1981 Bigfoot furnace problem

[alliestarr]

So we have a 1981 Bigfoot 17 that we are currently having a furnace problem with. It's worked great in the past (albeit the fan is pretty loud and it can be a pain to get the pilot light lit...but I don't think this is uncommon for this age of Bigfoot).

The furnace started right about several weeks ago but when we went to turn it on last week, nothing. The pilot light is on and the thermostat makes the 'click sound' when the lever is pushed up, but the furnace just isn't powering up. It isn't a problem with the battery - we have solar panels that had the battery nice and charged up last week, and today we are plugged in. We've checked the wiring on the thermostat (the ones we can see) and nothing appears to be loose. Both propane tanks are full and we've had no problem lighting the stove or pilot lights on oven and fridge.

We haven't taken the back panel off yet to investigate from that angle, but I am just wondering if anyone has any insight or tips! We aren't experts but have done a pretty good of troubleshooting other problems and figuring them out, but this is one is stumping us.

Thanks in advance!
Allie

[Kenny Strong]

Some say " tap on the valve that opens the main gas line" screw driver handle etc.

[canyon Rafter]

I had a furnace that would not light and did a youtube search and found that there are three main things that usually malfunction with rv furnaces. Circuit board(not common and most expensive),high limit switch, and most common and turned out to be my broken part is the sail switch. The sail switch was 12 bucks. I fixed it easily with the help of a youtube video. Good luck and have fun!
Canyon Rafter