Basement Compartments Heat

[Rusty T]

2022 Seneca 37M
Normally storage compartments are heated from a duct off the gas furnace. In our new Seneca the furnace is completely (as far as we can tell) contained the the curb side slide-out. The return and all of the supply vents are in the slide. That being the case does anyone know how the storage area is heated, if at all?

[SloPoke]

Our 2015 was not heating the basement compartments... We took it on ourselves to heat the compartments where plumbing was. We put electric heaters in the rear 3-bays to reduce the amount of propane needed to keep everything thawed below the floor.

[Rustynuts]

It seems to be a hit and miss if you have basement heat or not. Some units have it and some don’t. Our 2018.5 RB didn’t have it but I was looking at another 2018.5 RB and it had it, I looked on ours and sure enough, I had the hole through the floor, but the hole was covered over with the vinyl flooring under the bed. I guess it comes down to who got assigned that job that day.

[Jeepin Jason]

Unfortunately, these are not built as true four season rigs. Earlier this year we took our 2022 37M on a trip here in Colorado. As a precaution, I purchased three small heaters and ran them in the bays and turned on the tank heaters. Even with those going, we still had frozen pipes. The water lines are exposed in several areas including under the frame in the rear near the water heater and in a few units, they run over the wheel wells in a very exposed area. I have seen owners wrapping these, but I would not trust that for long term below freezing temps. When I get more time, I may re-route all lines to ensure they are within the bays and then the space heaters should be sufficient. I used space heaters on my previous 5th wheel in very cold temps and did not have any problems as all water lines ran through the bays.

[SloPoke]

Originally Posted by Jeepin Jason

Unfortunately, these are not built as true four season rigs. Earlier this year we took our 2022 37M on a trip here in Colorado. As a precaution, I purchased three small heaters and ran them in the bays and turned on the tank heaters. Even with those going, we still had frozen pipes. The water lines are exposed in several areas including under the frame in the rear near the water heater and in a few units, they run over the wheel wells in a very exposed area. I have seen owners wrapping these, but I would not trust that for long term below freezing temps. When I get more time, I may re-route all lines to ensure they are within the bays and then the space heaters should be sufficient. I used space heaters on my previous 5th wheel in very cold temps and did not have any problems as all water lines ran through the bays.

Did your Seneca come with Tank heaters? or did you add them?

[Rusty T]

Thanks for all the good information.
Our Seneca has factory tank heaters but the piping between the WH and the wet bay is exposed. Also the wet bay has holes cut out for piping that are way over sized. My plan is to add insulation on the exposed pipe, seal the wet bay holes, and add a floor vent under the bed for circulation.

[Barxy]

My 2022 37M says it has the tank heaters. Not confirmed yet, but they show up on the control panel, so I'm assuming they are there.

[Shodan01]

My '22 37L (Accolade) doesnt have them either. Hit ice last year in Texas and froze every pipe in the wet bay. Since I ran some small space heaters to the bays and have them as a precaution only.

I do like the idea of a furnace to the bays but would love to direct it as needed.

[Jeepin Jason]

Originally Posted by SloPoke

Did your Seneca come with Tank heaters? or did you add them?

Mine 2022 37M came with tank heaters, it is pretty easy to tell if you have them on there by looking around the tank. As mentioned though, the tank heaters and even heat from the furnace or a small heater do not help much in the real cold with the crappy plumbing from the factory going under the frame rail and above the unsealed rear wheel well.

[daveinthekeys]

My 2020 37L must have some heat source as my wireless remote thermometer showed 50 degrees when it was 26 degrees overnight. I had turned on the tank heaters. But as far as I could tell by feeling them. They did not come on? I wondered if perhaps there was a thermostat that kept them off at higher temperatures even though they were turned on?

[SloPoke]

Originally Posted by Jeepin Jason

Mine 2022 37M came with tank heaters, it is pretty easy to tell if you have them on there by looking around the tank. As mentioned though, the tank heaters and even heat from the furnace or a small heater do not help much in the real cold with the crappy plumbing from the factory going under the frame rail and above the unsealed rear wheel well.

Wow... that is hard to hear... Our 2015 has no exposed plumbing, everything is either in the storage bays, or above the floor routed through the cabinetry / shower enclosure.

Our water heater inlet and outlet exits the rear of the heater and is our most vulnerable, it runs inside the rear bay on the drivers side to the center of the unit and then travels forward inside of the compartment running above the frame rails past the back of the genny and then into the wet bay. Our fresh tank is in the bay behind the generator. Our Black Tank is between our Fresh tank in the bay behind the axles and the grey tank is over the axles.

We installed 120v 500/1000/1500-Watt heaters in the three bays to keep all of our plumbing well above freezing. Actually keeping these bays heated greatly reduces the need to heat the inside of our Seneca. Our bedroom floors are comfortable to walk around in bare-feet in even the coldest weather.

[norty1]

Do the super C's have any vents that allow cabin heat to circulate back to the furnace?
On my fifth wheel, there are vents under the steps that allow return air to the furnace air return intake in the basement as well as a hot air vent down there. Of course when the furnace is not operational it can freeze up in very cold weather.

[SloPoke]

Originally Posted by norty1

Do the super C's have any vents that allow cabin heat to circulate back to the furnace?
On my fifth wheel, there are vents under the steps that allow return air to the furnace air return intake in the basement as well as a hot air vent down there. Of course when the furnace is not operational it can freeze up in very cold weather.

On our year Seneca, the Furnace is installed under the 4-door Refrigerator, but is still above the main floor. They do have the heating ducts running a short distance under the floor, but no heat is being blown into the below-floor storage bays. Jayco did run some of the plumbing along the same path of the furnace duct, but that amounts to about 25% of the rig - and only applies to the kitchen sink.

The remaining plumbing sits in the rear of the motorhome where there is n furnace ducting anywhere near it.

[norty1]

Thanks, That's a surprise because I thought they were similar. I guess things are a lot more compact in a super C.

[SloPoke]

There are a couple of previous forum discussions on these... with some pictures of what we did...

https://www.jaycoowners.com/forums/f...ays-52189.html

https://www.jaycoowners.com/forums/f...ing-71665.html