Dear Dave,
The recent talk in your column about RV furnaces made me think of mine. It works great so far, but there are all these little silver shavings just below it after travel. What could be causing that, and should I try to “fix” anything before it stops working? —Terry, 2025 Riverside Retro 177
Dear Terry,
I am not familiar with the Riverside brand as there have been so many different RV companies that have come and gone and changed names over that past few years. So I did some searching and could not find anything on the company, but I saw several dealers selling the 2025 Riverside Retro.
According to RVBusiness.com:
Sunset Park RV, a leading independent RV manufacturer based in Shipshewana, has announced its asset acquisition of Riverside RV, an innovative, privately owned OEM known for its lightweight and retro-styled travel trailers.
This happened in November 2024.
According to the Sunset Park RV website, they did not carry on the Retro brand name, so I found no information about this model.
Furnace type
I would assume it has a forced air furnace, which would either be a Dometic or Suburban model. It would have either a direct flow, which means the heat comes directly from the furnace through a vent or grate, or it has the corrugated hoses going to vents under the sofa, dinette, or cabinetry.
The forced air furnaces come from the original equipment manufacturer (OEM) with a metal housing that has “knock outs” that can be removed to add hoses to customize the heating vent locations.
I have had many readers indicate the RV manufacturer actually has cut holes in the housing for cold air return and to install hoses in a side that did not have a knock out.
The above photo is from a reader that had very poor airflow in the vents. Looking at the design, the manufacturer removed the middle cutout so air would flow directly out of the unit through a wooden slotted vent under the refrigerator. It then installed two hoses to run to front and back vents. However, the bend in the hoses created a restriction so the majority of air blasted out the unobstructed opening.
Moving part in furnace
The only moving part in your furnace would be the fan/motor, and I do not believe that would create any metal shavings. Those most likely are remnants of cutting or drilling on the housing or even other cuts above the furnace. When you travel down the road, the bouncing and road vibration shakes all the fillings, sawdust, and other fragments caused by “piece” manufacturing—which is a quick and sloppy method.
We see this in cabinetry, under the dinette seats, and outside compartments. I doubt the shavings are anything actually wearing and should not cause an issue. They just need to be vacuumed up.
If you have access to the furnace and can remove a hose or reach inside a direct vent, you should be able to insert a vacuum hose and get the rest out. Just make sure the unit is unplugged and the furnace is off.
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Dave Solberg is a leading expert in the RV industry and the author of the “RV Handbook.”
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Thank you for the overview of typical RV furnace installation, Dave! I agree that shavings can appear almost anywhere in an RV and persist appearing for several months. We picked up RV #2 in July 2022 and still may find a metal shaving or two upon arriving at a campground or RV park. Ours are at the back wall of the bedroom. Have a great day and safe travels!
Neal. Same with our ’21 New Aire. Right under the back corner of the full wall slide. I removed the panel at the bottom that allows access for the emergency retract rod and it was full of long curly shavings that are produced when holes are drilled in aluminum. These were clearly never cleaned up during manufacturing. I cleaned all those out and the ground shavings that used to show up disappeared for a while. Recently a few are showing up again, so as Dave suggests, I assume some more have settled down to the bottom that need to be cleaned up.
The ‘wooden slotted vent’ is actually for return, “cold”, air to the furnace. By removing the knockout, the fan is now pulling heated air back in and limiting, (path of least resistance), the air flow from the discharge vents. This no longer allows the furnace to suck air from the room.
In actuality, the fan does not blow air, it pulls heated air from the vents.