Trillium furnace

[dleverton]

Someone, I think David, mentioned the usual fault with the Trillium furnace is the sail switch.
We are a few days from a trip to Jasper and I realized I have never gotten the furnace going. So a couple questions:
1)how do you get it out? I had a couple quick tries and nothing would budge.
2) is it a sticky sail switch or slow fan or obstruction that is the issue?
3)my furnace is under the curb side settee and I have built a queen bed over it. I have no experience with this furnace so have no idea how well it might distribute warm air considering that air has to come out from under the bed. I could easily fabricate a channel with a fan in it. Any thoughts would be appreciated.


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Doug L

[dleverton]

Well I have it out and the sail switch works well.
It does not maintain the pilot light. This is an older unit (Duo Therm 66012-005) and is pre thermocouple. Instead it has a Bourdon tube heated by the pilot light which activates the gas valve. I removed the end at the gas regulator and if I manually light the pilot light, the gas valve end does not expand as I think it should. Anybody know of a source for these?


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Doug L

[dleverton]

Ah Ha, new revelation!
It is a thermocouple not a Bourdon tube. I put a milliVolt meter across it and it went up to 20mV when the pilot light was manually lit.


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Doug L

[Bob in Mb]

Google ' DSI Service Guide ' , may be helpful.

[mszabo]

If you have pilot light your half way there.
Now, take everything apart and clean it!

[dleverton]

So I have it working, but it is a very strange system.
Everything works except the thermocouple was mounted below the pilot light???
Even after the pilot flame had been on for 5 minutes, the tip of the thermocouple was cool to touch. If the furnace were to be inverted 180 degrees it would work perfectly. The following picture is after the fix.

Now the thin copper tube (the thermocouple), is above the larger silver tube (the pilot gas tube). I couldn't flip the entire furnace but I drilled 2 new holes in the little manifold and flipped it.
My best guess is that there were 2 styles of manifold available depending on how you wanted to mount your furnace and my furnace had the wrong one.


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Doug L

[dleverton]

Hey Bob thanks for the DSI link. Unfortunately mine is pre DSI. In fact I think it's prehistoric.


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Doug L

[David Tilston]

Doug,

Your furnace is not like anything I have seen in a Trillium before. Could you post overall pictures of it?

Is it a forced air furnace? A sail switch implies a fan.

The standard Duo-Therm. Furnace for a 1300 would be like this, but without the blower:
http://www.fiberglassrv.com/forums/f...wer-54226.html

[dleverton]

Hey David
It is forced air but different from the your link.

The 2 fans run coaxial from one motor.
It seems to run very well now, but it is so strange that it was mounted with the thermocouple below the pilot flame. I don't think it has ever run since installation, as I don't see how the thermocouple could ever be heated enough to latch the pilot valve, and the main gas valve would not go on without the pilot valve latched.
I would love to see a picture of the pilot manifold from an other unit.
I spent a number of hours yesterday contemplating if Duo-Therm had done something very clever that I was missing, or if it was simply installed with a special upside down version manifold. All the printing was right side up.
I suspect mine is odd because it is under the curb side settee.


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Doug L

[David Tilston]

To me, it looks like it is installed sideways.

I am calling this a PO install.

[SylvieK]

Originally Posted by dleverton

Hey David
It is forced air but different from the your link.
Attachment 88272Attachment 88273
The 2 fans run coaxial from one motor.
It seems to run very well now, but it is so strange that it was mounted with the thermocouple below the pilot flame. I don't think it has ever run since installation, as I don't see how the thermocouple could ever be heated enough to latch the pilot valve, and the main gas valve would not go on without the pilot valve latched.
I would love to see a picture of the pilot manifold from an other unit.
I spent a number of hours yesterday contemplating if Duo-Therm had done something very clever that I was missing, or if it was simply installed with a special upside down version manifold. All the printing was right side up.
I suspect mine is odd because it is under the curb side settee.


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Doug L

I recently bought a 1980 Trillium 4500 and my duotherm furnace is exactly the same, located under a bench in the dînette. Have to bend under the table to get accces! I am surfing on this forum to get info on it. Wondering what your outside exhaust looks like? Found a instruction manual on internet, previous owner lit it when I bought it ( wanted to see if it worked oK), but can’t remember how to light it.

[dleverton]

Originally Posted by SylvieK

I recently bought a 1980 Trillium 4500 and my duotherm furnace is exactly the same, located under a bench in the dînette. Have to bend under the table to get accces! I am surfing on this forum to get info on it. Wondering what your outside exhaust looks like? Found a instruction manual on internet, previous owner lit it when I bought it ( wanted to see if it worked oK), but can’t remember how to light it.

Hi Sylvie
I eventually gave up on it and found another furnace. I don’t easily give up on this sort of thing, but after 30 trips under the bed to study it , I gave up. It did latch after I rotated the position of the thermocouple, but 10 minutes later it would quit. I had the regulator out and apart so many times and I suspected the latching solenoid had shorted turns. I still have it.

[srm777]

Originally Posted by dleverton

So I have it working, but it is a very strange system.
Everything works except the thermocouple was mounted below the pilot light???
Even after the pilot flame had been on for 5 minutes, the tip of the thermocouple was cool to touch. If the furnace were to be inverted 180 degrees it would work perfectly. The following picture is after the fix.
Attachment 88256
Now the thin copper tube (the thermocouple), is above the larger silver tube (the pilot gas tube). I couldn't flip the entire furnace but I drilled 2 new holes in the little manifold and flipped it.
My best guess is that there were 2 styles of manifold available depending on how you wanted to mount your furnace and my furnace had the wrong one.


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Doug L

It's supposed to be that was because when the pilot flame is high enough the flame splits and the bottom part hit right on the thermocouples that sits below where the propane enters the furnace. I'm glad it works for you but I have the exact same furnace and it's located where yours was and works fine. Again, I had to adjust my pilot a little.

[srm777]

Originally Posted by dleverton

So I have it working, but it is a very strange system.
Everything works except the thermocouple was mounted below the pilot light???
Even after the pilot flame had been on for 5 minutes, the tip of the thermocouple was cool to touch. If the furnace were to be inverted 180 degrees it would work perfectly. The following picture is after the fix.
Attachment 88256
Now the thin copper tube (the thermocouple), is above the larger silver tube (the pilot gas tube). I couldn't flip the entire furnace but I drilled 2 new holes in the little manifold and flipped it.
My best guess is that there were 2 styles of manifold available depending on how you wanted to mount your furnace and my furnace had the wrong one.


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Doug L

It's supposed to be below the flame. I have the same furnace and the pilot flame splits when high enough and the lower part of the split flame hits right on the thermocouple where it keeps it heated to stay running. You may need to adjust the pilot by removing the slotted screw and putting a small flat blade screwdriver down the hole and turning counterclockwise.

[srm777]

Sorry for the double post, just getting used to this forum.