Furnace Problem - Fiberglass RV
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Old 04-11-2009, 01:11 PM   #1
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Trailer: Casita Freedom Deluxe
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I have a 2006 Liberty Deluxe Casita with the Furnace upgrade. The fan will come on when the thermostat engages, but the burners will not ignite. The eletric striker is working fine. Any ideas anyone?
Ric
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Old 04-11-2009, 01:53 PM   #2
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Here is a reprint of the upgrade furnace info taken from my Casita factory manual. I don't know if what's in here will help or not, but here goes:

"If the room temerature drops below the set temperature on the thermostat, a 12 volt DC current is sent to the time delay relay/fan switch. The relay has three main components; a heater coil, a set of contacts and a thermal disc, that open and close the contacts at a certain temperature.

The relay receives the current from the thermostat and passes this current to the built-in switch inside the relay. This is accomplished by the heater coil which then actuates the bimetal thermal disc which closes the contacts.

Current is then passed to the 12 volt DC motor that spins two blower wheels simultaneously. One begins drawing fresh air into the combustion chamber from outside the RV while the other wheel begins blowing unheated air through the distributing ducting system.

The blower wheel blows against a large paddle attached to the sail switch that closes its contacts once the blower has reached approximately 75% of its normal speed. Once the sail switch closes, the current is next passed to the limit switch. The limit switch is a normally closed thermal switch that will only open the circuit if high casing temperatures are experienced. If a normal condition exists, the current passes through the limit switch to the printed circuit board.

Here is where things become slightly more complicated as the PC board next performs simultaneous tasks. The PC board has a built-in timer that allows the blower fan to purge the combustion chamber of any unused gases or other byproducts of combustion. After this time has elapsed, the board will then send current to the gas valve, which opens and gas flows to the burner. At the same time, a high voltage spark is produced by the board and sent along what looks like a spark plug wire, to the electrode assembly. As the gas mixture flows through the spark created by the board, it ignites and burns. The electrode then will sense this flame by sending a very small current, measured in microamps, back to the board confirming the presence of the flame. The flame itself acts as a conductor to complete this sense circuit. If the flame did not ignite, the circuit is opened and the board either tries for a second or third time to light the burner, or it goes into a lock-out condition.

This lock-out condition is a safety feature that is not alterable. A lock-out condition is when the flame does not ignite in the prescribed number of tries. Usually the board continually sparks until a flame is sensed. In some cases, the board may try three times to light the burner. Lock-out stops any of the remaining events from happening until the wall thermostat contacts have been manually opened and reset. The fan may continue to run, but there will be no heat."

Hope this info helps, if not, perhaps some other board member might have some additional troubleshooting tidbits.

Greg
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Old 04-11-2009, 03:22 PM   #3
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We had a problem with our heater a couple of years ago. Seems the exhaust pipe was not quite long enough and some exhaust gas was leaking back into the heater, triggering an automatic shutoff. Got that fixed and all is well now. Not sure, obviously, if your problem is the same.
cheers
Ian

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Old 04-11-2009, 03:40 PM   #4
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Mine had water in it. Must have came in during a storm. If there is a port that comes off, take it off and look inside. I got the water out by soaking it up with rag.

Also: Light your cook burners first to purge the air out of the lines then re-try the furnace.
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Old 04-11-2009, 05:17 PM   #5
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I was told to set any thermostat as high as possible until the gas started flowing and i could feel heat. It worked great.
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Old 04-11-2009, 09:29 PM   #6
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Quote:
I have a 2006 Liberty Deluxe Casita with the Furnace upgrade. The fan will come on when the thermostat engages, but the burners will not ignite. The eletric striker is working fine. Any ideas anyone?
Ric
Hi Ric,
A friend of mine does small engine repairs and figures at least half of his customers didn't check the gas level when their engine wouldn't start. With that in mind did you check that your propane tank or tanks are full? If you have two tanks and an auto switch over system, is it working properly? With mine there is a lever that points to the tank being used, and it doesn't appear to be automatic anymore. As already mentioned by someone else, lighting your stove burners will get propane flow started quicker after installing a full tank.
Bill
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Old 04-14-2009, 02:29 PM   #7
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Thanks for your info. However, mine won't ignite even though all is working and thermostat is at highest temp. Only the fan and electric sparker comes on and then after three trys the unit fan shuts off. Ric

Quote:
Here is a reprint of the upgrade furnace info taken from my Casita factory manual. I don't know if what's in here will help or not, but here goes:

"If the room temerature drops below the set temperature on the thermostat, a 12 volt DC current is sent to the time delay relay/fan switch. The relay has three main components; a heater coil, a set of contacts and a thermal disc, that open and close the contacts at a certain temperature.

The relay receives the current from the thermostat and passes this current to the built-in switch inside the relay. This is accomplished by the heater coil which then actuates the bimetal thermal disc which closes the contacts.

Current is then passed to the 12 volt DC motor that spins two blower wheels simultaneously. One begins drawing fresh air into the combustion chamber from outside the RV while the other wheel begins blowing unheated air through the distributing ducting system.

The blower wheel blows against a large paddle attached to the sail switch that closes its contacts once the blower has reached approximately 75% of its normal speed. Once the sail switch closes, the current is next passed to the limit switch. The limit switch is a normally closed thermal switch that will only open the circuit if high casing temperatures are experienced. If a normal condition exists, the current passes through the limit switch to the printed circuit board.

Here is where things become slightly more complicated as the PC board next performs simultaneous tasks. The PC board has a built-in timer that allows the blower fan to purge the combustion chamber of any unused gases or other byproducts of combustion. After this time has elapsed, the board will then send current to the gas valve, which opens and gas flows to the burner. At the same time, a high voltage spark is produced by the board and sent along what looks like a spark plug wire, to the electrode assembly. As the gas mixture flows through the spark created by the board, it ignites and burns. The electrode then will sense this flame by sending a very small current, measured in microamps, back to the board confirming the presence of the flame. The flame itself acts as a conductor to complete this sense circuit. If the flame did not ignite, the circuit is opened and the board either tries for a second or third time to light the burner, or it goes into a lock-out condition.

This lock-out condition is a safety feature that is not alterable. A lock-out condition is when the flame does not ignite in the prescribed number of tries. Usually the board continually sparks until a flame is sensed. In some cases, the board may try three times to light the burner. Lock-out stops any of the remaining events from happening until the wall thermostat contacts have been manually opened and reset. The fan may continue to run, but there will be no heat."

Hope this info helps, if not, perhaps some other board member might have some additional troubleshooting tidbits.

Greg
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Old 04-14-2009, 03:25 PM   #8
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Ric....I had the same problem with my furnace....I corrected the problem by replacing the circuit board inside the furnace housing, AFTER determing everything else was working correctly.

Russell
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Old 04-14-2009, 09:59 PM   #9
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My older Suburban furnace in my Scamp had a similar problem. It generally would not light, but occasionally it would. Finally, I figured out my problem. If there was any significant current drop in the electrical system, the furnace would not ignite. I only used the furnace at night and if I had two or more 1156 lights turned on, it would fail. Turning all off except for one would allow the furnace to ignite successfully. Once fired up, I could turn lights back on. Now I know the routine, we have no problem.

Your newer, more sophisticated model may be immune to my problem. If you've tried firing it up during the day, then you can ignore my solution.

I did enjoy reading the detailed explanation from the Casita manual, nevertheless.

Good luck on a fix.
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Old 04-21-2009, 06:33 PM   #10
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Quote:
My older Suburban furnace in my Scamp had a similar problem. It generally would not light, but occasionally it would. Finally, I figured out my problem. If there was any significant current drop in the electrical system, the furnace would not ignite. I only used the furnace at night and if I had two or more 1156 lights turned on, it would fail. Turning all off except for one would allow the furnace to ignite successfully. Once fired up, I could turn lights back on. Now I know the routine, we have no problem.

Your newer, more sophisticated model may be immune to my problem. If you've tried firing it up during the day, then you can ignore my solution.

I did enjoy reading the detailed explanation from the Casita manual, nevertheless.

Good luck on a fix.
We just got a 1999 16' FD. have all the paperwork on the trailer. In the furnace instructions It said to restart the furnace to turn off and on agin the power switch. It does not say this switch is???? It says to turn off the gas valve and turn it on agin. It does not show where this valve is???? Can anyone help find these controls???
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Old 04-21-2009, 08:25 PM   #11
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Name: Tim
Trailer: 2006 Casita
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Ric, I don't know if there is a Thermolcouple with a electronic ignition, but if there is I'd replace it because if its bad it won't let the gas through(its a safety feature). Look in your parts sheet or go on line and look up your model. I have replaced one on my boiler [at] home twice, but it has a pilot on it.
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Old 04-21-2009, 10:31 PM   #12
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Jerry,

One of the many Casita owners on the site should be able to answer your questions. My Suburban in my Scamp has an On/Off switch on the bottom of the thermostat, and the gas valve is located inside of a vented panel on the forward left side of the trailer.

John
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Old 04-22-2009, 07:38 AM   #13
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Jerry,

One of the many Casita owners on the site should be able to answer your questions. My Suburban in my Scamp has an On/Off switch on the bottom of the thermostat, and the gas valve is located inside of a vented panel on the forward left side of the trailer.

John
On the furnace in my 2000 Scamp 16 there is also a power switch on the side of the furnace, hidden in a hole. The switch is attached to the circuit board. I don't think this is the problem here, as the furnace would be dead if this switch were turned off.

I've not heard yet - on the camper with the furnace that will not light, does the stove work properly?

-- Dan Meyer
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Old 04-22-2009, 07:47 AM   #14
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I found this troubleshooting guide for Suburban furnaces on this website (link below). Don't know if it will help, but it has a pretty good list of things to check/rule out. For what it's worth.

Greg

http://www.ducktec.com/furnace-trouble-shooting.html
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Old 04-23-2009, 08:10 AM   #15
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I have a 2006 Liberty Deluxe Casita with the Furnace upgrade. The fan will come on when the thermostat engages, but the burners will not ignite. The eletric striker is working fine. Any ideas anyone?
Ric
I had the exact same problem. Turns out the air intake and exhaust were blocked. This was my own doing as I had covered them for winter storage to keep critters out and I forgot to take it off.

As soon as I took off the covering, it fired up first try. Perhaps something has set up a nest inside the intake/exhaust.




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Old 04-23-2009, 08:03 PM   #16
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Rather than state the kind of trailer the furnace is in, it would likely be more helpful to the furnace experts on the forum to state the make and model of the furnace because there are lots of different kinds out there.

Then the factory manual for THAT furnace can be researched.
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Old 04-25-2009, 08:21 AM   #17
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Pete is correct,

The model series of the appliance helps more...It is most likely an NT series Suburban...I sent the service manual to that entire series to the document center a few weeks back..Donna D. has put it there, it has the trouble shooting points the service guy uses with a detailed series of procedures to service this unit, its not the owners manual, you would need to order this one to get it and its there for free.

If there are questions after reading that or about those tests then post the issues, there are some spooks in the machine to talk about in the design but it will shorten the explanations to a short novel over the long one I can be known for. Within its info is a wonderful detailed step by step of operations in sequence of order.

The comments about freaky stuff that just happens the manual does dot cover is where it gets interesting for me, spiders in some areas, mud dubber wasps in others, this year I had Aficanized bees who thought it was a great hive, two spotted talking geckos who were ground up and a match box car.

Happy camping
Safe trails

Harry
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