Furnace troubleshooting

[WillyB]

Originally Posted by John in Santa Cruz

when the EMS kicks it off, is it a E4 error? (that's low line voltage)

I did not check.

I was just looking through Coleman info about their Elect-A-Heat strip and they say it is "not a substitute for your furnace". They call it a "Chill Chaser" for those mornings where it's too warm for the heater and you just need to take the chill off. It's basically a 1500 watt coil that draws outside air over it. Pretty inefficient from what I have seen so far.

If it's not a low voltage condition my guess is some sort of high limit shutoff after struggling for too long that causes the EMS to shut off.

[Iowa Dave]

We will run an electric heater once in a while. We do not have a heat strip on the AC. If it’s cool enough in the trailer to notice, I just flip the furnace on for a while. It only takes a few minutes to make it toasty in the 21. I have two propane tanks on the frame and my 11lb auxiliary along on every trip. I’ve never run out.
Iowa Dave

[WillyB]

Originally Posted by Iowa Dave

We will run an electric heater once in a while. We do not have a heat strip on the AC. If it’s cool enough in the trailer to notice, I just flip the furnace on for a while. It only takes a few minutes to make it toasty in the 21. I have two propane tanks on the frame and my 11lb auxiliary along on every trip. I’ve never run out.
Iowa Dave

Outside of the fuzz clogged sail switch issue that stopped the gas furnace last night I will say the gas furnace is great. Quiet and warms our 21C quickly and efficiently.

[Ooshkaboo]

Originally Posted by WillyB

Outside of the fuzz clogged sail switch issue that stopped the gas furnace last night I will say the gas furnace is great. Quiet and warms our 21C quickly and efficiently.

Same climate, same 110 source-completely different results.
I’ve been very pleased with my Coleman..

Maybe email Dustin with the issue, I’ve found him to be very helpful. I would also give Coleman a call, I have had a few questions and their customer service was excellent.

[John in Santa Cruz]

Originally Posted by WillyB

I did not check.

I was just looking through Coleman info about their Elect-A-Heat strip and they say it is "not a substitute for your furnace". They call it a "Chill Chaser" for those mornings where it's too warm for the heater and you just need to take the chill off. It's basically a 1500 watt coil that draws outside air over it. Pretty inefficient from what I have seen so far.

If it's not a low voltage condition my guess is some sort of high limit shutoff after struggling for too long that causes the EMS to shut off.

1500 watts is only 12.5 amps at 120V ... that shouldn't trip the EMS under any conditions, maybe your line voltage had a glitch or momentary dip

[WillyB]

Originally Posted by Ooshkaboo

Same climate, same 110 source-completely different results.
I’ve been very pleased with my Coleman..

Maybe email Dustin with the issue, I’ve found him to be very helpful. I would also give Coleman a call, I have had a few questions and their customer service was excellent.

Will yours warm the camper in 30-40 weather?

[WillyB]

Originally Posted by John in Santa Cruz

1500 watts is only 12.5 amps at 120V ... that shouldn't trip the EMS under any conditions, maybe your line voltage had a glitch or momentary dip

I'll have to keep my eye on the EMS voltage. I have seen it as low as 118 Volts and as high as 123 Volts.

[John in Santa Cruz]

Originally Posted by Ooshkaboo

Same climate, same 110 source-completely different results.
I’ve been very pleased with my Coleman..

Maybe email Dustin with the issue, I’ve found him to be very helpful. I would also give Coleman a call, I have had a few questions and their customer service was excellent.

Coleman the camping equipment seller only licensed their name for air conditioners, and RVs... afaik, the Mach AC units are an AirXcel product, and the 'Coleman' brand stick trailers are made by Dutchman, a subsidiary of Keystone who in turn is a subsidiary of Thor.

[John in Santa Cruz]

Originally Posted by WillyB

Will yours warm the camper in 30-40 weather?

a 1500 watt resistive electric heater should make about 5000 BTU of heat. I believe the Atwood in my 2014 E21C is 12000 BTU, around 2.5 times more heat.

[brroberts]

It is a 5000BTU to 12,000BTU difference, but our Coleman does keep our 19 warm and the water flowing even at 15F.

[WillyB]

Originally Posted by brroberts

It is a 5000BTU to 12,000BTU difference, but our Coleman does keep our 19 warm and the water flowing even at 15F.

Interesting. Running this heater is the only thing that will shut off the EMS. When the EMS turns back on the heater will run for about a minute before shutting the EMS off again. I have to be pretty quick with the button pushing to get it off heat so it does not shut off again.

I have a small 1500 portable heater that will run without issue. Strange.

[John in Santa Cruz]

Stranger and stranger. My experience with the built-in EMS is that once it's tripped, it stays off. The only way to reset it is to unplug the trailer from the outside power then plug it back in. Cycling the EMS bypass switch to off and back on does not reset mine.

[WillyB]

Originally Posted by John in Santa Cruz

Stranger and stranger. My experience with the built-in EMS is that once it's tripped, it stays off. The only way to reset it is to unplug the trailer from the outside power then plug it back in. Cycling the EMS bypass switch to off and back on does not reset mine.

I'm going to call Escape later to see if they have run across this before.

My EMS will kick off only with the Mach 10 heater running for a period of time in cold weather. Once it shuts off the EMS will reset and turn back on in about 2-3 minutes and will kick off again until I get the Mach 10 out of heat mode.

Strange that it only does this while running the heat on the Mach 10.

[WillyB]

I read my manual to see and it appears the Error Code was 4 which is low voltage.

Really not sure why the Low Voltage Error on EMS only shuts off when running the Mach 10 heater. Low voltage according to the manual is 104 Volts.

I've had the Mach 10 heater running for about 1 1/2 hours this morning and no issues. It was 49 F this morning when I turned it on so it ran for about 45-50 minutes before it reach 70 F inside.

Thoughts?

[Ooshkaboo]

Originally Posted by John in Santa Cruz

Coleman the camping equipment seller only licensed their name for air conditioners, and RVs... afaik, the Mach AC units are an AirXcel product, and the 'Coleman' brand stick trailers are made by Dutchman, a subsidiary of Keystone who in turn is a subsidiary of Thor.

Yes, Escape provides all of this information to those who choose the Coleman option.

[Ooshkaboo]

Originally Posted by WillyB

I read my manual to see and it appears the Error Code was 4 which is low voltage.

Really not sure why the Low Voltage Error on EMS only shuts off when running the Mach 10 heater. Low voltage according to the manual is 104 Volts.

I've had the Mach 10 heater running for about 1 1/2 hours this morning and no issues. It was 49 F this morning when I turned it on so it ran for about 45-50 minutes before it reach 70 F inside.

Thoughts?

I was having similar problems, try tightening up the electrical connections.
I started at the battery post and went from there.
There’s a mounting post that had some loose nuts, but also the fuse at the battery was broken, not blown. The connection would be sporadic.
After that the EMS was good to go.

I also am lucky as you are to have my camper right outside my door, I’m somewhat thankful to run into problems that need addressed right here and not on the road.

[WillyB]

Originally Posted by Ooshkaboo

I was having similar problems, try tightening up the electrical connections.
I started at the battery post and went from there.
There’s a mounting post that had some loose nuts, but also the fuse at the battery was broken, not blown. The connection would be sporadic.
After that the EMS was good to go.

I also am lucky as you are to have my camper right outside my door, I’m somewhat thankful to run into problems that need addressed right here and not on the road.

Having our Escape right outside our door allows me to use it as additional home office space, a place to play cards, a bar for my crazy/loud friends who stop by late in the evening and on occasion a place to sleep.

Thanks for the info on the electrical connections. I'll give that a once over.

[Jill]

Originally Posted by WillyB

I read my manual to see and it appears the Error Code was 4 which is low voltage.

Really not sure why the Low Voltage Error on EMS only shuts off when running the Mach 10 heater. Low voltage according to the manual is 104 Volts.

I've had the Mach 10 heater running for about 1 1/2 hours this morning and no issues. It was 49 F this morning when I turned it on so it ran for about 45-50 minutes before it reach 70 F inside.

Thoughts?

Probably not your issue but ... We got the 4 error often when running our air conditioner. We eventually replaced our power cord with one that fit better on the trailer side. The new one is easier to screw on. Haven't had the problem since and this was 4 or 5 years ago.

[WillyB]

Yep, E4.

The EMS never shuts off due to low voltage except when I use the Mach 10 heater.

I’ve ran the AC and fridge on electric on the same cord and they work fine. Fails only on the Mach 10 heater.

[John in Santa Cruz]

before you get the E4, with just that heater element (and the ac fan) running, what does the EMS show the current is ? I would expect around 12-13 amps if its a 1500 watt heater.