Quiet Suburban furnace?????

[larrylwill]

Ill go out and measure mine right now. Mine is in the same place but my RT is a 170. Be back in a few.

[larrylwill]

yours:
Sound meter by BlackFlame Media on a Motorola Droid Mini, Android.

Baseline in van about 30db

Running at 15" 65-70db

Running at 30" 52-57db

In rear on at bed 45 db

Furnace is in the armoir right behind the driver's seat.

Mine:
Sound meter by Smart tools on a Samsung one, Android.
RV RT 2008 170, I pointed the top of the phone at the furnace.

Baseline in van about 35 db

Running at 15" 76 db

In rear on at bed 65 db

[Andyrud]

Originally Posted by booster

Going back in was tougher, as it wouldn't engage the tubes from the outside vent in the side of the van. I measured and the spacing on the new furnace was .100 wider than on the old one. I was able to pull them in to be the same, with some heavy leather gloves on. It was still tough to get back in because the outside vent is a flat piece screwed to the curved van, which pigeon toes the tubes in even more. I should have gotten the ones in the furnace even closer together, but it did finally engage.
.

Did you have to remove the parts that go through your rigs side of did the new heater just slide onto the existing ones without removing them from the side of the rig?

[JohnnyFry]

45db vs 65db is huge, a 20db difference in SPL is 100 times the lower value. Do be sure the both meters are set at dbA rather than flat or dbC.

[booster]

Other folks that have measured the actual DB of the new and old furnaces with the same meter didn't see huge numerical differences IIRC, but the irritation level of the sound of the new furnace is much lower. The old one in ours sounded very metallic a rasping, and the new one is more an airflow type sound with a little background rumble.

[CaDreamin]

I’ve had one of the new Suburban NT-16SEQ furnaces installed for some time. I like it a lot.

I did measure with a DB meter before and after. I didn’t measure a lot of difference. My meter is an old Radio Shack model so not “laboratory grade” stuff. I was careful to hold the meter at a measured distance.

It was not a difficult install in our Roadtrek 2004 190P. I would recommend doing a pressure test before you pull the old one out. I did a pressure test after I installed the furnace and it failed. I spent a lot of time looking at the furnace before I found a leak in the water heater valve that had been there all along.

The biggest change is in the quality of the sound. It’s lower, more “whooshy.” Less grating, screeching. Much more pleasant.

What I also notice is that it doesn’t wake us up, which is the most important thing. The old one would wake you up with the CLANG-WHAAAAAAAAA” noise when it started up. The new one is more of a “hmmmmmm whooooooosh” sound.

The old one woke me frequently. The new one never does.

Overall I am very satisfied with this upgrade.

[rowiebowie]

Originally Posted by CaDreamin

I’ve had one of the new Suburban NT-16SEQ furnaces installed for some time. I like it a lot.

I did measure with a DB meter before and after. I didn’t measure a lot of difference. My meter is an old Radio Shack model so not “laboratory grade” stuff. I was careful to hold the meter at a measured distance.

It was not a difficult install in our Roadtrek 2004 190P. I would recommend doing a pressure test before you pull the old one out. I did a pressure test after I installed the furnace and it failed. I spent a lot of time looking at the furnace before I found a leak in the water heater valve that had been there all along.

The biggest change is in the quality of the sound. It’s lower, more “whooshy.” Less grating, screeching. Much more pleasant.

What I also notice is that it doesn’t wake us up, which is the most important thing. The old one would wake you up with the CLANG-WHAAAAAAAAA” noise when it started up. The new one is more of a “hmmmmmm whooooooosh” sound.

The old one woke me frequently. The new one never does.

Overall I am very satisfied with this upgrade.

Glad you like it and isn't it great to sucessfully do-it-yourself!

Your noise comparison sounds a bit like the "I added a resonator to my Onan generator sound comparison". Not a lot quieter, but more pleasing sound which is a significant improvement by itself.