# Heating A 28krs



## mapoorman (Jan 10, 2007)

During our first trip in our '07 28KRS I found out the hard way that the furnace can not keep up with 28 degree weather. The furnace ran all night long and struggled to maintain a 55 degree inside temperature. Another issue is that in this situation with the furnace on and having a sealed underbelly does not keep water pipes from freezing. Luckily we were able to eventually get the water lines unfrozen without any damage, but this took several hours and a lot of work in a truck stop.

The dealer checked the output of the furnace and indicates that it is within specification and that the sealed underbelly does not keep water pipes from freezing even with the furnace on.

After reading the delamination issues with Keystone products, I am happy my only issues iare that I purchased an RV suitable for the deep south and an awning that loves to turn into a water trough.


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## wolfwood (Sep 19, 2005)

camping.couple said:


> During our first trip in our '07 28KRS I found out the hard way that the furnace can not keep up with 28 degree weather. The furnace ran all night long and struggled to maintain a 55 degree inside temperature. Another issue is that in this situation with the furnace on and having a sealed underbelly does not keep water pipes from freezing. Luckily we were able to eventually get the water lines unfrozen without any damage, but this took several hours and a lot of work in a truck stop.
> 
> The dealer checked the output of the furnace and indicates that it is within specification and that the sealed underbelly does not keep water pipes from freezing even with the furnace on.
> 
> After reading the delamination issues with Keystone products, I am happy my only issues iare that I purchased an RV suitable for the deep south and an awning that loves to turn into a water trough.


Actually, I live in pretty much the "deep north" (albeit, not as deep as those in Canada and N.Dakota) and our dealer made it very clear that the Outback is not a 4 season camper. The underbelly does get some radiant heat from the TT body heat but it is not an actively heated space. Glad you were able to thaw out without any damage.


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## jidunl (Aug 5, 2006)

We have a 28 BHS and have had no problems heating the trailer up to 68 degrees even in sub 32 degree cold weather. Something doesn't seem right to me.


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## CamperAndy (Aug 26, 2004)

You sound like you have other issues to deal with and need to review things a bit.

I live far enough north that I know what camping in the cold (and SNOW) is and We can easily camp when the temps drop into the teens at night. The furnace easily maintains a nice warm temp in the trailer and I have not froze a pipe yet in the under belly while camping.

The time it would take your water pipes to freeze when the ambient temperature was only down to 28 would be a very long time indeed.

You need to inspect the duct work for a collapsed duct. Remove a vent cover in the floor and use a mirror and a flash light and you should see the full length of the trailer.

As for the awning, it is a industry standard type awning and there are specific procedures in setting it up. You have to have it tensioned correctly and if you expect it to rain you need to either roll it up or position it so that it is sloped to drain.


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## mswalt (Sep 14, 2004)

I agree with Andy. Although I don't live in the north and have little experience (none, actually) in camping in below-freezing temps, there are several threads on this forum that attest to others having weathered that problem adequately with their Outabcks.

There must be some other reason yours froze up. And the heater should have done a much better job than that.

Good luck in finding your problem and getting it taken care of.

Mark


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## Rip (Jul 13, 2006)

Camp when it was in the low 20's and never had a problem all weekend and it snowed,trailer was nice and warm Pickney,Michigan


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## shaela21 (Aug 16, 2005)

I am wondering if there was a bit of wind blowing and this may have worked its way between the underbelly cover and the pipes and such, if you were parked in a way that this can happen. It would explain the frozen pipes and why the furnace cannot heat the OB since it was losing so much heat to the surrounding air being blown around in the cavity. Normally, when camping in cooler temperatures I have been using a ceramic heater to keep the OB comfortable, and it has worked fairly well. I would use the furnace to supplement the ceramic heater when required.

I think if the bottom cover ever had to be removed for whatever reason if it would be worth while to insulate all the water pipes as well as the ducting from the furnace. Just some of that stuff that you can get to insulate a hot water tank in the house. Just a future thought.


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## GoVols (Oct 7, 2005)

We too have camped with temps in the low 20s with no problems, and it is very easy to get the camper too warm with the furnace.


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## huntr70 (Jul 8, 2005)

Something definitely sounds wrong........we use an electric heater when possible to heat the OB, and that works quite well. When we use the furnace, it is more than adequate. It actually heats too much, which is why we use the electric heater.

We have camped when the outside water line has frozen overnight, but so far, no freezing on the water lines either inside the OB, or under the cover.

As Andy has stated, you need to tip one end of the awning when it rains, or you get exactly what you had. The dealer should have explained that to you during your PDI.

Steve


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## skippershe (May 22, 2006)

huntr70 said:


> Something definitely sounds wrong........we use an electric heater when possible to heat the OB, and that works quite well. When we use the furnace, it is more than adequate. It actually heats too much, which is why we use the electric heater.
> 
> We have camped when the outside water line has frozen overnight, but so far, no freezing on the water lines either inside the OB, or under the cover.
> 
> ...


Ditto!
Although we haven't had to run the heater much, it does get very toasty inside.
X2 on the awning, add a slope to one side and nothing can get trapped


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## Scrib (Jun 28, 2005)

camping.couple said:


> During our first trip in our '07 28KRS I found out the hard way that the furnace can not keep up with 28 degree weather. The furnace ran all night long and struggled to maintain a 55 degree inside temperature. Another issue is that in this situation with the furnace on and having a sealed underbelly does not keep water pipes from freezing. Luckily we were able to eventually get the water lines unfrozen without any damage, but this took several hours and a lot of work in a truck stop.
> 
> The dealer checked the output of the furnace and indicates that it is within specification and that the sealed underbelly does not keep water pipes from freezing even with the furnace on.
> 
> After reading the delamination issues with Keystone products, I am happy my only issues iare that I purchased an RV suitable for the deep south and an awning that loves to turn into a water trough.


That's very odd - but you don't need a dealer to test the furnace, that thing will run you out of there if you put it on anything higher than 66.


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## Carey (Mar 6, 2012)

Have you checked the seal around the slideout?.. Maybe cold air is coming in..

One thing that did surprise me was that the heater in my smaller 23krs is the same as the 28krs.. The heater in ours works pretty well, but in a 28 with a slideout, I feel would be pushing it.. We have camped in temps to 19 degrees and never had any freezups, although the heater ran quite a bit... The wind was blowing around 25mph in the direction of the rear slide.. You could feel a bit of cool air coming in around the slide, but it wasnt much..

Carey


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## cookie9933 (Feb 26, 2005)

Rip said:


> Camp when it was in the low 20's and never had a problem all weekend and it snowed,trailer was nice and warm Pickney,Michigan


You are HARD CORE!!









Bill


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## beachbum (Nov 27, 2006)

When we camped at Lakeshore in January, the temp went to low 20's. Furnace worked fine, but there is a large difference between temp on remote and the sensor on the unit. There was a thread about that a while back. Anyway, our outside hose froze and had to be thawed out when we got up in the morning. Otherwise, everything was OK. Yes, the awning will hold water if one corner is not lowered. I found that, to get clearance from the door, the awning is almost horizontal. Still, one corner could be lowered a bunch without the door rubbing. A little practice working this stuff and the solutions reveal themselves.
david


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## TwoElkhounds (Mar 11, 2007)

cookie9933 said:


> Camp when it was in the low 20's and never had a problem all weekend and it snowed,trailer was nice and warm Pickney,Michigan


You are HARD CORE!!









Bill
[/quote]

C'mon, he's not that tough, the lake isn't even frozen!!

DAN


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## mik0445 (Jun 5, 2006)

Thought I might chime in on this one, cuz I _think_ I might know a thing or two about the cold. As per the manufacturer (I believe its in the owners manual) mid 20's is the lowest that you might try, and that is getting a little low. The sealed underbelly basically is there to do no more than keep the dirt off your stuff and to help hold a little more heat in. We have camped during the low 30's without a problem with our 28krs and not had a problem, but the biggest chance lies with your external water hookups and tanks freezing. Keep it above 30 and you shouldn't have a problem.


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## Yianni (Aug 30, 2006)

GoVols said:


> We too have camped with temps in the low 20s with no problems, and it is very easy to get the camper too warm with the furnace.


I have to agree.
We too have camped when it was bitter cold out. Had to set the heater to 66, otherwise it got too warm in the trailer No problems with freeze up.

Lou


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## justinsnow0 (Feb 5, 2007)

I'll beat the beast some more here. We took our maiden trip about 3 weeks ago here. It was about 45-50 during the day but it did drop to around 20 degrees at night and that trailer stayed VERY warm. Also I had the fresh water tank filled and no freezing issues. My grey water hose did freeze on me however but that's because I forgot to put away before nightfall, the hose bib was shut off so no bursting









The trailer is definitley not a 4 season trailer, they are very expensive if you have ever priced one. The enclosed underbelly does do well for keeping some radiant heat and wind off of your pipes and tanks. It also helps with gas mileage belive it or not.


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## sleecjr (Mar 24, 2006)

The under belly on the camper should be sealed with spray foam from the factory. This keeps most of the heat in. Did you check and make sure your is sealed?


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## RizFam (Feb 25, 2006)

Sorry you are having trouble
















*to the Group*!


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## Moosegut (Sep 24, 2005)

I was a bit disappointed with the "heated underbelly" and I have had the pipes feeze on two separate trips, but that was when the temps stayed in the 20s during the day and dropped into single digits at night - I was fortunate that nothing burst. But that's how I discovered that "heated underbelly" just meant radiant heat that would "extend" your camping season.

As far as the furnace goes - there may be something wrong with yours. We winter camp and I have no problem getting the temp up to 70 degrees. The only problem I experience is that it gets too hot during heating cycles. I think I remember reading that I can adjust the heating cycle so it does not fluctuate as much but I haven't had the chance to delve into it.

We're very pleased with the Outback. Like all merchandise, there are issues that can arise.

Scott


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## OutbackPM (Sep 14, 2005)

camping.couple said:


> The furnace ran all night long and struggled to maintain a 55 degree inside temperature.


It sounds like you have a furnace problem that the dealer did not reproduce. If the furnace ran all night I would expect you would empty one of your propane tanks so you could take a look and estimate how much you used. I suspect it was not burning gas.

When I got stuck in some cold weather one Thanksgiving it was below freezing for 3 days and one night went to 12 F. I did not have any freezing and my kids were complaining it was too hot inside because I had the furnace high to try and protect the pipes. I know I burnt about 1 1/2 tanks in that time and the furnace was not running all the time. I usually only need a 1500 watt electric heater to keep the temperature at about 68 F when near or just below freezing. The 26RS is smaller than yours but not that much where you could only get 55 F.

Keep us up to date with what you find.


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## biga (Apr 17, 2006)

We have only used the furnace a couple times (never below freezing), but it does not have to run very much to keep us warm. We use a ceramic heater when we have power, but I found that a LOT of heat (and AC in the summer) gets lost to the overhead vents. Make sure you close them and use something like a Vent Cusion to help insulate.


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## kargorooOutbacker (Jan 8, 2007)

We have a 23 KRS and have had no problems heating the trailer up to 70 degrees at 24 degree cold weather.
We also use one ceramic heather. The only time we had a problem with the pipes was outside of the TT, we where lucky to have enough water in the fresh tank until the pipes melted.


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## egregg57 (Feb 13, 2006)

Our coldest outing was in November in Ossipee NH. 23 degrees over two nights. It was great! Stepping out of the camper into that cold air and then quickly back in for coffee, Ha! Love it!



jidunl said:


> We have a 28 BHS and have had no problems heating the trailer up to 68 degrees even in sub 32 degree cold weather. Something doesn't seem right to me.


 I agree, I should have read the post again prior to posting my last, Our furnance was set to 70 (my wife is always cold) and we were quite comfortable. No something doesn't seem right. Perhaps there is some disconnected duct work here.....


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## mountainlady56 (Feb 13, 2006)

I've camped in both my first (27RSDS) with side and rear slide and my present OB (31RQS) with huge side slide.
In the 27RSDS, it was 22 degrees, with lower windchill, for 4-5 nights, in the mountain of N GA, and the only thing that froze was the waterline running TO the OB (forgot to insulate it). Heater did GREAT. Front bedroom was roasting, and had to put a frying pan over it, so the boys could stay warmer in the rear queen slide. I DID crack open the doors under the sinks in kitchen and bathroom, to help these areas out. Heater cycled on/off, and kept a nice toasty 70 degrees with no problem.
In the 31RQS, only area that got cold was around the side slide, and I think that's because it has so many windows. I used a small electric heater in that area. Little son is cold natured, and complained of being cold in bunkroom (access goes through bunk area), and I moved the heater towards his end at night and closed my heater vent in the bedroom. Again, it was in the low 20s, in the N GA mountains, at night, for 4-5 nights.
I have to agree with the others. There must be something wrong with your ductwork or something. The furnace will definitely run you OUT of there, no matter what the outside temp.
MaeJae suggested to me to put foam pipe insulation on the outside hose, and I carry that with me, and leave a pipe dripping in the bathroom, when it's extremely cold to keep water moving.
Good luck!
Darlene


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## Northern Wind (Nov 21, 2006)

One of my favorite times of the year to go camping is late fall and in Algonquin Park, Mid Northern Ontario it can get bloody cold. Have had low single digit temps and yes ice on the lake. Furnace worked great and did not run all night and day. Have never frozen a pipe yet! I did find the dry setting great to keep the windows frost free, worked like a charm.

I think I would be going back to the dealer and getting the furnace checked out, and if still not happy, hello Keystone!

Steve


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## aircare (Mar 30, 2007)

I plan on spray foam the bottom and install a better cover under it.
Next winter will let you know how good it works.

Happy Easter!!!


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## CamperAndy (Aug 26, 2004)

justus said:


> I plan on spray foam the bottom and install a better cover under it.
> Next winter will let you know how good it works.
> 
> Happy Easter!!!


???? What will you use as a better cover and are you going to fill the voids in the belly to insulate it?? Sounds a bit extreme.


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