Heat Pump Use While Driving

[santacarver]

Are any of you using your AC heater heat pump while driving and running your generator?

Are there any issues with doing this, or is it normal?

I have a 2002 Itasca Horizon 39-foot diesel pusher.

The engine AC/ heater does not do a good job; it's only good for the drive compartment area.

Thank you.

[desertdeals69]

I have driven with the gen running the ac and had no problems so I think using the heat pump would be the same.

[john_harris]

Use it all the time when traveling in colder weather. No issues unless it is really cold (below 30 or so). Also, we use ac in hot weather as dash units barely can do the driving compartment in either heat or cool mode. Watch fuel level as most Motorhomes designed to cut off genset when fuel level gets to 1/4 tank or so. Slight decease in fuel milage but you and your passengers will be much more comfortable.

[BillAdams]

Yes, run your genset as necessary to keep you warm or cold. It only reduces your fuel mileage at highway speeds by about .02 MPG. For the heat pump to work well it needs to be in the higher 30's or better so if you need more heat you can run the furnace instead or in addition.

[billbaldwin]

I do it all the time, no problems.

[flynmoose]

@Bill - curious how you got to that number. Here is my math.

@65mph my Class C is getting 8MPG. That equates to 8.125 Gallons Per Hour

My genset burns 0.2 GPH no load, 0.5gph half load and call it 1gph full load.

I'll give it the benefit of the doubt and say 0.3 gph with an intermittent cycling heat pump

Total fuel burn - 8.425 Gallons Per Hour

65 Miles Per Hour / 8.425 Gallons Per hour = 7.7 Miles Per gallon (effective)

So 0.3 MPG hit. Maybe your decimal place got mis-placed ...

[santacarver]

Thank you all.

[BillAdams]

Traveling at 60 mph with the generator burning 1 gph (or less) that's 1 gallon burned every 60 miles or 1/60 .017 miles per gallon (my flawed math). The generator is getting 60MPG though!

Guess it really doesn't work that way, however, when looking at the results. It depends upon the coach MPG. At 5 MPG like my coach I would burn 12 gallons to go 60 miles or 13 gallons to go 60 miles with the generator so 4.62 MPG. At 10 MPG I would burn 6 gallons to go 60 miles or 7 gallons with the generator so 8.57 MPG.

If you happened to get 15 MPG the hit is even higher. Running the generator for an hour would reduce you to 12MPG.

[kaypsmith]

I have a seperate 15 gal. fuel tank for the gen set. @ 4.00 per gal. cost 60 bucks to fill it. @ 50% load, average 30 hours per tank, that's $2.00 per hour average, not too bad for the added comfort while traveling. Also while traveling 70 mph,

average 7.75 to 8.25 mpg depending on the terrain. I'll gladley @2.00 per hour for the families comfort.

Kay

[RoryTug]

I thought Winnebago included a rear heater for driving down the road. My 2011 Sunova has one. Check your manual. If your water heater has MotorAide (hot water when you arrive at camp), you may have rear heat, too.