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Old 03-13-2020, 09:24 PM   #1
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Unhappy Furnace not staying lit.

My wife has our 2020 19' a couple states away from me, and I'm trying to help her troubleshoot a furnace problem.


Furnace worked fine the previous night.


Tonight, at a new location, the furnace will not stay lit. The fan comes on to test exhaust, the furnace will light and stay lit for about 6 seconds, and then the flame will go out.


About a minute later, it lights again, starts generating heat, and then goes out again.


She removed and reinstalled the sail switch to make sure it was happy.



Stove and water heater work fine, so we feel there is plenty of propane. In fact she already switched to the 2nd tank. Both tanks were full when she left yesterday.


The camper is level.


She was able to borrow a generator and space heater, so she has heat for the night.



Any suggestions about what how to troubleshoot this heater problem?


We've had sail switch problems with this furnace since we got it 2 months ago. I'm frustrated that it seems so unreliable.
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Old 03-13-2020, 10:08 PM   #2
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Does your furnace have a thermocouple? If so I would replace that part. Is there a set of lights that perhaps indicate the source of the failure? I’ve never had mine apart so hope this is not too simplistic.
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Old 03-13-2020, 10:31 PM   #3
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Others will pipe in...but how is the battery voltage...sounds like it might be low and the fan is not up to speed thus the sail switch knows to turn off the furnace.
If you have a single battery and have used the furnace a few nights without power, this could be the case.
If you have solar and two batteries then your voltage is probably ok.
Solution would be to plug the trailer into the generator and let the built in charger of the trailer charge the battery/ batteries.
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Old 03-13-2020, 10:33 PM   #4
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Iowa Dave View Post
Does your furnace have a thermocouple? If so I would replace that part. Is there a set of lights that perhaps indicate the source of the failure? I’ve never had mine apart so hope this is not too simplistic.
Iowa Dave

Iowa Dave, I'll have her look for fault lights tomorrow. I'm not sure if it has a thermocouple. I'll have her get a picture of the furnace from the outside. Our 2020 19' has an external access hatch for the furnace.


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Old 03-13-2020, 10:36 PM   #5
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Others will pipe in...but how is the battery voltage...sounds like it might be low and the fan is not up to speed thus the sail switch knows to turn off the furnace.
If you have a single battery and have used the furnace a few nights without power, this could be the case.
If you have solar and two batteries then your voltage is probably ok.
Solution would be to plug the trailer into the generator and let the built in charger of the trailer charge the battery/ batteries.

Eggscape, good suggestion. We have a single battery, and I think it was fairly well charged from the solar panel during the day. She said the battery showed 88% charged which is close the 90% that Escape stated was 'fully' charged from the solar converter.



She is on a generator now. I'll get a report from her tomorrow to see if the furnace runs while on the generator.


Thanks.


Sam
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Old 03-13-2020, 10:57 PM   #6
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As you have had problems you are probably aware of the Escape video on the furnace.
At the 5 min mark he talks about timing in seconds on how to determine what might be the problem.
Link here: https://youtu.be/IUniqYY-Ohc
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Old 03-14-2020, 07:28 AM   #7
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Switch back to the first tank, it worked before she switched?
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Old 03-14-2020, 08:01 AM   #8
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Switch back to the first tank, it worked before she switched?

Yes, it worked on the first tank the night before. It didn't work on the first tank last night, but the water heater and stove still worked on the first tank last night.


She switched to the 2nd tank last night, the water heater and stove still worked, but the furnace still didn't work.


I'm beginning to suspect a faulty circuit board.



She has use of a generator where she is for a couple night, and she should be able to get shore power at night on the return trip. So hopefully she can use a space heater until she returns home.


The camper is only a couple months old, so I'll get it into a RV shop to get the furnace serviced under warranty.


Sam
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Old 03-14-2020, 09:12 AM   #9
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Wondering if you see the red LED on the circuit board (through the hatch at the rear) blinking a diagnostic code when it shuts down. Based on what you are saying it sounds like a soft lockout. My guess is the sail switch given the issues others have had with them. The on/off switch on the furnace looks buried so maybe you can pull and replace the 12V fuse from the power center to cycle power. Maybe a reset of the circuit board may help.
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Old 03-14-2020, 09:22 AM   #10
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I had the exact same problem, however I doubt for the same reason. In my case a 1" wood screw was discovered wedged under the circuit board. After removing the screw, all was fine. It wasn't there all along since the furnace worked fine for the first year. Same screw used to hold the wood trim that attaches the furnace grill. A second one was found sitting on top of the furnace.
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Old 03-14-2020, 11:58 AM   #11
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Ironic, a fellow stopped me the night before last and wonder if I knew anything about furnaces. I said, "Only what's happened to us." He had a Starcraft camper that appears to have the identical furnace to our's in our 2019 5.0, except he has the old-fashioned thermostat. He does not have the outside access panel to check the fault led's either.

His problem is identical. Fan starts up, 15 seconds later the gas ignites, about 10 seconds later the gas goes off and the furnace shuts down. I told him to first replace the thermocoupler, as Iowa Dave suggested, or measure the gas pressure at the furnace, and then replace the furnace board.

If he had the rear access panel life would be much easier to figure out and repair the problem.

Enjoy,

Perry
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Old 03-14-2020, 12:58 PM   #12
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Quote:
Originally Posted by rubicon327 View Post
Wondering if you see the red LED on the circuit board (through the hatch at the rear) blinking a diagnostic code when it shuts down. Based on what you are saying it sounds like a soft lockout. My guess is the sail switch given the issues others have had with them. The on/off switch on the furnace looks buried so maybe you can pull and replace the 12V fuse from the power center to cycle power. Maybe a reset of the circuit board may help.

Thanks, I'll ask her to check for LED flash codes. She is busy during the day, so she won't have time to check until this evening.


We've had problems with sail switches already. I've replaced it, and now we have a spare in the camper.


I suspect circuit board problems. Hopefully there is a LED code that will help.


Sam
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Old 03-14-2020, 01:00 PM   #13
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I had the exact same problem, however I doubt for the same reason. In my case a 1" wood screw was discovered wedged under the circuit board. After removing the screw, all was fine. It wasn't there all along since the furnace worked fine for the first year. Same screw used to hold the wood trim that attaches the furnace grill. A second one was found sitting on top of the furnace.

WOW! That will be an easy fix if we have roaming screws in the furnace compartment. I'll definitely pull the circuit board when she returns home.


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Old 03-14-2020, 01:49 PM   #14
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Dave please help with a electrical question ? Is the trailer a negative ground system ? Also have Victron battery and Victron solar charger . Both those do not turn off with trailer batteries on and off switch . I can shut the solar charger off with added switch and also the battery hooked to solar . Pat
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Old 03-14-2020, 02:34 PM   #15
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Dave please help with a electrical question ? Is the trailer a negative ground system ? Also have Victron battery and Victron solar charger . Both those do not turn off with trailer batteries on and off switch . I can shut the solar charger off with added switch and also the battery hooked to solar . Pat
Pat: Are you asking me or Iowa Dave? Either way, yes, the trailer is a negative ground system. I wouldn’t expect solar to be affected by turning off the battery isolation switch because the solar is wired directly to the battery. The on/off switch I was referring to in an earlier post is the one I see wired into the furnace circuitry by Atwood/Dometic. Might not be easy to access so that is why I suggested pulling fuse.
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Old 03-14-2020, 02:34 PM   #16
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Patandlinda View Post
Dave please help with a electrical question ? Is the trailer a negative ground system ? Also have Victron battery and Victron solar charger . Both those do not turn off with trailer batteries on and off switch . I can shut the solar charger off with added switch and also the battery hooked to solar . Pat
Yes, the trailer is wired as a negative ground system.

As to the Victron solar controller & battery monitor, neither draws enough current to require disconnecting unless you are looking at many months of storage with no sunlight striking the panel. With my 17B & the stock Escape cover, I got enough output from the panel to keep the battery topped off all winter.

If you wish, there is no reason you cannot add a switch to disconnect the solar controller, however it is important with most controllers to also add a switch to disconnect the solar panels from the controller, and always disconnect the panels first & reconnect last. They do not like being connected to the panels without a battery.
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Old 03-14-2020, 07:16 PM   #17
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Eggscape, good suggestion. We have a single battery, and I think it was fairly well charged from the solar panel during the day. She said the battery showed 88% charged which is close the 90% that Escape stated was 'fully' charged from the solar converter.



She is on a generator now. I'll get a report from her tomorrow to see if the furnace runs while on the generator.


Thanks.


Sam

Follow up. The furnace does run when the generator is supplying power. The furnace does NOT run when powered by the battery, even when the battery shows 90% charge.


So, we have a voltage problem.


The camper (and battery) is 2 months old. I'm very disappointed that we seem to have a voltage problem with the furnace. We boondock far more than we camp with services. A furnace is very important for us.


I'll call Escape on Monday to see how they can help us work through this issue. Seems to me it should end up being covered by warranty. It is my expectation that neither the battery nor the furnace should have problems like this at 2 months old.


I'll check the battery terminals when the camper gets home this week.



Any other troubleshooting suggestions?


Thanks for the comments and suggestions so far.

Sam
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Old 03-14-2020, 08:17 PM   #18
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Quote:
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...
I'll check the battery terminals when the camper gets home this week.
...
Good place to start. I found the main battery wires to be loose when I received my trailer.

Take your trusty multi-meter, turn the furnace on and measure the voltage - once with the generator running and once on battery power. Measure it as close to the furnace as practical. It should be no lower than 12.7 on battery (full battery voltage). Let us know...
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Old 03-14-2020, 08:47 PM   #19
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Yup. Battery terminals. Remove and clean and spray with protector. I was having issues. Looked at the terminals and they looked fine. Wasn't until I removed them that I discovered how corroded they were. Cleaned up and power restored.
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Old 03-14-2020, 08:50 PM   #20
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So it sounds like the furnace and the wiring all the way back to the electrical panel is ok...which is good news. Something is loose between your electrical panel and your battery.
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