New Escape 19 Dometic Furnace problems

[Tam2004]

Originally Posted by CarlNH

I fired up Dometic furnace on my 2018 Escape 19 for the first time a week ago. It started right up and I was happy. However, twice since then, it has failed to come on during cold nights leaving me shivering in the morning. Very sporadic issue as it works fine most of the time. Called Escape and they suggested I contact Dometic directly which I will do on Monday. Intermittent issues are the worst as it's tough to diagnose what is going on. Thermostat does read 3 degrees higher than actual temperature as well.

When it fails, the fan doesn't even come on so it's not an ignition issue in my case. Would be nice if schematics of the boards, thermostat, etc. could be made available for troubleshooting but I guess that would impact dealers' business ;-)

I found the Dometic RV furnace staff to be very knowledgeable - AND if you are lucky enough to actually find a RV repair place that does warranty work and is certified by Dometic, you are good as they will fix and charge nothing. The challenge for us has been getting someone to do this. The first breakdown, a kind shop in Washington State fit us in and it is a fast job. But two days later it broke down again (would come on but shut down soon after without igniting). The Dometic Staff felt that was probably the Sail Switch - it controls air flow - but they said the furnace board could have also gone out. The technician found "fluff" in the sail switch and cleaned it out and it has been working since. Oddly, we discovered that the first shop had actually put in the primo board that was mentioned in this thread, so we saved it after the second shop put in the Dometic board sent to us by Dometic. Conclusion: all of this woe may well have been caused by the "fluff" in the Sail Switch. Dometic staff said that putting in a furnace board is very easy, but that putting in a Sail Switch is more tricky. I saw a You-Tube on how to put in a Sail Switch and if I were at home I might have tried to do both on my own. Though the Sail Switch did look a bit more tricky. I am wondering now about this particular furnace. My sense of it is that this is a new Dometic Product and they have a Small, Medium, and Large. We have the small. Some of the shops I called had not heard of it and didn't have the parts for the Sail Switch and could figure out what that part was. The Furnace Board, though, was a universal board. I am curious about the fact that Dometic sent us a wrong part for the Sail Switch and that others couldn't find that part number. Someday I will try to sort that out with Dometic and see if they want the wrong part back. Good luck and I hope this isn't a new product with issues. Oh, it is the small furnace which is plenty good. Heats nicely. We don't run it at night anyway - have a heavy down comforter and we actually open windows up too!! So in the morning the furnace is very welcome!!

[Brookfielder]

Originally Posted by CarlNH

I fired up Dometic furnace on my 2018 Escape 19 for the first time a week ago. It started right up and I was happy. However, twice since then, it has failed to come on during cold nights leaving me shivering in the morning. Very sporadic issue as it works fine most of the time. Called Escape and they suggested I contact Dometic directly which I will do on Monday. Intermittent issues are the worst as it's tough to diagnose what is going on. Thermostat does read 3 degrees higher than actual temperature as well.

When it fails, the fan doesn't even come on so it's not an ignition issue in my case. Would be nice if schematics of the boards, thermostat, etc. could be made available for troubleshooting but I guess that would impact dealers' business ;-)

We experienced the same issues with our 2017 19. Because of some technical experience I have managed to acquire over the years, Reace helped me diagnose the first issue, which wound up being the motherboard. I replaced it and have not had a repeat.
A new challenge popped up this past weekend though, where the furnace was not coming on at all. I think I have that nailed down to a poor contact in the on/off switch in the thermostat. A little pressure on the contact was the ticket for our furnace... a band-aid solution for the weekend in the woods.
I've given some thought to upgrading the thermostat, but am awaiting a response from ETI first

[cpaharley2008]

That looks like the old style thermostat, I thought ETI was installing the digital model which controls both a/c and heat?

[sclifrickson]

Originally Posted by cpaharley2008

That looks like the old style thermostat, I thought ETI was installing the digital model which controls both a/c and heat?

Only if you get AC, I believe.

[rubicon327]

Originally Posted by sclifrickson

Only if you get AC, I believe.

That was my thought as well. Anyone with that junk drawer mechanical thermostat would be well served with a simple heating only digital. Nice large backlit display and much more accurate at holding a set temperature. The one that I and others have retrofitted are linked in this thread:
http://www.escapeforum.org/forums/f4...tat-10657.html

[Brookfielder]

Thanks for the link to the digital thermostat thread. That simple two wire thermostat looks like a good idea. I wouldn't be against the old school thermostat, if it worked flawlessly.

[rubicon327]

Originally Posted by Brookfielder

Thanks for the link to the digital thermostat thread. That simple two wire thermostat looks like a good idea. I wouldn't be against the old school thermostat, if it worked flawlessly.

No problem. See my latest post in that thread regarding adjustable temperature swing.

[steve dunham]

Originally Posted by steve dunham

The furnace in our new 2018 trailer decided to quit working .The fan runs for 20 or 30 seconds then the furnace shuts down .( No ignition ) We don’t have the outside access panel so looks like the I will be pulling the furnace . Closest repair facility is 100 miles away so I am on my own
Going down in the 40’s tonight so thank God we brought an extra blanket .

ETI told me to contact Dometic / Atwood , which I did . There are now two more problems
1) The closest Dometic service center is over 200 miles from my home
2) Dometic will not honor the furnace warranty because we are the second owners
( Trailer is 6 months old )
Guess all I am left with is to continue playing phone tag with ETI and hope they will do something or pay for the repair out of my own pocket
We had a trip planned but with the temps in the 40’s and no furnace we will have to cancel
I am going to try and fix our EMS today so at least we can run an electric heater but as of yesterday that too was a no go
Well back to trying to fix the water pump

Best Wishes
Steve D

[cpaharley2008]

Steve,
Your furnace, water pump and EMS are all not working? Did they work when you purchased? The EMS has lifetime warranty, the pump is replaceable easily, the furnace I'm not sure, do you have the new style exterior, easy to access panel?

[rubicon327]

Originally Posted by cpaharley2008

..the furnace I'm not sure, do you have the new style exterior, easy to access panel?

From post #18:

Originally Posted by steve dunham

We don’t have the outside access panel so looks like the I will be pulling the furnace.

[steve dunham]

Originally Posted by cpaharley2008

Steve,
Your furnace, water pump and EMS are all not working? Did they work when you purchased? The EMS has lifetime warranty, the pump is replaceable easily, the furnace I'm not sure, do you have the new style exterior, easy to access panel?

The furnace does not work , the EMS false trips and the water pump short cycles
We do not have the exterior access door on our furnace so we need to pull the furnace .
We are running the EMS on bypass so we can run a portable electric heater at night
We tried to run the portable electric heater last night with the EMS turned on and woke up to a cold trailer.
If my wife has her way our Escape will be going up for sale in the Spring her patience is growing thin
I have neither the time or patience to keep fixing one problem after another and don’t believe I should have to !!
Just my experience , others may vary !!

[cpaharley2008]

Sorry, I did not read the prior posts but assumed everything was okay since Steve attended the Mississippi Rally this past weekend.

[cpaharley2008]

Originally Posted by steve dunham

The furnace does not work , the EMS false trips and the water pump short cycles
We do not have the exterior access door on our furnace so we need to pull the furnace .
We are running the EMS on bypass so we can run a portable electric heater at night
We tried to run the portable electric heater last night with the EMS turned on and woke up to a cold trailer.
If my wife has her way our Escape will be going up for sale in the Spring her patience is growing thin
I have neither the time or patience to keep fixing one problem after another and don’t believe I should have to !!
Just my experience , others may vary !!

Now maybe a good time to consider making a trip to Chilliwack, I'm sure ETI wold be willing to go over your unit and make it new again.

[steve dunham]

Originally Posted by cpaharley2008

Sorry, I did not read the prior posts but assumed everything was okay since Steve attended the Mississippi Rally this past weekend.

We had these problems when we were at the rally .

[cpaharley2008]

Originally Posted by steve dunham

We had these problems when we were at the rally .

I would have thought some good ideas on fixing the issues would have been prevalent there.

[gbaglo]

Originally Posted by steve dunham

going up for sale in the Spring her patience is growing thin
I have neither the time or patience to keep fixing one problem after another and don’t believe I should have to !!
Just my experience , others may vary !!

Make sure you link to this post when you post your "For Sale" ad.

[steve dunham]

Originally Posted by gbaglo

Make sure you link to this post when you post your "For Sale" ad.

Don’t count on it but thanks for your concern .

[thoer]

I've always operated on the belief that when I buy anything used, that most warranties only cover original owners. That has meant, to me, that the cost savings of buying used comes with the risk that I will have to pay for any problems myself. Unless I personally know the person I am buying from, my assumption is that they haven't taken the kind of care of things that I do and factor that into the cost saving over new.

But in Donna's wise words - YMMV.

[btmaynard]

I had furnace problems last season. The outdoor shower water connections, which are directly above the furnace control panel, leaked and shorted the panel. I tightened the threaded connections and had no more problems.

[steve dunham]

Originally Posted by thoer

I've always operated on the belief that when I buy anything used, that most warranties only cover original owners. That has meant, to me, that the cost savings of buying used comes with the risk that I will have to pay for any problems myself. Unless I personally know the person I am buying from, my assumption is that they haven't taken the kind of care of things that I do and factor that into the cost saving over new.

But in Donna's wise words - YMMV.

ETI agreed to extend the new trailer warranty to us because the trailer was only a few months old when we purchased it .