Ok I give up....where's the thermostat

[Mike_the_Newbie]

Having a great time in our first outing in a 2010 Viking. But we can't for the life of us figure out where the thermostat or on off switch of the furnace is. My old pop-up had a conveniently mounted thermostat. Here is a picture of the grate which does not remove. There is a switch to the left but I'm pretty sure that's the water pump.

 

[Mike_the_Newbie]

Solved. Way way under the dinette. Who designs these things?

 

[kitphantom]

Solved. Way way under the dinette. Who designs these things?

The one in our 2010 Coleman cobalt was under the dinette about 4" off the floor, We replaced it with a digital thermostat, on a long cord, which we could plug in when we were going to use the furnace. Between having a digital thermostat and the relocation, the temperature swings were greatly reduced. (& the digital thermostat was much easier to use, I resorted to using a spoon a few times to turn the original one on, the switch was so stiff.)
Like many things, I wonder if the people designing them actually use them.

 

[jus kitty]

WELL them things i hadnt even thought of!! LOL i pick up 'fillmore' this week... an i guess id better find out where them things are!!

 

[Grandpa Don]

Solved. Way way under the dinette. Who designs these things?

Mine was also in a bad location. I was on the front of a cabinet very close to the floor. Consequently I could be sweating before it would cycle off. And I had to get out of bed to reach it. So I move my bed to the area over where the table goes. I didn't use it there anyway. And I installed a new digital thermostat a little higher up off the floor near the head of my sleeping area. Now in the morning I can just roll over and flip the switch to warm it up a bit before getting out of the sleeping bag.

 

[davez26]

This was timely. Taking our pop-up out next week and will likely use the furnace. Thermostat is under dinette that we will be using in bed mode.
Between the furnace being dodgy in past years, (blower bearings were sticky, I overhauled that), the thermostat locale, and my wife, (who is not full-blooded camping material), this should be interesting. In past years I'd go solo, and bundle up. Thermostat relocate is interesting.

 

[bupkis]

For on/off operation, between my legs while sitting at the table was a great location, reach down and turn it on/off. Did the same with adjusting temps as I could feel when the contact closed. Temp swing was a different issue. Once I set the temp, I never touched that again, the temps swing was lessoned by adjusting the stat heat anticipator. Temp gradient from floor to ceiling was absurd! Set low to have comfortable setting above.

 

[davez26]

T

For on/off operation, between my legs while sitting at the table was a great location, reach down and turn it on/off. Did the same with adjusting temps as I could feel when the contact closed. Temp swing was a different issue. Once I set the temp, I never touched that again, the temps swing was lessoned by adjusting the stat heat anticipator. Temp gradient from floor to ceiling was absurd! Set low to have comfortable setting above.

His gives me a thought, I ought to at least clean/dust the mechanism before next weekend.
Thanks for the thought!

 

[BillyMc]

Our Starcraft was under the dinette as well. When we got it it was horrible. You would be freezing by the time it came on then sweating by the time it turned off. After some research I found how to adjust the anticipator of the thermostat. I got it adjusted to where it would keep the PUP constantly comfortable. With that said you will still have to set it lower than you want to the PUP to be with it so close to the floor. About 60-62 worked well with ours. Many complain the on off switch is hard to work, but while stiff ours wasn't that bad. If it's in a really difficult place to reach they aren't difficult to move, but you will be left with a hole where it was. Installing a remote switch to turn it on and off is also an easy option.

 

[campfire Joe]

Ours is on the end of where the stove is the dinette seat back is just in front of it. Pretty easy to reach and out of the way.

 

[Everett Bartlett]

On my Viking it sits right beside the heater, and the heater blows under the table, warm shins and cold fingers. The other end of the trailer gets no benefit from it. I am fixing to move the thermostat to the front 1/2 of the trailer.

 

[GrueMaster]

Yea, mine is in a recessed cubby in the dinette area, 2" above the floor. Worst location ever. Last year, I was camping on the Oregon Coast (Newport) in mid August. First night, temp dropped below 50F (weather forecast had night tempuratures of mid 60's up until that night). I use the dinette area for storage, so imagine crawling out of bed at 3am, half frozen (I had fleece blankets and was still cold), getting on the floor to reach in through the pile of folding camp chairs, fumbling for the thermostat on switch (digital thermostat), only to find that the batteries in it were dead. Fortunately I had 2 new AA batteries, but when I put them in, they were able to slide 1/8" end to end w/o making contact. So I had to shift everything to the unused bunk so I could get my face up close to the unit. One of the end clips had come loose, so I had to use my Swiss Army Knife to take the thermostat apart, and a BBQ lighter to reflow the very poor solder connection that held the terminal in place. Once reassembled and turned on, it took ~3 minutes to get the inside temp up to a very comfy 68F.

 

[Sneezer]

Mine is across the aisle from the heater, so the hot air blows directly on it. Shuts off before warming up the pup unless you have it set to max, and still it doesn't help the bunks much. I found an electric ceramic heater was a better option, although I do have a digital tstat I need to wire in and see how it helps things by being able to mount it higher somewhere.