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Old 05-29-2017, 08:24 AM   #1
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Atwood Furnace Issue

Guys,

Was camping on the weekend and on Saturday night the propane ran dry in one tank. Not sure why CR has 20lb tanks on the Sunset Trail but, whatever. By the time I changed it over the furnace had cut out. Opened up the other tank but could not get the furnace started again. Checked the fuses, fine. I was getting propane as the stove would light.

Turned the breaker off and on and turned the furnace off and on through the t-stat. Eventually the furnace fan came on and I was getting warm air through the vents but the blower wouldn't come on. I have done internet searching and reading and my problem sounds similar to lockout aside from the fact I was getting warm air. As long as the trailer was warm I was good as it was a very cold night.

Can anyone shed any light on this? Has anyone experienced the same?

Thanks in advance.

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Old 05-29-2017, 02:02 PM   #2
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Did you look in our Document section for Atwood Furnace help?
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Old 05-29-2017, 02:17 PM   #3
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Hi Mark,

I am reviewing the Furnace Troubleshooting document now.

Thanks for the suggestion, hadn't thought of that.

I did read the furnace manual that came with the trailer, that was useless.
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Old 05-29-2017, 04:02 PM   #4
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Your just airlocked. When the gas ran out air got into the line to the furnace. If you have gas to the stove it should clear out but you may have to run several cycles through the furnace by turning it on and off; waiting a bit and repeat the cycle until the gas bleeds out the air. Worse case, you might have to loosing the gas line to the furnace to let some bleed out but it should eventually clear by cycling through several times.
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Old 05-29-2017, 06:28 PM   #5
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Ahhhh, so it would be similar to the airlock that can happen when you install a new water tank in your house.

Thanks so much for the reply, I'll try this on the weekend when I hit the campground. Much appreciated.
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Old 06-05-2017, 06:33 AM   #6
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Just wanted to close the loop on this thread by thanking Papa for his advice. I did as he said, used the outside kitchen for two meals, shut the furnace off for most of Saturday and by Saturday night it was back to normal.

Love this forum and all of the advice.

Thanks again!
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Old 06-05-2017, 07:16 AM   #7
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Glad you got it working. I wish I'd had this site 20 years ago.
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Old 08-03-2017, 11:46 AM   #8
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Atwood Furnace Problem

I read the thread hoping it would iead me to a solution. My furnace blower will come on, run for about a minute then shut off. I probably have recycled the system 15 times now with the same result.

Any other ideas. Got cold last night.
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Old 08-03-2017, 12:05 PM   #9
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I'm not really up on the thermostats in the newer campers.
Where have you got the fan switch set to?
Second, did you look at the Document section for Atwood Furnace help?

Hopefully one of the other members that is more familiar with the thermostat in the newer rigs will chime in here.
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Old 08-03-2017, 01:11 PM   #10
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Thank you. Did find a document to address the issue. Was able to try the one thing to reset the circuit but did not fix the problem. Going to try to find a repair shop.

thank you for the help.
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Old 08-03-2017, 08:02 PM   #11
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Do you actually get heat before the blower goes off (can you hear the flame ignite)? I had a kink in the duct hose to the bedroom and bathroom. I think this caused the heater to shut itself off. Unkinked the ductwork and now OK.
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Old 11-13-2017, 08:12 AM   #12
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I just bought a 2014 ST32BH that had been sitting mostly unused for years. It's in very good shape but I can't get the furnace to light.

I've read the manual and trouble shooting documents, did a hard reset by disconnecting power and battery, bled air from the lines, freshly filled propane tanks, inside stove and outdoor grill work fine. Tried setting the thermostat to auto/low/high fan. I found a wasp nest deep inside the exhaust vent and removed that and hooked my shop vac up to it to suck out any other debris.

The blower works fine. You can hear it attempt to ignite 3 times and then it turns off. There is no warm air at all. It's unfortunate there is no access panel on this unit to get at the circuit board and switches. I removed the air return vent and took a peek inside but I'm not confident enough to remove the furnace and troubleshoot further.

Based on what I've read, I suspect there is debris up in there somewhere and/or the sail switch is not working. If anyone has any additional advise on what to try next I'd very much appreciate it. At this point I don't know what else to do other than getting a mobile RV tech out to take a look at it.
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Old 11-13-2017, 02:16 PM   #13
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Your problem sounds just like what I experienced. You can see my first post a couple of notes back. The problem turned out to be the sail switch. Was a problem because there are a couple of different switches based on year of furnace. Took a while for a shop in Bozeman to figure that out. Hope all goes well.
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Old 11-13-2017, 03:47 PM   #14
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Sounds like dirty pilot line / gas valve issue.
Burners trying to light but with no pilot ignition - main burner will not fire. You can hold a flame on the thermocouple and main burner should fire after that , however if the pilot is not sustained - main burner will flame out. Often minute debris will get in that small nozzle and plug it up. Get a gas fitter to take it apart and clean it out.
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Old 11-13-2017, 04:44 PM   #15
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I spoke with a mobile RV tech on the phone today relaying everything in my previous post. He said if I can hear clicks of it trying to ignite then the sail switch is working properly. He thinks it's probably debris causing the problem. I've not dealt with the guy before but he's coming out Thursday to fix it. I'd rather not spend the money, but I'm going to watch his every move and hopefully I'll feel comfortable working on furnaces going forward. I'll post how it goes.
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Old 11-13-2017, 04:53 PM   #16
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Stovepipe, I would let a licensed gas fitter trouble shoot it, if you try this yourself
- a stovepipe may be all that is left.
Keep us posted
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Old 11-13-2017, 05:07 PM   #17
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Jeffur View Post
Stovepipe, I would let a licensed gas fitter trouble shoot it, if you try this yourself
- a stovepipe may be all that is left.
Keep us posted
Haha! I guess I'm putting my faith in this guy. He had good reviews and seemed knowledgeable over the phone. Evidently this is a pretty common problem. I'll let you know how it goes.
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Old 11-16-2017, 03:48 PM   #18
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Well, my first time dealing with a mobile RV repair service was a success, my furnace is now in good working order! Turns out the problem was dirt dobber nests embedded deep in the furnace keeping the igniter from firing properly. While in there they also found a crack in the blower's plastic hamster wheel and replaced that. They tested the system outside of the trailer using a battery and a portable tank before reinstalling everything.

These guys were happy to explain to me everything they were doing, and I asked a ton of questions. I feel like if I have problems in the future I'll feel comfortable enough removing the furnace and troubleshooting the basic things. FYI there is a reset switch that can be accessed by reaching in on the right side of the furnace where you remove the air return vent.

I bought a flying insect screen for the exhaust vent but unfortunately it does not fit. It looks like I'm going to need one that is more square shaped. Can anyone link me to one they've purchased for their similar unit?

Hopefully I won't have to spend any more money on repairs any time soon but if I do have problems that I can't fix myself I'm gonna call these guys to come out again. Seems much better than towing the trailer to a dealer, waiting potentially a long time, and paying who knows what. These guys charged around $30 less per hour than my closest dealer and I got to watch the work up close.
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Old 11-16-2017, 06:27 PM   #19
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Well that's a good positive post.
Glad it all worked out for you. Thanks for reporting back.
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Old 11-16-2017, 07:40 PM   #20
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Stovepipe View Post
Well, my first time dealing with a mobile RV repair service was a success, my furnace is now in good working order! Turns out the problem was dirt dobber nests embedded deep in the furnace keeping the igniter from firing properly. While in there they also found a crack in the blower's plastic hamster wheel and replaced that. They tested the system outside of the trailer using a battery and a portable tank before reinstalling everything.

These guys were happy to explain to me everything they were doing, and I asked a ton of questions. I feel like if I have problems in the future I'll feel comfortable enough removing the furnace and troubleshooting the basic things. FYI there is a reset switch that can be accessed by reaching in on the right side of the furnace where you remove the air return vent.

I bought a flying insect screen for the exhaust vent but unfortunately it does not fit. It looks like I'm going to need one that is more square shaped. Can anyone link me to one they've purchased for their similar unit?

Hopefully I won't have to spend any more money on repairs any time soon but if I do have problems that I can't fix myself I'm gonna call these guys to come out again. Seems much better than towing the trailer to a dealer, waiting potentially a long time, and paying who knows what. These guys charged around $30 less per hour than my closest dealer and I got to watch the work up close.
Search on Amazon or eBay for Atwood mud dauber screen.
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