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Old 11-07-2019, 12:11 AM   #1
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Default Loud Heater Fan

Hi all have a 2000 Dodge RT 190 popular we did some camping this past weekend south of Seattle. The temperature at night got close to freezing and used the gas heater in the coach. It kept us warm put the fan was loud and would wake us. Is this the norm? would like to know if the fan can be replaced for something quitter.
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Old 11-07-2019, 12:16 AM   #2
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Our 16K btu Suburban heater is kind of loud in our '2012. But we think it is the of/off action is what makes it more noticeable than if the fan was on steady like the air conditioner fan setting we use.

To combat this noise change, we run a "white noise" sound machine that really helps to mask the cycling as well as outside noises. Other than that, the furnace works very well, sips only a little propane, and is one of the few appliances on my rv that has worked flawlessly.
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Old 11-07-2019, 01:02 AM   #3
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1997 PW Dodge3500. Suburban heater. Fan is noisy normally. It's like turning on a loud window fan. But if you have any sounds like squealing, it could be the fan bearing. I've never heard of a quiet retrofit. It does have to push a volume of air great enough to throw an internal air driven switch. I believe that's to insure that sufficient airflow exists before the gas heat begins.

I'll have to try rowiebowie's white noise tact. It does sometimes wake me during the night.......
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Old 11-07-2019, 01:10 AM   #4
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No way to quiet the fan that I know of.
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Old 11-07-2019, 01:42 AM   #5
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The fan in the water-air heat exchanger that came with our Rixen's hydronic heating system was annoyingly loud. I added a 12VDC PCM motor speed controller that I got from eBay for a few dollars. I now have a knob that lets me continuously control the fan speed, and thus its noise level. Usually, we can set it to a non-annoying level. Works great. I don't know if there are any safety issues doing this with a combustion-based heater.
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Old 11-07-2019, 02:02 AM   #6
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Thanks will look into the white noise unit. It does heat very well.
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Old 11-07-2019, 02:03 AM   #7
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No bearing noise just fan blowing noise.
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Old 11-07-2019, 02:44 AM   #8
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Did a google search. Most people say they live with it or use some sort of aux heater when they're on shore power. Here's a link but I can't testify to its safety.

https://ezinearticles.com/?How-to-Ma...iet&id=1880175

I also uncovered a mod similar to what avanti was suggesting where the user installed a control so that the fan input would be consistently 12v. His was often running at a higher voltage than in the factory specs.
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Old 11-07-2019, 03:27 AM   #9
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Quote:
Originally Posted by GallenH View Post
Did a google search. Most people say they live with it or use some sort of aux heater when they're on shore power.
We've carried a small cheap electric heater our last few trips but never used it since we mostly boon docked. Our recent trip to the Southeast was the exception and we mostly found 30A hookups. We finally tried the heater and liked it so much (quiet and as effective as the Suburban) that we never used our propane heater.

Nice to have a choice, but use is dependent having an electric source.
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Old 11-07-2019, 05:05 AM   #10
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I consider Eberspacher (Espar) Airtronics D2 heater the best RV heater I have ever owned. Its recirculating air fan RPM is directly link with combustion output, so lower fuel/combustion air mix flow lower RPM of recirculating air fan. Not a rocket science. Truma has also variable fan speed on LPG heater. Propex heaters are also reasonably quiet but fixed RPM as far I know.
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Old 11-07-2019, 12:40 PM   #11
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Take a look at the Camco Olympian Wave heater. It has no fan, uses no electricity and is silent.
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Old 11-07-2019, 01:07 PM   #12
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If it is a Suburban furnace, they do now have a "quieter" version available that is drop in to the original location. We did that switch quite a while ago and the new one is quieter and got a bit better over time also. That said it is not quiet by any definition. The noise change in our van was to remove the ugly metallic grinding type noise of the original. The new one is more airflow noise and some motor sounds.


I tried every trick I could come up with to quiet the old furnace and nothing helped.


We also carry a small electric heater to use when on shore power, as it is quieter and uses no propane.
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Old 11-09-2019, 10:10 PM   #13
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Haven't seen it mentioned yet but I use those disposable foam ear inserts to silence my surroundings if in a loud area or when having to run the furnace.
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Old 11-11-2019, 01:36 AM   #14
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Quote:
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Haven't seen it mentioned yet but I use those disposable foam ear inserts to silence my surroundings if in a loud area or when having to run the furnace.
I do have them but my wife can't sleep with them in her ears doesn't bother me though.
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Old 11-14-2019, 06:00 PM   #15
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You risk cracking the heat ex-changer if not enough air is going through it. There's a reason the manufacturer has a certain amount of air cooling the ex-changer. Hopefully the thermal cutoff will prevent that, but I wouldn't run the risk. All JMHO
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Old 11-15-2019, 02:07 PM   #16
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Have any tried the Little Buddy Heater? it has a screw on propane bottle and a low oxygen cutoff. There is you tube video about it showing its effectiveness. We used ours at our home when we had a huge ice storm and no power for 2 weeks. Also works well in the garage when I have to fix stuff when it is cold.
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Old 11-15-2019, 02:33 PM   #17
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I have lost a good amount of my hearing over the years, without the hearing instruments I am struggling; that said, when I remove them and the furnace is on.......maybe it isn't a curse after all! Ron
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