Re: [A/S] New Suburban furnace VS catalitic

[James Hall <james53@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Phil,
     Maybe the motor is replaceable, don't give up hope! Send me lots of
info on the motor and I will try to locate a source for you.( For any
listees reading this I am not in the RV parts buisiness and I will not
profit) I am a ppurchasing agent for an HVAC company and I have lots of
sources for parts ect.
    To comment on you question, I would opt for the Suburban as my primary
heat source, even though it costs more. IMHO the catalytic is an unvented
heater drawing its combustion air from the cabin, but also venting its
combustion products to the same place. It is absolutely necessary that you
provide fresh air make up to these units (An open vent or window) I wouldn't
want to live and especially sleep with one of these. Yes, the have safetys
ect... but I have seen tyoo many dangerous situations with furnaces to
completely trust my life to a heater which vents indoors....
   On the other hand... your furnace draws its combustion air from the
outside and expells it there again, in my opinion, a much healthier
situation. Even so , I plan to install a battery powered CO detector in my
Caravel before I use it for overnight camping with the furnace on. I speak
from personal, first hand experience in regards to CO poisoning.
     I would recomend a catalytic heater as supplemental heat to be used in
the daytime as the big plus to a catalytic heater is it is close to 100%
efficient, the only big question I would have, and have no first hand
knowledge of , is how one of those heaters work with LP, which I know is a
lot dirtier burning than natural gas.
     Finally as a side note, the company that I work for, won't even install
an unvented product, while we err on the side of saftey, we have been doing
HVAC work since 1921. I don't totally agree with that stance, (I think
unvented products are OK in rooms that people don't sleep in) I think it
does say something about liability with these products, which are mostly
sold on a do-it-yourself basis. (The manufacturer can always claim a faulty
instalation and/or misuse of product.
                                   James   '68 Caravel