HELP! Furnace shutting off at night

[mikecarlson1]

Man, this problem is KILLING us! During the day when temps are 40s and up there are never any problems, everything works perfectly. However, at night when the temps drop down into the 20s, the furnace keeps turning off and the inside temp of the RV drops. I have to wakeup shivering and go turn the a/c unit off and back on again so it will warm the RV up. This typically happens 4-5 times a night.

I've tried 3 different propane tanks. I thought maybe they were freezing, but when the furnace doesn't turn on and the RV gets cold I just use the remote and power the unit off then back on again and it works fine. I've noticed a couple of times that the furnace tries to come on, then I hear the "CLICK"ing noise of the starter, then a "WOOSH" from the propane, then the furnace shuts off and doesn't turn back on again until I turn the unit off and back on.

I have a North Country 27BHS. I bought it in August of 2009 and have taken it into the dealer several times for this issue but they can't reproduce the problem (Again, it never happens during the day when the temps rise)... Anyone have any thoughts? With a 3yr old and a baby on the way I don't think it's good for the inside temp to go 40 - 75 - 40 - 75 - 40 - 75 all night long...

In addition to the 3 tanks, I've tried just having one tank connected, and I've also tried having two takes connected and both turned on (It's got an auto-switch regulator). I'm completely at a loss...

 

[cashb]

Man o man, we had this same problem and it was a nightmare for us. We actually had it in two different trailers. In one, we had it cleaned (it did have a few mud dauber nests), and still the problem. What was irritating was when it was warm out, the furnace worked great! Then they replaced the circuit board which seemed to help for a while, then same problem. I read that it was possibly the sail switch and looked up the schematics of an rv furnace where there was a lot of info that made sense. On the one furnace, finally DH did some percussive maintance, tapping with a hammer, on the fuel valve on the gas line, and WALAH! Fixed, and no problem since. On the other furnace, we were at our wits end and were ready to replace the entire thing when we had an epiphany, and upgraded to our new Sundance! I found the entire issue to be complicated and frustrating, and the furnaces were beyond tempermental! The new one works like a champ! Good luck and hopefully an HVAC person can chime in to 'splain it in a more logical fashion!

 

[cashb]

Here is some info that describes the process

http://www.rvforum.net/miscfiles/Furnace_Trouble-2.pdf

 

[cookie]

Thanks cashb. That is good information. Gonna help someone for sure.

Peace
Dave

 

[Ray LeTourneau]

That's great info cashb, I've saved that one in my computer.

 

[Crumgater]

There have been a number of people on the forum discussing the problem of vents too close to the thermostat - could be at 20F the heater's on long enough to blow hot air directly on the thermostat, turning it off?

Might not be the issue here, but could be a quick fix if it is... worth a look, anyway.

Good luck!

 

[rvn4fun]

We were having the same problem, had to call a surburban tech in. He found propane regulator wasn't adjusted right. He adjusted it up enough to get us back running but told us to look for another regulator. He said the one we have is chinese junk. When furnance was running, I turned on a burner on the kitchen stove and the furnance would instantly quit. Now furnance runs right all night.

 

[mikecarlson1]

Thanks for all of the answers everyone! I will relay these to the dealer and see if it helps, and may try to buy a new regulator for it.