Strange furnace problem

[Ronn]

Originally Posted by Tam2004

Bill said the circuit board was throwing a spark that hits the metal door and scatters. He took a few minutes to cut some insulation to put over the board that is just a 4" part of a plastic bottle. The furnace has worked for several days now - but he and I am thinking over time the insulation could thin so we might seek another more sturdy solution.

I don't have access to my trailer, but is that door grounded? (wouldn't it need to be grounded to create a jump?)

[Tam2004]

Originally Posted by davidmurphy02

Very interesting - seems there is no end to weird furnace issues. I had tried replacing the circuit board with an OEM board and then a Dinosaur board to no effect, and since replacing the gas valve it has worked flawlessly so I'm pretty sure that was my problem. But for sure sparks coming off the igniter coil are a bad thing - hope that turns out to resolve your problem.

Bill, the mobile RV tech called Dinosaur boards to talk about his unique idea to put a plastic barrier between the board and the metal door. They loved it. They said that spark can generate up to 75000 volts and jump up to an inch. They sayit will nott harm the board.

I am keeping your experience with gas valve as next try if this fix doesn't hold.
.

[Ron in BC]

It's nice that there's a work around solution but somewhere there's some poor design or a fault.

Is that a coil in the upper left area? If so the exposed bare metal terminal could be the culprit unless it's been seen by someone that the spark is originating from another location.

Ron

[davidmurphy02]

I remember thinking when I first saw the circuit board, sitting there exposed, that I wish they had put a plastic cover on it like the boards for the fridge and hot water heater. Probably not enough room to do that in this case...but it sure would have prevented this problem.

[Tam2004]

Originally Posted by Ron in BC

It's nice that there's a work around solution but somewhere there's some poor design or a fault.

Is that a coil in the upper left area? If so the exposed bare metal terminal could be the culprit unless it's been seen by someone that the spark is originating from another location.

Ron

No it is from the circuit board on the upper right. The plastic cover over the circuit board does seem to have fixed our current problem. I don'r feel the need to do a different cover now that the tech people at Dinosaur boards liked this loose cover idea. Can you see my pictures?

[Ron in BC]

I can see your photos but not at the circuit board level. So the area near the rectangular 4 wire connector?

It's good that the plastic shield works but if there's only a small number of folks have this problem they I'd view the circuit board as defective and expect a replacement.

Ron

[Tam2004]

Originally Posted by Ron in BC

I can see your photos but not at the circuit board level. So the area near the rectangular 4 wire connector?

It's good that the plastic shield works but if there's only a small number of folks have this problem they I'd view the circuit board as defective and expect a replacement.

Ron

I thought my picture is the circuit board? -- Bill, the tech, compared the board (that I have that is thee one Dometic puts in) to the installed Dinosauer board to see if it would sit further back and he said it wouldn't.

I naively thought that the plastic cover design could be something that Dometic or Escape trailer could incorporate in design or install and that Bill Hall, the mobile tech was brilliant, so I tried to tell Escape Industries - but they did not return my call. We haven't had one long trip with a functioning furnace in the over 3 years of owning trailer. We didn't have problems with very old Terry trailer furnace. And it has not been from a lack of trying - or spending money freely. (End of rant)

[oldwave]

Our sold 2017 21c never had any furnace issues, it also had no outside access door. Certainly no path for the igniter to jump to. Lots of smart people on this forum . No sail switch issues either,.

[stephen99]

Originally Posted by oldwave

Our sold 2017 21c never had any furnace issues, it also had no outside access door. Certainly no path for the igniter to jump to. Lots of smart people on this forum . No sail switch issues either,.

Same with our 2017 21c. Never a problem with the furnace.

[Ron in BC]

Originally Posted by Tam2004

I thought my picture is the circuit board? -- Bill, the tech, compared the board (that I have that is thee one Dometic puts in) to the installed Dinosauer board to see if it would sit further back and he said it wouldn't.

I naively thought that the plastic cover design could be something that Dometic or Escape trailer could incorporate in design or install and that Bill Hall, the mobile tech was brilliant, so I tried to tell Escape Industries

Here's what I meant about seeing the board at the circuit board level. This is the circuit board from a Maxxfan and the type of each component can be seen and sometimes obvious faults, like a charred component can be seen.

Your plastic barrier should be viewed as a work around to a problem. But the situation isn't normal and there has to be something causing this spark. So it doesn't seem necessary for ETI to start installing shields if this is an undiagnosed singleton situation.

Ron

[quidoi]

everything sounds like a problem i had and with pulling the sail switch out and blowing can air onto it and surrounding area-- i haven't had a problem other than one other time and just blow out the sail switch and so far resolves the problem--- i got tired of doing the on and off at the thermostat -- first thing i do is clean the sail switch first...good luck

[Rossue]

FWIW- this article just popped up today.

https://www.rvtravel.com/ask-dave-fu...l-switch-1758/