bigfoot furnace help !!

[Alberta Mac]

I have a fibreglass 16ft Bigfoot. 1979.
Trailering is totally new to me. We have camped once and are going out again in the next few days.
We did get the fridge going and today will try the stove.

Yesterday two friends had tried getting the furnace going with no luck !

We had the pilot light lit and going by itself but funace did not kick in.
We also looked at the wiring for the thermostat on the wall, green wires, but did not see green wires going to the furnace.

Wondering if there is a fix that I can do myself and what others have done ?

[Carol H]

John check the Documents center on this forum you might get lucky and find a manual for you furnace as well as other appliances you have.

If its getting power, you should be able to hear a clicking sound when the furnace is attempting to light?

I know on my old furnace I had to make sure the switch on the wall was on the on position and then turn the heat setting up fairly high before the furnace would attempt to light.

On my old trailer it was always hard to start the furnace and or water heater on propane without first lighting a burner on the stove, which helped to fill the gas lines.

[Alberta Mac]

Carol
Thanks I'll look into it ! In the mean time I will be purchasing today a ''Little Buddy'' propane heater from Princess Auto. It also has a safety detector that will shut the unit off if gas levels are too high. I think I will have many uses for this portable unit like in the garage ! I also saw wood stoves on another site and was thinking of a retro-fit, but I wont be rushing into mods this year ! We just want to get out and enjoy as much as possible for the first year of ownership !
We are booked at a camp site for tomorrow and Fri.eve. !
Thanks

[Carl V]

This is a Coleman ST200 unit, and the manual for this heater is in the document center.
I have the same unit in my trailer.
It's a very straightforward design with a pilot, main burner, a thermocouple. The schematic is in the manual.
Mine wasn't working because the pilot burner was clogged with dirt. I cleaned it up and it now runs nicely.
Here:
http://www.fiberglassrv.com/forums/f...tml#post593610

[Tom Trostel]

My 1980 Bigfoot has a Traco, model FA7912, 9,000 BTU furnace. I know nothing about it.

[Carl V]

Originally Posted by Alberta Mac

We had the pilot light lit and going by itself but funace did not kick in.
We also looked at the wiring for the thermostat on the wall, green wires, but did not see green wires going to the furnace.

The furnace needs 12V to run.
The switch on the right side must be ON and the red knob turned to ON.
The setting on the thermostat must be higher than ambient (you can connect both wires at the thermostat to simulate a warmer setting. On my trailer they are yellow).
The pilot must be lit.

When all those 4 conditions are met, the main burner valve will open, and the the pilot will lit the main burner.
When the temperature inside the casing is warm enough, the fan will kick in.
When the ambiant temp reaches the thermostat setting, the main valve will close and the main burner will shut off. When the heat exchanger has cooled enough, the fan will stop.

If you need to work on this heater, it is designed to be serviced easily by pulling out the internals (a couple screws to remove) and the outer casing remains in the cabinet. I discovered this only after I pulled the whole thing out, which is not necessary.