Furnace and high altitude performance

[MarkC]

Was reading wyofilm post about his new trailer furnace not working.  I'm I correct in assuming the Oliver heater is not suppose to work above a certain altitude?  But some of them do work?  And, if you are one of the unlucky  and yours won't work, you can get a high alt. kit for it.  How much do those cost?  If you get the kit does it function at lower altitudes ok?  Wondering why Oliver isn't installing a furnace that works everywhere or just puts the kit on each unit.  I'm guessing you can't have a furnace that will work in both low and high altitudes.   Otherwise, I would think Oliver would be using that brand.   Are those of you that have a furnace that doesn't work in high alt. using a generator with a small space heater?   I live out West and most of my camping will be at high elevations and even in summer a little heat in the AM is welcome.  This is a concern for me as I don't like the idea of using a generator every time.  What is everyone one doing for a solution.  I've never owned an RV and maybe this is just the way it is and you live with it.  But gezzzz, we put a man on the moon, cant  there be a furnace that works everywhere?  I'm missing something here.

[AndrewK]

Mark,

We have had no problems with our heater.  We have camped in the desert and at as high as 8,700 feet without problem.

Andrew

[Mike and Carol]

We have the Suburban heater.  We’ve camped at 10,000 feet in Colorado and it worked fine.  Mike

[Overland]

Oliver used to offer the choice between a Suburban or Atwood (Dometic) furnace and based on anecdotal evidence here, the Suburban seems to work better at altitude. I don’t know why - it could be the design or it could be that the Atwood electronics are more sensitive. Suburban does have a high altitude kit and it’s probably a good idea to install it if you’re going to be running it for some time at high altitude, to avoid getting soot buildup. I think I read once that the suburban also has a flow valve that can be adjusted. 
 

I don’t know if Oliver will still install the Suburban. I believe that it’s more difficult to service since it can’t be removed from the curb side.

[BackofBeyond]

I will add an update to this - This June, in Northern CO, at approx. 9654.39' above mean sea level, the furnace in our 2018 EII did NOT function properly. It work just fine at much lower altitudes. It would cycle on and off, seems ignition was hit or miss.  I repeatedly rest it through the thermostat, and it eventually ran - sort of....

I haven't done  any research on it yet, but with 1" snow and 31degrees, the darn thing (Atwood) needs to work.

RB

[routlaw]

Probably shouldn't be reviving an older thread but wanted to point out our Suburban Furnace 2015 model Oliver E2 did NOT work at 8100 feet a couple of weeks ago while camped in the Wind River Mountains of Wyoming. Motor would run but it never ignited no matter how many repeated tries. Got home figuring the ignitor might have broken again with the extremely rough roads getting in there. Note it takes two hours to travel some 20-30 miles on dirt road with camper in tow, a bit faster if not towing. If it ain't tied and strapped down things will break. Turns out the ignitor was fine, and furnace works at just under a mile high elevation here in Bozeman. 

We did have a backup system, Mr Buddy propane heater used on a few of the chillier mornings so not that big of a deal. We had some near freezing temps (mid 30's) at night. in the meantime I am back to the drawing board troubleshooting why this POS furnace does not work at higher altitudes. A quick google search turns up many other people with very similar issues of furnaces not working at higher elevations and the list of remedies appears to be endless. 

At the end of the day it's astonishing the manufacturers of RV devices such as furnaces have near ancient engineering attributes designed in the first half of the 20th century. Is this really the best they are capable of? Thanks

[topgun2]

Interesting -

I was camped at basically the same elevation west of Buffalo about two weeks ago and the furnace handled the morning temps (mid 40's) without a hitch.  I'm sure that I've got the same model furnace as you do.  Quality control is a wonderful thing.

Good luck in finding the solution.

Bill

Edited August 1, 2023 by topgun2
spelling

[SeaDawg]

Unfortunately,  Thor bought airxl/Suburban a few years ago, and Dometic owns Atwood. So, Im not looking for any major advancements from either of those sources, until they get many more complaints. Between the two, they've pretty much had a lock on RV furnaces for a very long time.

But, I do believe there is a high altitude kit for the Suburban . How the retrofitted furnace would work in lowlands, I have no idea. 

I've yet to see complaints about the Truma varioheat at elevation, (and I've Googled it a number of times)  but there aren't really that many out there in the USA yet. It's certainly a more efficient furnace, with more electronic controls. It will be interesting to see what kind of anecdotal reports we get from varioheat owners who live and/or frequently camp at higher elevations.

 

[SeaDawg]

I am not a fan of unvented catalytic heater, as they spew so much water into the trailer as a combustion byproduct, not to mention the co and/or oxygen depletion issues/dangers. The only true vented catalytic heater I know of is the Platinum CAT, pretty much made to order, in Washington state. Very pricey, from what I've read.

I wonder if anyone here has ever used one, as a backup?

 

[Mike and Carol]

Last summer while in Colorado we camped in State Forest State Park just north of Rocky Mountain NP.  We were at 9,100 feet and boondocking.  All propane appliances worked as advertised, furnace, fridge, hot water and cooktop.  Blackstone, Weber and Outland fire pit also worked fine while we were there.  I was worried the furnace might not kick on but it did and kept us warm after the sun went down.  Mike

[routlaw]

Late yesterday I put the system back together without being able to absolutely identify the problem on why this furnace does not work at higher altitudes. I suppose I could just start replacing parts one by one and hope for the best. Tearing these things apart is a major ordeal and just to get to it one has to disassemble the entire back end of the Oliver. If I have to do this again make no mistake there will be some serious re-engineering of how that part of the basement is reassembled and constructed. The next step would be to measure the gas pressure at the propane tanks. I understand not all pressure valves are created equal, could be mine is due for a replacement. 

I should take off for the Beartooths for a couple of days, that will put it to the test again.:))