Furnace Maintenance?

[gdbontly]

What do you do for periodic maintenance of your Suburban furnace? I pulled up the User's Information Manual and it says to "periodically observe the main burner flame flame to assure it is burning with a hard blue flame . . ." Then it says "to properly observe burner operation, the furnace must be removed"! It says I should used compressed air to remove soot or loose debris from the chamber, but "to clean the chamber, the furnace must be removed from the cabinet, and the manifold, blower assembly, and controls removed".

This sounds like a major project! Do you guys really go to this extent for periodic maintenance? If so, how often?

I'm having my second A/C installed next weekend. I asked the installer if he could also service my furnace while he was here. He said yes, but all he would do was blow it all out with compressed air. He said he never pulls the unit just to do maintenance.

[Steve N Sal]

I would assume the tech would know what to do. Blowing the debri out sounds like a good idea or if you had a crevice tool for your vacuum you could vacuum any accumlated debri that might be in there. Pulling the entire furnace out seems a little extreme to me.

[rockintom]

Quote:

Originally Posted by gdbontly What do you do for periodic maintenance of your Suburban furnace? I pulled up the User's Information Manual and it says to "periodically observe the main burner flame flame to assure it is burning with a hard blue flame . . ." Then it says "to properly observe burner operation, the furnace must be removed"! It says I should used compressed air to remove soot or loose debris from the chamber, but "to clean the chamber, the furnace must be removed from the cabinet, and the manifold, blower assembly, and controls removed". This sounds like a major project! Do you guys really go to this extent for periodic maintenance? If so, how often? I'm having my second A/C installed next weekend. I asked the installer if he could also service my furnace while he was here. He said yes, but all he would do was blow it all out with compressed air. He said he never pulls the unit just to do maintenance.

Not to worry Glenn, just blow out the debris out of the exhaust port with compressed air from time to time. The way things are configured on the furnace, if there is an issue, they won't heat at all or heat for very long, before shutting off.

Just FYI....sometimes at night if you get at the right angle, you can see up the exhaust, a reflection of the hard blue flame. rockin'

[rebelone]

My Winnebago had a filter that was replaced now and then. The Monaco I have now does not have a filter, other then looking at the flame there is nothing else that can be done. If it ain't broke don't fix it.
Rebel

[gdbontly]

Quote:

Originally Posted by rebelone If it ain't broke don't fix it. Rebel

Actually, I think it is broke. I think it's the little pink regulator on the second LP tank. On the main tank, it heats fine. But on the second tank, it pops sometimes and doesn't heat well. Then it goes into lock mode and doesn't come back on until I turn the thermostat off and then back on. I have it running on the primary tank now and will replace the secondary regulator. But I also wanted to blow it out as well. I'll fire up the compressor this weekend and do that. I have no intentions of taking anything else apart!

[rockintom]

Quote:

Originally Posted by rebelone My Winnebago had a filter that was replaced now and then. The Monaco I have now does not have a filter, other then looking at the flame there is nothing else that can be done. If it ain't broke don't fix it. Rebel

They pretty much are done with filters on furnaces as if they don't get serviced and get very dirty....they restrict the air flow and thus cause an overheating condition in the plenum which could be dangerous. (the high limit will shut it off, eventually though). rockin'

[Still Working "NOT"]

Quote:

Originally Posted by gdbontly Actually, I think it is broke. I think it's the little pink regulator on the second LP tank. On the main tank, it heats fine. But on the second tank, it pops sometimes and doesn't heat well. Then it goes into lock mode and doesn't come back on until I turn the thermostat off and then back on. I have it running on the primary tank now and will replace the secondary regulator. But I also wanted to blow it out as well. I'll fire up the compressor this weekend and do that. I have no intentions of taking anything else apart!

Glen, are you saying that when you run on the tank on left hand side, same side as you hook up you water/sewer, you are having problems with the furnance running? If this is the case, I had the same problem with mine the first winter I had it in 2009. After trying to find out what was wrong after changing regulators, blowing air through the cross piping and several other ideas, I finally found that I had a very small leak in the hose going from the cross over pipe into the main regulator. The leak was so small that it just barely made a bubble when doing a soap test.

I would soap every fitting from the bottle on that side to the main regulator. Just mix some dish washing soap with some water and take a small paint brush a brush the solution on the fittings. It may take 20 seconds for the bubble to show up. I never would have thought that a small as that leak was that caused the problem with the furnence not running properly.

[Workshop]

I would think STILL is on to something....

In the past 20 years, the only problem I've had with my furnace was with a circuit board and my tanks are on the same side so I haven't had the problems that seem to occur with the separated tanks.

I would try what Still suggested and if you have had the tank filled recently...might try swapping the tanks to ensure that the tank/valve is ok.

When I had a problem with what I thought was a bad pigtail leading to one of my tanks, it ended up being a valve seat rather than the pigtail that was bad and determined that by swapping the tanks.

As far as maintenance, I visually check the system over, check connections and vacuum the area around the air return in the basement and check hose ducts for security and vacuum the supply grilles in the floor if dirty.

[gdbontly]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Still Working "NOT" Glen, are you saying that when you run on the tank on left hand side, same side as you hook up you water/sewer, you are having problems with the furnance running? If this is the case, I had the same problem with mine the first winter I had it in 2009. After trying to find out what was wrong after changing regulators, blowing air through the cross piping and several other ideas, I finally found that I had a very small leak in the hose going from the cross over pipe into the main regulator. The leak was so small that it just barely made a bubble when doing a soap test. I would soap every fitting from the bottle on that side to the main regulator. Just mix some dish washing soap with some water and take a small paint brush a brush the solution on the fittings. It may take 20 seconds for the bubble to show up. I never would have thought that a small as that leak was that caused the problem with the furnence not running properly.

Yes! That's my problem. I'm gonna do a thorough check for leaks today. I'll let you know what I find. Thanks!!!

[Still Working "NOT"]

I spent severa hours trying different things before I tried what I should have done first. Dummy me. My was the fitting onthat hose going into the regulator Good luck.

[gdbontly]

Thanks for all the suggestions on fixing my furnace problem! First, I removed the outer panel and blew the dust out using my compressor (there wasn't much). Then I soaked all the lines with soapy water--no leaks (I was actually hoping to find one). After playing with it a little longer, I realized that the flame was going out regardless of which LP tank was selected (I previously thought it was only the secondary tank). The easiest (and least expensive) thing to try was replacing the automatic change over valve, $53 at CW. Problem solved!!!

[Still Working "NOT"]

Glad to hear you got it fixed. When mine was doing it's thing, the first thing I changed was the changeover valve/regulator. But that didn't fix my problem.