Atwood Furnace

[rubicon327]

Originally Posted by GeorgiaBill

Jim, is that door an option or standard. Melisa writes "The Furnace is an ATWOOD: DFSAD12131".

-Thanks

The exterior furnace access door is standard now. There was an early period of the new trailer design (late 2016 - ?) that didn't have them. Reace figured out quickly that he needed to incorporate.

I think Jim bought a new trailer just to get one.

[cpaharley2008]

Yes, correct on both answers....

[steve dunham]

Originally Posted by rubicon327

The exterior furnace access door is standard now. There was an early period of the new trailer design (late 2016 - ?) that didn't have them. Reace figured out quickly that he needed to incorporate.

I think Jim bought a new trailer just to get one.

I feel so much better now , knowing the problem has been caught and corrected . Those thoughts will keep me warm at night .

[Tam2004]

Originally Posted by Chama

My Dometic/Atwood furnace woes are at least temporarily resolved. I pulled the sail switch this morning and as others have noted, there were some white fibers in the sail switch area that appartently keeping it from operating. Removed the fibers and put the switch back in and furnace works again. The fibers look to have come from a white wool sweater. Wonder if the furnace assembler at ETI or an inspector at Dometic likes fuzzy wool sweaters?

Last fall we found the fuzz in the Sail switch also -- but it only seemed to resolved the problem for a day or so. In our case, there never was a consistent pattern to our issues. I am happy, though, that our replacement (same furnace) is working perfectly after living in the trailer for 5 weeks and using it almost daily under many different conditions and altitudes.

[Starbrightsteve]

We started our trip west on May 1 and almost immediately our furnace stopped working. So... no more boondocking because the weather has been gnarley and cold and wet. We are now in western Wyoming and at 1:00 pm we were driving in snow at 28 deg. F. We have a 2017 5.0 that we picked up in late August of 2017. The furnace worked that first autumn and after that we didn’t need it. Now we do, but now we park in hookup places. Who needs solar in hookup places? Our furnace is an Atwood afsad12121. I pulled the furnace and when I finally found the sail switch, it was squeaky clean and in the airstream of the combustion air , NOT the heated cabin air. I would also add that the space that contained the furnace was good and clean, no construction debris. So far I have not been able to view the blinking failure led light. I’ll try and get that info for the warranty.
But seriously, I think we all need to find another way to heat these trailers unless we have no problem staying on this merry go round of sail switches and printed circuit boards.
Steve
PS. Maybe when the furnace is ?fixed? I’ll put it up for sale in classifieds for $35.00 plus’s shipping. Any takers?

[steve dunham]

Is the newer Atwood furnace the same furnace that Atwood produced in 2017 & 2018 or has it been updated ? If Atwood / Dometic has made changes that have improved reliability , it may make more sense to replace the entire furnace then to continually repair a furnace that has a defective design . I like Starbrightsteve believe we need a dependable heating source in our trailer and an electric heater is not the answer in my estimation

[Starbrightsteve]

Electric heaters are not a boondocking alternative. Micro switches and printed circuit boards are not an option for reliable heating. I’ll qualify that by adding that my ford truck uses lots of printed circuit boards. But the , must I say JUNK, that atwood uses are not appropriate if reliability is the goal.
The water heaters in our trailers always seem to work. Occasionally you se a post but not anything like the furnaces. Could the hot water in the water heaters be used to eat the trailer when boondocking?

[gbaglo]

There have been a lot of recent posts about the sail switch repeatedly causing a problem for some people. I've not had that problem with my 11-year-old furnace. I did have the motor replaced after one year ( within warranty ).

I think you are overstating the breadth of problems with the furnace.
That furnace is used ( from what I've read here ) because it uses less power and is quieter than alternatives.

[EdColorado]

We have used the Wave Olympian catalytic heaters successfully on two previous RV's.
They come in three sizes; small, medium and large depending on your requirements for temperature. We used the smallest Wave 3 in a 24' Class C. It was adequate for our needs as long as we dressed warmly. The Wave 6 would have kept us toasty warm but, for us, temps in the 60's work.

https://www.amazon.com/Olympian-Port...-1-spons&psc=1

No electricity required. Sips propane. No noise. Great for boon docking.

Some are afraid to use these heaters but they are designed specifically for the RV market. The two of us plus our dog, can offer witness that, properly used, the heater won't actually kill you. It will, however, keep you warm.

Ed

[Defenestrator]

I would strongly encourage people to stick with the Mr Heater Buddy heaters over the Olympic Wave heater. They're a bit bulkier and more expensive, but the O2 sensor means you're not relying 100% on the carbon monoxide detector to avoid CO poisoning.

[Tam2004]

Originally Posted by Starbrightsteve

We started our trip west on May 1 and almost immediately our furnace stopped working. So... no more boondocking because the weather has been gnarley and cold and wet. We are now in western Wyoming and at 1:00 pm we were driving in snow at 28 deg. F. We have a 2017 5.0 that we picked up in late August of 2017. The furnace worked that first autumn and after that we didn’t need it. Now we do, but now we park in hookup places. Who needs solar in hookup places? Our furnace is an Atwood afsad12121. I pulled the furnace and when I finally found the sail switch, it was squeaky clean and in the airstream of the combustion air , NOT the heated cabin air. I would also add that the space that contained the furnace was good and clean, no construction debris. So far I have not been able to view the blinking failure led light. I’ll try and get that info for the warranty.
But seriously, I think we all need to find another way to heat these trailers unless we have no problem staying on this merry go round of sail switches and printed circuit boards.
Steve
PS. Maybe when the furnace is ?fixed? I’ll put it up for sale in classifieds for $35.00 plus’s shipping. Any takers?

I am so sorry - we had this happen last fall and I wrote it up extensively. The bad furnace was a huge problem and a huge effort on our long trip that we had to ultimately cut short. It never did work. Many theories - many shops - many phone calls to Dometic - altitude, sail switch, mother board etc. We tried all of these. -Ultimately it just took getting a replacement furnace. The new one works like a champ. PERFECT. Same furnace brand. So whatever was wrong with ours was not ultimately anything that others suggested doing. It remains unknown, but we are sure loving our new replacement. I will keep you posted over the months and years. We have now used the new one for 3 months fairly consistently. If anyone ultimately figures it out (I think it might have something to do with the radio communication between the thermostat and the furnace - but others don't think that is possible). I wonder if anyone had their brand new furnace work perfectly for months after they changed out the sail switch? Our furnace only worked for a couple of days after we picked it up. The Dometic staff had admitted to me that some just had problems. I truly hope this remains a good furnace.

[sclifrickson]

Originally Posted by Tam2004

I think it might have something to do with the radio communication between the thermostat and the furnace - but others don't think that is possible.

You’ve mentioned this theory before, and I’m pretty sure that this is impossible as the thermostat and heater operate on a wired, not a radio, connection. I’m curious why you believe otherwise and would love for you to prove me wrong if I’m mistaken. Otherwise I’m just trying to limit the spread of disinformation.

[rubicon327]

Originally Posted by Starbrightsteve

The water heaters in our trailers always seem to work. Occasionally you se a post but not anything like the furnaces. Could the hot water in the water heaters be used to eat the trailer when boondocking?

I've been waiting for someone to tackle a heating alternative or maybe see Escape offer one as an option. I have recommended Propex, Alde or the Truma Combi. Others have pushed back that these will have problems too, but I have no way of disputing or validating those concerns. Any of these would be an expensive custom retrofit but might be a fun project for a dedicated DIYer. What looks really promising is the new Truma VarioHeat. This has three heat settings ranging from 4440 to 12,635 BTU/H. Night mode supposedly making it almost inaudible for sleeping. 12V amp draw at the respective settings is 0.65, 2.75 and 5.4A. Might be a good idea to have this coupled with solar. For comparison the current Dometic DFSAD12 furnace used by Escape (single speed) draws 2.4A.

www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=5&v=R-4aa3fe9l4

www.truma.com/int/en/products/truma-heater/truma-varioheat-comfort.html

[Tam2004]

Originally Posted by sclifrickson

You’ve mentioned this theory before, and I’m pretty sure that this is impossible as the thermostat and heater operate on a wired, not a radio, connection. I’m curious why you believe otherwise and would love for you to prove me wrong if I’m mistaken. Otherwise I’m just trying to limit the spread of disinformation.

We were told it was not wired by our RV place -- an excellent technician -- but you say it is? I hope you are correct. How can we figure this out?

[rubicon327]

Originally Posted by Tam2004

We were told it was not wired by our RV place -- an excellent technician -- but you say it is? I hope you are correct. How can we figure this out?

Unscrew it from the wall and see if there are wires? Call Escape and see if they have ever used wireless thermostats?

[sclifrickson]

Originally Posted by Tam2004

We were told it was not wired by our RV place -- an excellent technician -- but you say it is? I hope you are correct. How can we figure this out?

The technical specifications for your furnace would list any wireless capability. Which specific model is your furnace?

[John in Santa Cruz]

Originally Posted by Tam2004

We were told it was not wired by our RV place -- an excellent technician -- but you say it is? I hope you are correct. How can we figure this out?

if it looks anything like this, its definitely wired.



or




note these sorts of thermostats aren't separately powered, the thermostat is a simple electromechanical switch actuated by a bimetal spring, maybe that's what the tech meant? it closes the contacts to turn on the furnace.

[tdf-texas]

Originally Posted by Tam2004

We were told it was not wired by our RV place -- an excellent technician -- but you say it is? I hope you are correct. How can we figure this out?

I fit looks like this - it's wired. It uses digital communication and is not wireless.

[tdf-texas]

Originally Posted by Tam2004

We were told it was not wired by our RV place -- an excellent technician -- but you say it is? I hope you are correct. How can we figure this out?

There is a model that has bluetooth - settings can be changed using a phone app. But it is still wired to the A.C / heater control box.

The bluetooth symbol on the bottom differentiates it from the standard model.

[John in Santa Cruz]

Originally Posted by tdf-texas

I fit looks like this - it's wired. It uses digital communication and is not wireless.

actually, the communications isn't 'digital', its the same on/off switch on a pair of low voltage wires to the heater... only the display and thermostat guts are digital.