ChasingOurTrunks
Well-known member
HI folks,
The short version of a long story is I’m blissfully calling an 18 foot RV “home” for the foreseeable future due to some positive changes in my employment - I got a great new job in a wonderful community, and so we’re doing the “RV Life” thing until we can afford a bit of property. We are in an Open Range 185BH, which is a great little “tiny home” for our needs, but I’ve spent the last 20 years in various versions of tents so this is all new to me.
It’s got a propane furnace and a two-burner propane stove, and thus begins my question: When the furnace is on (even with just the blower which happens pre-ignition and once the trailer is up to temperature), the burners on the stove don’t really work. More specifically, it looks like the flames of the burners are being sucked down into the stove. It’s no big deal - we can just kill the furnace when we are cooking - but having never had this experience before, I’m not sure what is considered “normal”. I can also fix it by opening the cabinet drawer as both the stove top and the furnace are in the same cabinet unit; once that “vaccuum” is broken with an open door, the flame goes back to normal.
This is a new trailer, so its got a warranty and all that good stuff, so I was wondering - is this normal to have to do this cabinet-door game to make the stove and furnace work at the same time?
Here’s a picture of what I’m seeing, first with our normal, healthy flame:
And here’s what it looks like when the furnace fan kicks in:
When I open a cabinet door the flame goes back to picture 1. I can probably fix this by drilling some holes in the cabinets but that seems a shame on a brand new rig, and I’d hate to come up with an interim solution if the furnace is supposed to be sucking air from elsewhere or something is wrong with how it’s set up. As comfy as I find this trailer and this way of living, it confirms all my prior opinions of these mass-produced RVs; they are cheaply made and poorly finished - so while I wouldn’t be surprised if this is just ‘normal’, I’d also not be surprised if something was installed incorrectly or haphazardly and needs some attention. So I turn to this group who has forgotten more than I’ll ever know about these kinds of things for advice!
And yes, that is a JetBoil Genesis in the back of the stove; we’ve been using that from time to time instead of the burners because of this issue. Candidly, it works WAY better than the built-in burner and I’m tempted to just replace the whole thing with a compatible hose and use that instead! Honestly, its the best stove I’ve ever used - house or camping - and almost worth the crazy price I paid for it. But I’d like to get my RV working as it should before permanent mods.
The short version of a long story is I’m blissfully calling an 18 foot RV “home” for the foreseeable future due to some positive changes in my employment - I got a great new job in a wonderful community, and so we’re doing the “RV Life” thing until we can afford a bit of property. We are in an Open Range 185BH, which is a great little “tiny home” for our needs, but I’ve spent the last 20 years in various versions of tents so this is all new to me.
It’s got a propane furnace and a two-burner propane stove, and thus begins my question: When the furnace is on (even with just the blower which happens pre-ignition and once the trailer is up to temperature), the burners on the stove don’t really work. More specifically, it looks like the flames of the burners are being sucked down into the stove. It’s no big deal - we can just kill the furnace when we are cooking - but having never had this experience before, I’m not sure what is considered “normal”. I can also fix it by opening the cabinet drawer as both the stove top and the furnace are in the same cabinet unit; once that “vaccuum” is broken with an open door, the flame goes back to normal.
This is a new trailer, so its got a warranty and all that good stuff, so I was wondering - is this normal to have to do this cabinet-door game to make the stove and furnace work at the same time?
Here’s a picture of what I’m seeing, first with our normal, healthy flame:
And here’s what it looks like when the furnace fan kicks in:
When I open a cabinet door the flame goes back to picture 1. I can probably fix this by drilling some holes in the cabinets but that seems a shame on a brand new rig, and I’d hate to come up with an interim solution if the furnace is supposed to be sucking air from elsewhere or something is wrong with how it’s set up. As comfy as I find this trailer and this way of living, it confirms all my prior opinions of these mass-produced RVs; they are cheaply made and poorly finished - so while I wouldn’t be surprised if this is just ‘normal’, I’d also not be surprised if something was installed incorrectly or haphazardly and needs some attention. So I turn to this group who has forgotten more than I’ll ever know about these kinds of things for advice!
And yes, that is a JetBoil Genesis in the back of the stove; we’ve been using that from time to time instead of the burners because of this issue. Candidly, it works WAY better than the built-in burner and I’m tempted to just replace the whole thing with a compatible hose and use that instead! Honestly, its the best stove I’ve ever used - house or camping - and almost worth the crazy price I paid for it. But I’d like to get my RV working as it should before permanent mods.
