Furnace help on a 1971 holiday rambler

[wschaub]

That I couldn't answer. There should be a 12v power system in there someplace. and a converter + a battery box and terminals some place. Does the furnace have a transformer or anything weird connected to it? I would check it agianst that service guide I linked to and see. If you have a fresh water tank and a water pump that should also be connected to 12v so you could try tracing from that point. There should also be a monitoring station for your holding tanks, battery etc someplace in the trailer if it's a trailer meant for running without any hookups.

Worst case you could get an HVAC guy to look into connecting it if you are totally stumped. The suburban guide should get you started though figuring out what is what.

[ahicks]

Those old trailers were built prior to standards that we're used to today.

They commonly have 2 parallel electrical systems, one 110v the other 12v. Light fixtures for will likely be a combination of both types. Don't think you'll find a power converter like the ones we use today if it's original. If there's no battery, unless somebody has wired in a battery charger or similar you likely aren't going to have 12v. anywhere.

Because of this, and the fact furnaces that actually had blowers (most were gravity type) are almost always 12v. Often furnaces were equipped with a small AC adapter as mentioned earlier. Not sure that would even be a Suburban part as many were dealer installed.

Those Tstat wires carry millivolts generated by the thermocouple, so you aren't going to light a test light there.

The 12v fuses will very likely be a simple board of 6 automotive glasses fuses or less. Often located inside somewhere near the bottom of the front wall, but you may need to do some hunting.

Regarding water pumps, due to the age of this trailer, I wouldn't even want to guess what you're going to find. In it's day, it operated using a presussurized tank. Could be pressurized with a city water hose - or by adding pressure from a bicycle pump, or possibly a 12v or small 110v compressor. That's if it hasn't been converted to a demand system....

[Ttwitchell]

I did some more investigating after work and come to find out the power wires into the cubby were the furnace sits are in fact 110v. It gets its power from the range hood over the cook stove that I had disconnected for the time being. Hooked the wires back up and I have power down there now. I found a tag in the furnace in pretty bad shape but got some info off it. It's a NT 17 c, 16,500 btu At the bottom is reads

12v DC less than 2.8 amps
115v 60cyc if equiped

And the power wires do run into what I assume is a transformer (looks like an old school metal relay about 3 inches long and an inch wide) before they head to the blower motor. So I guess I'm going to hook up the propane bottle, the power and thermostat wires, light the pilot and see what it does.

Thanks for the help guys, I'll let you know how I make out.

[IsSa]

I just finished going through my nt-17c suburban furnace from my 1971 holiday rambler vacationer and have it all back in and running. My trailer has a power inverter in the trunk on the rear of the trailer and also a marine battery. When I was going through the furnace it was very easy to work on because it is 12v and you can find that out very easy by hooking the two blue thermostat wires together and the white wire to the negative side of a car battery and your other wire to the positive it should start the blower motor.

[1968home]

i just bought a 1968. I've got some question on subfloors if you have any experience. thanks so much. sorry i can't help with furance question. mine has an after market dsi unit. it heats up real nice been doing a lot of work to ours though. we bought it in idaho and towed it back to southern califorina with our new born, it was an epic trip.

sanded, primed and painted rear bumper and hitch! re sealed and deep cleaned and painted and got all new hoses for the original hydraulic jacks (although one of the mounts in broken so ill have to try and find one somewhere our there) got a new toilet and gutted the rear bedroom. my wife is being such a patient beautiful supporter.

we are full time living in ours )))) raising babies in travel trailers )