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johnhicks · 01-10-2018, 06:07 PM

I had to have the propane furnace yanked out and thoroughly cleaned when it wouldn't ignite last January. It apparently hadn't been serviced in many years. Mobile service, not too expensive and solved the problem.

This year _after_ the ice storm and _after_ three nights below 26F the furnace quit. Wouldn't ignite. During that time it sounded like it was gargling but it finally just quit. So I got a mobile guy to look at it and he found that the orifice was full of gnats. Seriously. He showed me.

He told me that in the last couple of days he'd serviced eight or ten furnaces an at least six of them were full of gnats. He explained that while furnace screens are fine for wasps, tiny gnats are also attracted to propane and they'll crawl up in the orifice and the tube to the gas valve and die...many many of them. All he did was blow out the tube and orifice and the old Hydro-Flame fired right up.

The moral of this story is that it might be prudent to fork over the bucks to have the furnace cleaned out as a regular fall thing. We may have had a serious problem if the furnace hadn't run that coldest night when the power went out. Not that we'd freeze but we'd probably still be fixing busted pipes.

ThePowells · 01-10-2018, 06:11 PM

Thank you for something else to look at. After the first 9 days of 2018, any gnats I may have had are really crispy critters.

Hoverbug · 01-10-2018, 09:13 PM

Living in central Florida bugs are a constant nusance in the RV. This works for me. Buy a few dog flea collars and cut them in half. Place a piece in the fridge, water heater, bumper storage and other places. Just keep away from heat. No more bugs and they will last about a year in all temps. Happy Trails!!

MSHappyCampers · 01-11-2018, 08:05 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by johnhicks

I had to have the propane furnace yanked out and thoroughly cleaned when it wouldn't ignite last January. It apparently hadn't been serviced in many years. Mobile service, not too expensive and solved the problem.

This year _after_ the ice storm and _after_ three nights below 26F the furnace quit. Wouldn't ignite. During that time it sounded like it was gargling but it finally just quit. So I got a mobile guy to look at it and he found that the orifice was full of gnats. Seriously. He showed me.

He told me that in the last couple of days he'd serviced eight or ten furnaces an at least six of them were full of gnats. He explained that while furnace screens are fine for wasps, tiny gnats are also attracted to propane and they'll crawl up in the orifice and the tube to the gas valve and die...many many of them. All he did was blow out the tube and orifice and the old Hydro-Flame fired right up.

The moral of this story is that it might be prudent to fork over the bucks to have the furnace cleaned out as a regular fall thing. We may have had a serious problem if the furnace hadn't run that coldest night when the power went out. Not that we'd freeze but we'd probably still be fixing busted pipes.

Thanks for the heads-up John! I would have never thought about that being a problem.

Another heads-up! Remember to use low air pressure when blowing out the orifice. I ruined one with high-pressure air from the on-board compressor!

cimplexsound · 01-12-2018, 07:19 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by johnhicks

I had to have the propane furnace yanked out and thoroughly cleaned when it wouldn't ignite last January. It apparently hadn't been serviced in many years. Mobile service, not too expensive and solved the problem.

This year _after_ the ice storm and _after_ three nights below 26F the furnace quit. Wouldn't ignite. During that time it sounded like it was gargling but it finally just quit. So I got a mobile guy to look at it and he found that the orifice was full of gnats. Seriously. He showed me.

He told me that in the last couple of days he'd serviced eight or ten furnaces an at least six of them were full of gnats. He explained that while furnace screens are fine for wasps, tiny gnats are also attracted to propane and they'll crawl up in the orifice and the tube to the gas valve and die...many many of them. All he did was blow out the tube and orifice and the old Hydro-Flame fired right up.

The moral of this story is that it might be prudent to fork over the bucks to have the furnace cleaned out as a regular fall thing. We may have had a serious problem if the furnace hadn't run that coldest night when the power went out. Not that we'd freeze but we'd probably still be fixing busted pipes.

I have an Atwood Hydroflame furnace on my RV. During the summer I open up the outside door, put a zip lock bag over the intake and exhaust manifolds then close everything back up. That way during the summer when I know my furnace won't be used for several months, I can keep the furnace clean, keep the weather out, and very importantly. Keep it bug free. Just don't forget to remove the zip lock bag when you go to turn the furnace on!!! 😆 It would hurt to clean furnace out with compressed air once a month. Blowing air through the exhaust manifold is the easiest way to clean these propane furnaces out and keep your igniter in good working order. Late January now my furnace works perfect.

THenne1713 · 01-13-2018, 11:20 PM

TIP: On Aircraft, they use long TAPE FLAGS on COVERS so that they are REMOVED in Preflight; you could do the same with the RV and some plastic flagging TAPE or even cloth RIBBON?