Bad furnace control board?

[DarqMan]

Hello everyone, looking for some advice.

I own a 2014 Leprechaun 319-DSF. Two weeks ago I took the coach out for it's 3rd trip since I purchased it last November. I compete in professional BBQ so I traveled from OKC area down to Huntsville, TX for a competition. The night after the competition, cold weather came in. I had the coach setup at a friends house in the driveway. I turned the gas furnace on once it the cold air started to arrive and everything was working fine. I went inside my friends house to visit and at 9:30pm returned to the coach to go to bed. The temperature had dropped even more, but the furnace wasn't blowing cold air. I reset the thermostat and when then turned it to gas heat. The furnace tries coming on three times (you can actually hear the flame) and then it just goes out.

I called Coachmen support and talked to a technician who walked me through a series of troubleshooting steps. When he discovered the battery was fine and the gas stove worked he had me turn the thermostat up to 90 and go out by the furnace and listen for a flame. When I explained the behavior of the flame coming on and then going out three times he told me I had a bad furnace control board. Keep in mind this is a brand new coach. Well, luckily I was at a friends house and was able to take my air mattress inside and sleep on their floor. Coachmen called back with dealers in home area to get warranty work done.

Now, here's the kicker. Once I arrived back in Oklahoma, just for kicks, I turned the furnace on and it worked absolutely fine. The only thing I can think of that might of fixed it would be unplugging the power and plugging it back in. So my question is, if it's working fine now, do I waste the gas to take it to a dealer? Will they really replace the board just because I tell them a Coachmen technician told me it was bad, but it's working fine now?

I'm a bit baffled about why this happened and how I can prevent it from happening again. If I had been in a different situation, not having heat on such a cold evening could of been disastrous. I guess it's a good reason to get some powerful little electric heaters as backups.

Anyone else have this type of issue with their furnace?

[Gocoffeer]

Darq... it is very possible that the main connector on the control board is not fully seated. If you have the ability you can unplug that connector and push it back on the contact point. Mine has gotten old and has corrosion on the board.... I have to pull the plug off and plug it back on the posts a few time to get good contact .... This is just one place to give a simple move towards troubleshooting on your own.

[John H...]

I had problems with one of my past MH's furnace. It did the same thing. They are made to try and light 3 times and then quit. I replaced the board with a Dino and still had problems. It ended up being rust particles clogging the gas orifice. Took it all apart and after cleaning it worked fine. Yours is new and I'm sure doesn't have a blocked orifice. It could have been something simple like air in the line and wouldn't light. Once air is purged, it would be OK. You might want to check and be sure all connections are tight and just keep trying it for a while. If it happens again, then let the dealer warranty take over.

[mel s]

Originally Posted by DarqMan

Hello everyone, looking for some advice.

Will they really replace the board just because I tell them a Coachmen technician told me it was bad, but it's working fine now?

DarqMan

Since your furnace is working fine, I suggest you forget about it, for now....(it's difficult/imposable to fix something that works).

However, if/when the problem reoccurs have the control board tested......
Most, (all?), RV repair places and RV mobile techs have testers for electronic control boards.

Mel
'96 Safari

[George Schweikle]

Agree with Mel. I had the same intermittent problem as you and got advice from this forum to have the circuit board tested. My local RV dealer did this, and the board tested bad. I kinda sorta thought this smelled like a scam to sell me a new circuit board, but I made the purchase and the furnace has worked flawlessly ever since.

BTW, I removed the furnace to access the circuit board so the only cost was the board itself. If you just drive in and say "fix it", the cost will include labor to remove and reinstall the furnace. Last time I looked, this is $100/hour where I live.

Originally Posted by mel stuplich

...However, if/when the problem reoccurs have the control board tested......
Most, (all?), RV repair places and RV mobile techs have testers for electronic control boards.

Mel
'96 Safari