Airtronic Furnace installed

[Jeffrey]

Ticking is normal , but I think mostly at startup. Not sure about that. Espar service said it should tick as it starts, but I never found out if it is supposed to continue. It was a diagnostic tip for me at my re-install. I have the two pumps mounted on the bracket like Charlie (and I think most all 50 plans). That bracket positions the pumps in the correct orientation relative to gravity. I've never heard the sound inside the van. I can't believe it would tick that loud to be audible inside.

[daveb]

Originally Posted by charlie56

Well it’s not issue the dealing with the air intake but …
Does your (or anyone else’s) Airtronic make a ticking noise inside the cabin? Mine does and it drives me nuts. It’s caused by the Espar fuel pump pulsating. Espar says it’s a normal condition for the pump to pulse. SMB tried replacing pump with a new one (didn’t work). I have run it without the isolator mounting bracket and it still ticks. The ticking is really loud by the refrigerator. I think the refrigerator or cabinet acts like a drum and amplifies the noise. The only solution for a quiet sleep with the heater running is to use ear plugs. Note that it’s not audible from up in the penthouse, but I have to sleep downstairs and keep the dogs company. If anyone else has this issue I would love to know how you silenced it.

Other than the ticking and never remembering how to program the thermostat I really like the heater.

Mine ticks and I can hear it from inside but just barely. The problem I had (which I thought was the same as Jeffery) was the high altitude switch got wired backward when SMB installed the new thermostat. So far this year I have yet to get above 9200 feet to test the high altitude pump but no problems at 8500 feet so far. It was a great relief to find it was working OK. I know one thing, if I had to re-mounted the heater box it would be put in an accessible spot rather than where it is. I have yet to fix the air intake and am not sure if it is routed poorly. The problem I had about dirt and mud was the Hydronic. Neither of these units are used while driving so how it got inside is the Hydronic’s motor is questionable. Both air intakes look clean.
Dave

[charlie56]

Originally Posted by Greg In Austin

So even with your pump installed external to the van you had the ticking internal to the van at a volume enough to be annoying??

Yeah it’s a wonder to me as well. My wife continually says that I don’t hear a word she says, but I can hear that thing ticking? I guess I am just “tuned” into it. Its not only at startup, its any time the unit is running. Actually at startup the pump is running so fast the ticking frequency doesn’t bother me. It’s the slow speeds that are the problem. Think of it like lying in bed on a cold winter’s night, not a sound to be heard except for tick, tick, tick. I maybe could get used to it if it was at one constant speed, but it’s the fuel pump pulsating, and it changes speed proportional to the heat demand. As I mentioned to John K, I will start tracing back the fuel lines, looking for any points where it might transfer noise. Maybe try and find a fuel line isolator coupling.

Here's to wishing you never hear it.

DaveB:
Regarding the routing of the intake. I think SMB did a great job on mine. The intake terminates in a very narrow slot between the frame rail and the XL storage box. Looking up there, its about the cleanest part of my entire undercarriage.

[Greg In Austin]

Well, we had an opportunity to use our furnace over the weekend on our trip to Boulder.

Friday night we boondocked at a nice little spot in Caribou Co (see McBeast goes to Boulder for more details) at almost 10k ft (9979 ft).

It was pleasant and not cold when we went to sleep. We kept the windows closed, but about 3am I awoke to a chill. I checked the temp in the van and found it was 51F and outside it had dropped into the low 30s.

I decided it was time to try that furnace. I fired it up and we had heat. In a matter of minutes the temp in the van was up to 60F.

I did hear the ticking when I first started it, but I had to listen. Later when snug in the PH, I could not hear the ticking.

....but how can you hear the ticking over the jet engine like noise anyway??

Seriously, the fan noise is not bad, and is almost a white noise, but the ticking was not evident to us (I asked the wife about it too).

The altitude compensation module seems to work just fine too.

[John and Dana]

I'm with you Greg, when the furnace first starts up the pump runs faster and the noise is more noticable. When the furnace drops to its low setting I really have to concentrate to hear the fuel pump over the noise from the blower.

John