Now my dang heat is out!!!!

[Nabob]

Originally Posted by winniman

Did you change out your propane tanks today by chance? Have you actually lit the stove today? If you haven't lit the stove today, try lighting it for a few minutes first. The furnace seems to not be getting propane. It has a sail switch that must be activated by the fan in order for it to open the propane valve. It will try to light, but if no flame is sensed, it will shut down and try again. Sometimes if your tanks are empty, and you change them, you have to light the stove first to purge the air out of the lines. Are both of your tanks turned on. This is assuming you have two tanks.

This reply makes the most sense at this point......you may have to perge the air in the lines from the highest point,just like water lines that spit out air before you get water.........

[iliketorvtoo]

OKAY!..... i understand... VERY frustrating!
- i know....i know... this "sounds" crazy,,,, but....
this worked for me.
a) older motorhome, heat worked fine and like yours, stopped working!!
b) i TRIED everything! but alas NO LUCK!
c) i checked for wiring problems and voltages were spot on.
d) took motorhome to dealer and they were too busy to look at the problem for about a MONTH or TWO.
So.. NOW ...here is the crazy thing:
i had (in the past) bought a brand new propane BAR-B-QUE and put it all together and got the propane tank connected and sure enough the first attempt to light the bar-b-que failed and after that WOULD NOT START AGAIN!!!
i was SOOOO mad i phoned technical support and after my RANT i was advised to turn the propane tank completely OFF at the tank, wait a couple of minutes for the regulator to RESET, then turn the propane tank back ON
then try lighting again,,, sure enough the bar-b-que fired up right away!!!
would you believe i did the same thing in the motorhome? i turned OFF the propane AT THE TANK, waited a couple of minutes for the regulator to reset (It is a SAFETY feature) then after turning the propane ON again and tried the furnace THE FURNACE WORKED LIKE A DREAM!!!
bottom line? i am not saying that is YOUR trouble.
but it is worth a try.
good luck!! let men know!,,,

[j35bonanza]

Havent read all the threads....but I had the same problem. I fortunately can do all my own work. There is is two gas valve control solenoids that open the gas to the burner. These may be receiving the correct voltage but if the grounds, there is just one as they are both connected together, isn't making a good ground they will not open. I found mine lost good ground and after correcting this the furnace lit right up and very hot air began again

[coffeeguy]

I just went through this same issue. Found the solution on this forum. Look for your dual tank regulator and valve. The pressure should be adjustable. There may be a plastic cover over the knob to adjust the pressure. Turn the valve in 1/8 turn increments and try to turn the furnace on. There is a sensor in these furnaces that if there is not enough gas pressure they will not light. My rig is a little older, so I ended up just replacing the whole regulator. Same symptoms, stove would light, water heater would light, but no furnace. Installed a $60.00 regulator and furnace ignited. On a new rig like yours, check the regulator first.

Make sure water heater, furnace and stove are all off then try the following;

1. Turn off gas at tanks
2. Disconnect lines at tanks
3. Turn up regulator pressure by 1/8 turn
4. Reconnect lines
5. Turn on tanks
6. Check valve on regulator that it is in the correct position
7. Light all burners on stove for 1 minute to purge air
8. Turn off burners on stove
9. Turn on furnace and see if it is working
10. If furnace is not working turn off at thermostat
11. Turn valve on regulator another 1/8 turn and try again

Another thing to check, it is recommended by the furnace manufactures to put a shutoff valve on the gas line just before it enters the furnace. Most RV manufacturers ignore this recommendation, perhaps yours did not, and the valve is off.

Also, a reason why you may start to feel some warmer or warmish air, could simply be because the furnace is sucking air from inside the RV. If you are running some space heaters what will happen is at first the air will be cold, then as the ambient air begins to circulate through the vents the duct work warms to room temperature and it will start to feel warmer. Similar to when you start your car and turn on the heat or a/c and it takes a minute before the air begins to change temperature, has to warm or cool the duct work first.

Hope this helps.

[fatboy4909]

I found this article several years ago... might help....

Before running your RV into the shop when the furnace is not operating properly, try these easy checks first. If your furnace won’t come on at all, verify that you have gas in your propane tank--this is the most common problem that people run into, and it’s also the easiest to fix--fill the tank.

If the blower is running, but the burner is not igniting, try cleaning the burner, exhaust, or intake vents of dirt, debris, and soot. If the pilot light won’t light, check that the thermocouple is in the right place. If not, reposition it correctly.

If the thermocouple looks fine, check the regulator on the propane tank by lighting all the burners on the stove and letting them burn for a few minutes. Check that the color of the flame is blue. If the flame is very weak or yellow, replace the regulator.

[rodekyll]

Originally Posted by coffeeguy

I just went through this same issue. Found the solution on this forum. Look for your dual tank regulator and valve. The pressure should be adjustable. There may be a plastic cover over the knob to adjust the pressure. Turn the valve in 1/8 turn increments and try to turn the furnace on. There is a sensor in these furnaces that if there is not enough gas pressure they will not light. My rig is a little older, so I ended up just replacing the whole regulator. Same symptoms, stove would light, water heater would light, but no furnace. Installed a $60.00 regulator and furnace ignited. On a new rig like yours, check the regulator first.

Make sure water heater, furnace and stove are all off then try the following;

1. Turn off gas at tanks
2. Disconnect lines at tanks
3. Turn up regulator pressure by 1/8 turn
4. Reconnect lines
5. Turn on tanks
6. Check valve on regulator that it is in the correct position
7. Light all burners on stove for 1 minute to purge air
8. Turn off burners on stove
9. Turn on furnace and see if it is working
10. If furnace is not working turn off at thermostat
11. Turn valve on regulator another 1/8 turn and try again

Another thing to check, it is recommended by the furnace manufactures to put a shutoff valve on the gas line just before it enters the furnace. Most RV manufacturers ignore this recommendation, perhaps yours did not, and the valve is off.

Also, a reason why you may start to feel some warmer or warmish air, could simply be because the furnace is sucking air from inside the RV. If you are running some space heaters what will happen is at first the air will be cold, then as the ambient air begins to circulate through the vents the duct work warms to room temperature and it will start to feel warmer. Similar to when you start your car and turn on the heat or a/c and it takes a minute before the air begins to change temperature, has to warm or cool the duct work first.

Hope this helps.

I've got a couple of opinions here. No offense intended toward anyone . . .

If the other gas applliances are working properly, you've probably not got a line pressure problem. I'd be quite reluctant to screw around (pun intended) with the gas regulator. According to the installation manual for my gas stovetop, line pressure is kept ~0.4 - 0.5# (6"wc). It's not a lot of pressure, and there's not a lot of wiggle room. The various valves, jets, and such are constructed for that sort of pressure. That's why you don't stick things into orifices or use high pressure air to clean gas components. If you suspect low line pressure but you've got no way to measure it, in the interest of safety I'd urge you to simply replace the regulator.

Another opinion -- a rant actually.

I live in the sticks behind my sister's house. Rodents are rampant in this rural area. I can be standing outside at night and mice will be running underfoot -- I've stomped several as they went by. I'm currently fighting with a mouse who's determined to continually rebuild his nest under the distributor in my jimmy van. The squirrels are wreaking havoc in the garage attic.

I'm using sticky traps, snap traps, and a .22 handgun loaded with #9 shot to control them, along with removing their cover and food sources near the buildings. If you've got safety objections to the handgun -- #9 shot in a .22 is good for about 15'. It won't pop a balloon at 25'.

I won't use poison for two reasons -- first it kills everything upstream in the food chain that eats the poisoned critter. The owls here are busy all night eating vermin. We should aid their efforts, not kill them. Second, think about where the critter lives -- like in that tunnel in the overhead ductwork that was mentioned above. Do you really want a dehydrated mouse carcass rotting in a place inaccessible to everything but the inbound air flow?

And I've got a problem with the soft hearted folks who live trap vermin/cats and dump them on someone else's property. Gifting your problem to your neighbors isn't humane, it's reckless. If a person is too squeamish to deal with their problem, they need to get help with it, not spread it around the county.

$0.02

[Old-Biscuit]

Back on page 3 post #42 OP posted furnace working......


Cause 'unknown'


More then likely....just needed to turn t-stat off/back on and let furnace circuit board go thru 'trial for ignition' sequence again.
Propane flow just wasn't there YET.

At 0.4 psi (11"WC) it can take SEWVERAL attempts at appliances to establish full system pressure/flow to meet air/fuel ratio required to ignite propane
Propane has a very narrow range.


OP has HEAT

[rodekyll]

Ooops! I said 6"WC. Oldbiscuit says 11"WC. I'm wrong.

[orit1350]

turn the gas valve open
joe
2019 Bus

[davis2]

Originally Posted by thecityman

At risk of sounding like a broken record, I continue to be amazed at the little community that exists here. While the expertise and willingness to share it is amazing and invaluable, its also pretty neat how many of you have just sent expressions of support and concern for my personal well being and situation- like when tuffr2 just said he hoped I made it ok through the night and hopes I have more luck now that daylight will help me examine things. And yes, btw, I made it just fine. I've learned that I can run one 1500 watt electric heater and a 250 electric at the same time without tripping breakers, and they do a pretty fair job. I've also learned how to manage my space and heat together....for example, I close my bathroom and bedroom doors during all my waking hours so I only heat the main area (kitchen/couch/tv area) then at bedtime I switch and move heaters to bedroom and close bathroom and living room doors so I am only heating bedroom. By doing this, my bedroom got up to 64 degrees last night, and the living area got to about 62 when I was in that area. I wear flannel PJ bottoms and a seeatshirt top and honestly wasn't cold at all- and it got down to 23 degrees last night. It rarely gets much below that here in TN so I now feel like I can still live here comfortably this winter even if I never get my furnace fixed. I will, but it is nice knowing I can be comfortable even if I don't. And yes, my Brittany Spaniel dog really does help keep the place warm- especially since I let him sleep on the bed. ha. Also, The day I moved into this camper I bought myself a 0 degree, 800 fill power goose down sleeping bag that I paid an obscene amount for. Last night i literally had to leave it unzipped to keep from burning up!!! Really. That thing is CRAZY warm,

Arch Hoagland- Thanks for that idea. My problem is I have a $3,000 deductable on my insurance so even if they would cover my camper mice damage (if that is the problem) I doubt it will cost more than $3k, ALso, I'm living here because my house just burned down and my insurance is about to pay almost $300,000 to rebuild my home, replace all my possessions, and pay my living expenses while work is being done. I'd hate to have to ask them to pay for my RV mouse damage too! haha. (I know thats what insurance is for...but still). But I'll keep it in mind.

Its amazing how similar the posts by Podivin and Full Monte were, even though its clear they didn't see each others post before writing them . And that video was very interesting. Both of your answers were so similar AND made so much sense, so I'm definitely going to be researching the sail switch today.

BPoland also made a lot of sense so I'll look into that as well. ANd Randy125, we are in full agreement on the value of that post by Old Biscuit. I've read it several times. I just love the way he cleanly outlines how a furnace should work. Its like a written Flow Chart and I love it so much. As a non-technical, non "handyman" type guy, even I could follow that and it really helped me understand how things work/should work. Thanks for that amazing contribution, Old Biscuit.

Some of you have mentioned things that would require access inside the furnace. You may have missed it, but I have confirmed that there is no outside panel on my rv that accesses my furnace. The only way to access it is to take the wooden "louver" (vent with slats) front of the wooden cabinet it is inside of. But even after you to take it off, all you can see is the metal case. Taking the cover off that case will be a monumental task....the furnace will have to be unmounted from the floor, disconnected from duct work, and somehow taken out of the cabinet. IF you look at the photo I posted, you can sort of tell how hard it will be to get into it. In short, that would be light years ahead of my capabilities. So I've pretty much already reached a point where its over my head just to try and disassemble it enough to access it- let alone try to fix it!!!

thanks again everyone. Sincerely.

Kevin

Kevin, sorry to hear about you losing your home to a fire. It sucks, I know. The same thing happened to me in 1988. Remember the Mr.Coffee coffee maker fires? Ours was one of them. You have had enough stress just with that. Have you figured out the heat problem?

[davis2]

Originally Posted by Old-Biscuit

Back on page 3 post #42 OP posted furnace working......


Cause 'unknown'


More then likely....just needed to turn t-stat off/back on and let furnace circuit board go thru 'trial for ignition' sequence again.
Propane flow just wasn't there YET.

At 0.4 psi (11"WC) it can take SEWVERAL attempts at appliances to establish full system pressure/flow to meet air/fuel ratio required to ignite propane
Propane has a very narrow range.


OP has HEAT

I had a similar problem. Just needed to keep trying it.

[careh]

Regarding the electric heaters....

I'm assuming your trailer is connected to an ..at least.. 30 amp main breaker at the electrical post where you plug in your trailer. If so ....read on .. if not - well that is a different issue where you can consider upgrading the power coming to the electrical post.
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One of your posts was saying you could run two heaters without tripping the circuit breaker.... 1,500 watt and a 250 watt heaters. To me that sounds like you have both heaters plugged into the same circuit coming off of one breaker from your trailer breaker panel.

Have you mapped out the breakers for your trailer? As in breaker #1 feeds plugs in living room, Breaker #2 feeds 1/2 the plugs in kitchen, Breaker #3 feeds the other 1/2 the plugs in kitchen and so on. You should find that you have multiple circuits in your trailer each fed by a different breaker - and what I'd suggest you want to do is have the heaters on different circuits/ different breakers.

Your total load for the entire trailer would also include other electrical devices like an electric water heater (if you have one) or a hair dryer etc. Meaning - assuming you have a 30 amp main breaker at the electrical pole - you can't be running the electric water heater (12 amps), the microwave (12 amps) and a 12 amp heater all at the same time... (12+12+12 = a tripped 30 amp breaker).

I'd also suggest getting 2 'oil filled' radiator heaters as they are quiet (no fan whirring) and provide ...even... heat (they are slow to warm up and slow to cool down). Oil filled heaters do not burn oil nor do they smell or leak oil (unless they are defective) ... they have electric heating elements immersed in oil which then circulates the heat through the radiator fins of the heater. Look for a model that has adjustable heat settings (typically a dial for 600, 900 and 1,500 watts) as you can then dial down the watts used to just what you need. Avoid the 'electronic/digital control ones' as they typically reset to a 'default' setting (which might be 'off') if the power goes out while the manual 'turn the dial' ones stay at whatever you set them at. They make a smaller sized oil filled heater (about 14" high X 12" wide) but I found the fins on it get too hot for my liking.. so I'd stick with the 25" high X 13" wide larger units where the heat can dissipate more evenly through the larger surface area. I have 2 of them in my 34 foot trailer - one at the front, one at the back - both set at 600 watts mind you I only use the trailer to temps down near 4 C / 40F.

[thecityman]

Hi folks. Its been a while since I checked in and I feel bad that several more people made some really helpful posts here on the thread I started and yet I never responded. Just wanted those folks to know that I did read your responses and they WERE still helpful even though my furnace has been working since mid December.

I hate to only pick out certain posters to reply to since every one was good and helpful and appreciated. Just know I read and benefited from each post very much, and I'm sure that in the future many other people will find this thread and the reply's and will benefit greatly from them just as I did. So thank everyone for your help.

Meanwhile, I'm still enjoying RV life very, very much and everything in my TT is working just fine. I'll be getting my first seriously cold-weather test on Sunday night (16 degrees predicted) so I'm nervous about that. But I've gone over all mu underpinning very carefully and everything is almost completely sealed. In fact, it is so sealed underneath that I have to leave one crack open on purpose when weather is above 30 to prevent my windows from fogging up and moisture from building (to avoid mold, etc). That isn't a problem where I live because it rarely gets below 30 here for more than a day or two. SO its pretty easy to just open up the one panel a foot or two to let things breath most of the time, then close it up when it gets below 30. I'll be closing it up Sunday and Monday when it gets in the teens. I had one 23 degree night already and made it with no problems. SO I'll turn up the heat Sunday night, seal up the underpinning, open my cabinets, drip my faucets, turn on my hose heater, and hopefully all will be well.

Anyway, I'm getting off topic. Just wanted to check in and say thanks to ALL the people who responded to my posts, and especially those who did so after my last visit and therefore haven't been thanked until now. Even some of the replies that weren't focused on my gas furnace but on other problems I mentioned (such as Careh's great discussion of my electrical problems and electric heaters. VERY helpful. However, believe it or not every plug in my whole little trailer seems to be on the same circuit with the same breaker. I'm certain that is true for all the plugs in the main iving area and bathroom and at least one bedroom plug. But there is one other bedroom i have never checked but will now.

But I'm making out fine anyway. I've simply learned to turn off my electric heater if I'm making coffee or ironing or whatever. Its not as big a hassel as it sounds.

ANyway, hope everyone else is well. I'm going to try to be a more frequent part of this wonderful community. THanks again to all who helped me.

Kevin

[careh]

Having *all* the plugs in the trailer on *one* (I suppose 20 amp) trailer panel breaker seems rather strange to me... But if you mapped them out - well I guess that is the 'new and improved' norm.

Still I'd check in the trailer circuit panel for a 'GFCI' breaker (Ground Fault Breaker - the kind with two little buttons marked 'test' that no one ever tests and reset)- as they have been required since at least 2005.. and that breaker would be providing power to the plug on the outside of your trailer, the plug near your bathroom sink & the plugs near the kitchen sink... So that should be a second source of power ...on a different breaker ... for your heaters etc.
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On to your humidity problems .... I'd suggest getting a small electric dehumidifier and running it constantly when you close all the windows - as the humidity you add -from even just breathing- (and also from cooking / washing dishes etc.) is going to start to accumulate inside the trailer unless it is removed from the trailer air either by being vented outside or by being extracted by a dehumidifier. I take it you use a ceiling powered vent when you cook and shower?

You mentioned you currently address the humidity by opening a window to let some of the humid air out. That has the negative effect of also taking out the air you warmed up along with it.

If you use a dehumidifier it will pull the humidity out of the air - and as a bonus it will add some heat to the trailer while it is running... which is better than dumping heated air outside the trailer as you currently do when you open a window.

During the summer air conditioning season - the dehumidifier can help out the air conditioner by removing humidity from the inside trailer air.


The down sides of a dehumidifier are:
* The cost of the dehumidifier - likely under $100 as you only need the smallest capacity one.
* The dehumidifier will use electricity - access to it seems is limited in your trailer. If you have two oil filled heaters set at 600 watts each - you ...should... be OK with adding the dehumidifier onto that one circuit (as the sole trailer panel breaker for all those plugs *should be* 20 amps).
* The dehumidifier can be noisy (although if you are over 60 - your hearing might be shot enough that you don't hear it anyway).
* You will have to empty it at least once a day - unless you 'are handy' and run a drain hose from it ...through your trailer floor. or wall.. to discharge the condensate outside...