for more ducts along the side. I’ve ordered some flex duct material from Amazon that is supposed to be stronger than what I saw at Home Depot. I’m going to cut out the garbage, reinstall new ducts, carefully replace the underbelly, and hope for the best.

Route 66 Traveler · 07-10-2022, 06:12 PM

Is this on a new trailer?? Can you post some photos? That really sucks and doesn’t say much about Jayco’s “Quality Control”!

nfisherman · 07-10-2022, 06:34 PM

Yes. It’s a 2021 model but it’s brand new. I bought it a month ago. It has supposedly never been off the dealer’s lot and I registered the certificate of origin myself to get a title for it. I’ve posted a couple of pics. You can see the ripped duct on the left side of the first picture. To the right of the torn duct, you can see the excess duct that was coiled up under the floor. It’s still attached at both ends and there’s that much excess. The second picture shows another tape repair on the other side of the water tank. I plan to remove all of the mess and replace it with better material. I cant do any worse than the factory did.

I went a long way to buy this camper because it was the only new 2021 model I could find and I didn’t want to pay the price increase for the 2022 model. Going back to the selling dealer isn’t an option and I’ve learned that unlike new cars, Jayco dealers don’t honor the Jayco warrantee unless they sold the camper, so I’m only own. I’m just glad I can handle this stuff myself.

Route 66 Traveler · 07-10-2022, 06:50 PM

Wow, that’s disgusting. You will have the satisfaction when it’s done knowing that it was done right. What about the other people who have the same mess or worse and have no heat in the winter?

I learned my lesson years ago, so when I did my PDI on my present trailer I brought along a thermal thermometer, a wind speed gauge, and a flashlight. I checked every register and air duct for proper airflow, water temp from the water heater, and the furnace and AC air flows and temps. I drove the “Tech” nuts, but if it was going to be my trailer and I lived 300 from the dealer(Camping World) I didn’t want any surprises first time out. I never went back to the dealer…I fixed a few small things myself, but overall it checked out perfectly.

dxrobertson · 07-10-2022, 06:58 PM

Thats F'd up. Duct work is not routed under a tank like that. Is there space atop the tank its supposed to be routed? Under warranty? Let dealer fix this mess.

"Jayco dealers don’t honor the Jayco warrantee unless they sold the camper".
Thats not exactly true. Jayco PREFERS you use the purchase dealer for warranty work. They will accept a local dealer do the warranty work if you explain the distance situation. I am having a warranty major vinyl floor replacement repair done right now by a dealer I did not purchase from.

nfisherman · 07-10-2022, 07:13 PM

There’s nowhere to go but under the tank. I’ve checked everywhere. It’s under warranty but the warranty is worthless unless you can get to the dealer who sold it to you. He’s 800 miles away from me. I’m on my own. I’ll fix it and keep enjoying the trailer. We really like the trailer. It will be great when get things fixed the way they should have been when I bought it

craigav · 07-10-2022, 07:24 PM

Maybe something like this, and a Y pipe, and some hose? This is only 2 1/8" thick. ~CA

Route 66 Traveler · 07-10-2022, 08:39 PM

I went and looked at your photos again. There wasn’t any insulation between the floor and coroplast? Mine has that pink fiberglas stuff they put in attics, and spray foam to fill in any holes. You might also consider putting a tank heater on your fresh water tank while you have it opened up.

https://www.amazon.com/s?k=Rv+tank+h...f=nb_sb_noss_1

nfisherman · 07-10-2022, 09:17 PM

Mine has two inches of fiberglass insulation just below the floor but nothing on top of the coroplast. There is foam filling the openings in the coroplast.

That’s a good idea to add the tank heaters. I may have to make another Amazon order tomorrow.

I filled my fresh water tank to test my sensor after attaching the wire. Water is dripping from somewhere on top of the tank. I hope it’s just a loose hose clamp at the fill pipe or overflow. The dripping stopped when I flushed some water down the toilet. I’m going to drain the tank and fix the leak before I fix the duct work.

This is a lot of work for a brand new camper.!

nfisherman · 07-11-2022, 12:40 PM

I found my water leak without lowering the tank. It is indeed a leak at a hose clamp, in fact two of them. I filled the water tank and I had a hunch about opening the compartment behind the power converter. In fact the fill line is leaking at both ends. There was water on the floor of the electrical compartment. Hmmm, water and electricity, what could go wrong? I’m going to replace this hose with a smooth hose that’s easier to clamp. I’ll make sure that there are no leaks at either end. I also found that the 1/2 inch overflow hose was kinked. Nothing was getting out of that. I’ll add a plastic elbow to eliminate the kink.

Route 66 Traveler · 07-11-2022, 01:45 PM

Man, you just keep looking for trouble! If you hadn't found the broken green wire it would have saved you lot of time and work!

They sure cut a nice neat, BIG hole for the hoses and all kinds of critters to get in and munch on the tasty wiring. I had a couple as well, but not that big. I used some extra fiberglass insulation to plug the hole...thought about using spray foam but it's messy and hard to remove if I had a future problem.

How did you manage to wire up your Hughes Watchdog?? Looks very cramped in there, plus a rats nest of wiring. Haven't seen nice and neat wiring in a Jayco product yet, not to mention nothing is ever labeled.

Once you get that project finished you can take a flashlight and look under your kitchen and bathroom sinks. Who knows you might be lucky and find another project or two. How about your shower floor? Had to re-enforce mine..it felt squishy to walk on. Had to cut some wooden blocks to help hold up the wood supporting the shower floor.

It's an RV after all....a never ending project!

nfisherman · 07-11-2022, 02:21 PM

The wiring is a mess but it’s better than when I found it.

How did I install the Watchdog? I removed the converter and disconnected the A/C feed from it. Then I attached a 3-foot piece of 10 ga. wire between the converter and the “out” side of the Watchdog. Then I connected the A/C feed to the “in” side of the Watchdog. Once all the connections were made, I put the Watchdog in place and screwed it to the floor. It doesn’t need to be visible since I get all of the readings and warnings by Bluetooth on my phone.

Yes, I plan to fix all of the holes after I’m done fixing problems. I did notice that the shower floor is spongy but I’m going to let that one go for now. I have enough to do with water and duct work issues. I want to get the bottom all buttoned up again so I can go camping. I’m going to really appreciate being warm when I camp during deer season this year. ;-)

OTR AGIN · 07-11-2022, 03:24 PM

Gonna jump in here hoping to learn something about proper underbelly repair and maintenance. We have a 2021 Jay Feather 22RK and while camping in Tennessee last month I was startled by a pounding on my door and a fellow camper had noticed that my water hose had ruptured and was spraying water up the backside of our trailer.

After determining that is was an older hose that had been permanently kinked and ruptured, we noticed that there was a small lake midships under the bathroom area and the coroplast belly had filled up with water under the fresh water tank and black tank area. The coroplast had pulled out on the curb side where the auxiliary propane hookup was located and formed a pitcher type spout and poured out that side of the section. Long story short, I drilled two small round holes at the low spots of the coroplast to drain the remaining water out. After all water had drained that I could see using a flashlight, I pushed the side of the coroplast back over the frame rails and wasn't positive it would stay there (no screws or cross members nearby) so I stretched a small ratchet tie down strap from the outdoor grill receiver across to a bracket for the dump connections.

Is there a way to connect the coroplast sections so they will remain smooth without adding more cross-members to screw the coroplast into (the underbelly has never been really smooth looking).

Thanks, Jerry

nfisherman · 07-11-2022, 06:34 PM

I wish I could help but I’m new at this. The factory or the dealer hacked up my coroplast pretty badly in the area of the axles, probably when they were messing with the heat ducts. There’s a section about 5 feet long that is cut up into pieces about 2x3 feet and it’s all taped together. When I get things fixed, I’m going to try to buy a new section of coroplast material and cover that area with new material.

nfisherman · 07-12-2022, 05:47 PM

My duct repair is complete. I was going to get some aluminum sheet metal and make a chase to cover the ducts under the water tank but I realized I was getting carried away with myself. I’ll just let the Coroplast sag a bit like it was from the factory. I’ve made sure that all of the garbage work from the factory/dealer has been removed. I will have heat when the time comes.

dxrobertson · 07-12-2022, 05:59 PM

It appears from the pic the routing of the new duct work through the maze of framework solves the crushing problem. Very good!

nfisherman · 07-12-2022, 06:05 PM

Thanks. I wish there had been a way to avoid going under the tank but there was no avoiding it. Everywhere else, I went through the frame instead of under it. There’s one spot near the round register by the couch where two ducts pass through a small space. Both are pressed into an oval shape but not crushed. Air should still flow. It may not be perfect but it’s a huge improvement from where I started.

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