Well we finally have an answer as to what was wrong with the furnace. I gave up on all the local RV techs who just wanted to replace parts until they figured out what it was. I stumbled onto a web site called "JustAsk.com" it cost $15 for me to communicate with a tech and so he and I sent messages back and forth until we found it. After I had told him all that had been replaced and or tested he told me to go thru a series of test step by step until we determined that the problem is the gas valve on the furnace. It was pretty simple to find with the tech telling me just what to check and what I should find if it is bad or okay. That is a great web site if any of you really get stumped give it a try, they have techs for RV's, cars, and trucks. This fellow was associated with R&K RV in Paducah, KY and was quite knowledgeable as to what to work on. So, now we have heat and none to soon as the really cold temps are headed our way down here in SW Georgia.
So can't listen to my XM or get my Bluetooth through the stereo .
I read in the manual about the "heat sensor" which I assume is like the old thermocoupler on old pilot light units, it did state that this may need to be adjusted to point more into the flame so it senses the heat from the burner. What the furnace is doing is after it lights the first time it burns for quite sometime then it starts this intermitent stuff. When the burner goes out you can hear the burner get louder and then a loud "poof" sound and it cuts off. It then waits a few seconds and re-lights the burner but now the burner only stays lit for 25 to 30 seconds then the loud burn and "poof" again and it repeats the process. I would assume this "heat sensor" is down inside the burn chamber near the igniter. As to changing the gas bottle the furnace has done this on both bottles, but one bottle emptied this weekend so I'm going to take it and have it filled and give it a test.
My greatest frustration is not being able to find an RV tech who seems to understand these furnace problems, everyone I have talked with doesn't seem to know much more than I do. I'm pretty handy but I really don't like working on stuff that I don't fully understand how all the systems are suppose to work. However, if all they are going to do is replace parts until they stumble onto the problem (if ever) well as I said before I can do that.
Today I plan as I said change the gas bottle, change the regulator, purge the lines from the bottles to the regulator, and then remove the furnace once again and go in thru the access panel to the igniter and check out the position of the "heat sensor". I'll let y'all know what happens, thanks for all of your suggestions.
Ron
! Monday I took the furnace to a RV tech who was highly reccommended by some local folks it was a 2 hour drive to this guy. He inspected the furnace and stated that the 2nd tech who worked on the furnace that supposedly took it apart and cleaned and adjusted everything damaged the burner assembly which some how affected the gas flow (sometimes good sometimes bad). He showed me where the previous tech had damaged it by using the wrong tool which caused the damage mostly to the orfice. So, this new guy orders a new burner assembly from Suburban says it should be here Thursday and I will have heat that evening. HA, my friends (who I really have lost a lot of respect for) at Suburban sat on this order and didn't ship it until Thursday. When asked why they delayed the shipment they had no reason just laughed and said tell your customer to by some electric heaters. If you have been keeping up with my furnace saga you'll know that I have already had a bad experience with Suburban earlier in this mess with them showing little concern in assisting with troubleshooting. I think it is time for a "nasty gram" to be sent to Suburban from me. This furnace "joke" has been going on since October 2009 and I'm on my 4th RV tech, I am so worried this will be like the other attempts to fix it that I'll get the furnace back here reinstall it and it will work for just a short time and quit again. Maybe I need to let God know that my name isn't Job!!! Oh well, I'll let y'all know first of next week just what has happened. Temps are going into the mid teens tonight and tomorrow night I sure hope the electric heaters keep it warm enough.
WOOOOOO HOOOOOO, We have a working furnace!!! I finally got the furnace back yesterday and got it installed it worked and ran normal all night and is still heating this morning. Many thanks to my friends at Travel Country RV in Lake Park, GA they were great knew what they were doing and got it fixed. However, this was all done with little or no help from Suburban, first they didn't ship the parts until a full week after they received the order than they failed to send all the parts which delayed the repair another day. But we are up and running now.
