Heater problem

azbound

Senior Member
My heater is acting up, when we go to bed we set the thermostate at about 60 and it will be in the 40s in the trailer when we get up and the heater hasn't come on. I move the tempt selector on thermasat up as far as it would go and still no heater. DW says she can hear the igniter snapping but it won't ignite. I THEN TURNED THE HEATER OFF WAITED A COUPLE MINUTES AND TURN IT BACK ON. I COULD HEAR THE FAN AND CLICKING OF THE IGNITER BUT AFTER IT CLICKED ABOUT 3 TIMES IT WOULD STOP. ABOUT THE FOUR TIME I TURNED IT OFF THEN BACK ON I COULD HEAR THE BURNER COME ON AND IT HAS BEEN WORKING. A couple nights ago we ran out of LPG with the heater on could this have damaged something?
 

westxsrt10

Perfict Senior Member
Try restarting it at least 10 times to purge the air out of the system. Does everything else work properly? If its real cold out trying pouring warm warer on the propane regulater+valve on the tank. Our furnace acted like yours once but finally started working. We are out on the road now and our converter is out so the fridge,furnace,lights,water pump is out even with 110 ac power.
 

jmgratz

Original Owners Club Member
Try restarting it at least 10 times to purge the air out of the system. Does everything else work properly? If its real cold out trying pouring warm warer on the propane regulater+valve on the tank. Our furnace acted like yours once but finally started working. We are out on the road now and our converter is out so the fridge,furnace,lights,water pump is out even with 110 ac power.

If your converter is out, go to Wal-Mart and buy a cheap battery charger, (one that will change over to trickle when fully charged) and hook it up to the battery. This will allow you to use the 12 volt systems and also charge your battery. This will get you by until you can get the converter fixed. Also check the 3 30amp fuses on the converter to see if they are blown. Sometimes you can replace them and get the converter working again.
 

jmgratz

Original Owners Club Member
My heater is acting up, when we go to bed we set the thermostate at about 60 and it will be in the 40s in the trailer when we get up and the heater hasn't come on. I move the tempt selector on thermasat up as far as it would go and still no heater. DW says she can hear the igniter snapping but it won't ignite. I THEN TURNED THE HEATER OFF WAITED A COUPLE MINUTES AND TURN IT BACK ON. I COULD HEAR THE FAN AND CLICKING OF THE IGNITER BUT AFTER IT CLICKED ABOUT 3 TIMES IT WOULD STOP. ABOUT THE FOUR TIME I TURNED IT OFF THEN BACK ON I COULD HEAR THE BURNER COME ON AND IT HAS BEEN WORKING. A couple nights ago we ran out of LPG with the heater on could this have damaged something?

The easiest way to get the air out of the propane system is to turn on all of the burners on the stove, lite them and let them burn for about 10 minutes.
 

rick_debbie_gallant

Well-known member
Try restarting it at least 10 times to purge the air out of the system. Does everything else work properly? If its real cold out trying pouring warm warer on the propane regulater+valve on the tank. Our furnace acted like yours once but finally started working. We are out on the road now and our converter is out so the fridge,furnace,lights,water pump is out even with 110 ac power.


I might want to try a hair dryer to warm things up a bit. I would be fearful of water/vaper working its way into the valve and mucking things (freezing) up more than they were before. My 2.5 cents.
 

azbound

Senior Member
Try restarting it at least 10 times to purge the air out of the system. Does everything else work properly? If its real cold out trying pouring warm warer on the propane regulater+valve on the tank. Our furnace acted like yours once but finally started working. We are out on the road now and our converter is out so the fridge,furnace,lights,water pump is out even with 110 ac power.

Doesn't appear to be an LPG problem. The Heater works for a while, starts when the temp. drops and the Thermostat turns it on. Then for no apparent reason it will stop coming on, I can move the Thermostat as high as it goes and the heater will not start up. I then Turn the heater switch to off for a few seconds, turn it back on and the heater comes on and will work through severale cycles then the problem starts all over again.

Any ideas??
 

irvin56

Well-known member
replace thermostat

They are cheap. cheaply made and to buy.

they are not that great for durance. I've had to replace mine and in house also
 

gmc

Reitired - California-Central Chapter Leaders
Letting the burners burn for awhile is the first thing I do before trying the furnace, never had a problem otherwise. I also fire up the fridge after I have turned on the burners. If you haven't used anything for awhile and it's been sitting it takes awhile for the propane to get through the system. By burning the burners I also know the air is out of the lines. I usually turn my propane on at least a day before I plan on using it. Just my 2 cents worth
 

lwmcguir

Well-known member
Doesn't appear to be an LPG problem. The Heater works for a while, starts when the temp. drops and the Thermostat turns it on. Then for no apparent reason it will stop coming on, I can move the Thermostat as high as it goes and the heater will not start up. I then Turn the heater switch to off for a few seconds, turn it back on and the heater comes on and will work through severale cycles then the problem starts all over again.

Any ideas??

As the other post said, start the process of elimination by changing out the thermostat. The ones that come standard are worse than cheap. If it still does as you describe it has to be something electric/electronic on the furnace.
 

kakampers

Past Heartland Ambassador
Yes...most of us have replaced the regular thermostat with a Hunter brand digitial (model 42999B)...works much better and holds the selected temps better.
 

thomasinnv

Well-known member
when you say it works for a while then it won't come one...and you turn it off and then back on and it works again...please be more specific as this might help narrow down the problem a little bit.. when it stops working, is it running but just blowing cold air? or does it do nothing at all, no fan or anything? if the fan is running but the heater is blowing cold air then likely the sail switch may be faulty. (there are a few other possibilities, such as a control board, but the sail switch is the most likely and cheapest place to start in that scenario) the heater is designed so that if it tries to ignite but no flame is sensed, it will go into default mode which just runs the fan continually until the power is reset. turning it off and back on will reset the control board in the furnace. if the fan runs and you hear the clicking of the igniter then you can rule out the sail switch because a faulty sail switch will not activate the igniter circuit. however, if it is not running the fan and there is no indication that it is even trying to do anything at all, then you likely have a faulty thermostat. if you replace the thermostat, just any household thermostat will not do. if it is a non digital one then it does not matter, but there are very few digital thermostats that will play well with rv's. the rv uses 12v dc for the switching power supply, most household thermostats use higher voltage like 24v and some use ac instead of dc.
 

katkens

Founding Illinios Chapter Leader-retired
Can I buy a thermostat at Home Depot or do I need one made for an RV?

You can find the Hunter thermostat at Walmart and still at 20 bucks the last time I looked. It is a great improvement and when you get ready to install there is many threads on how to wire it on the forum....Kenny
 

SmokeyBare

Well-known member
I could not locate a thermostat with a 2 speed fan option... most of those who want a 2 speed fan install a small toggle switch on the side or bottom of the Thermostat. I do NOT run the A/C on low... so I decided not to add the switch. In my view, running the A/C on low fan increases the risk of the A/C freezing up.

Marv
 

boatto5er

Founding VA Chap Ldr (Ret)
The instructions that are somewhere here on the forum show how to install the 2-speed toggle switch, but like SmokeBare, I didn't put it in either. Just isn't enough difference between low and high speed to justify the work - IMHO.
 
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