Heater Issues

[tctc]

My heater lights half the time, the blower will come on for a minute and then go off. If I turn off furnace and turn it back on it it may start working again. I have had to restart as many as 10 times before it starts working. My propane is full, and I am getting gas everywhere in the camper. We may go two days with the heater working perfectly normal, and then it will start acting up again. My wife and I have a 2015 Cougar 5th wheel and are full timers. Thank you for your help.

[chuckster57]

Welcome to the forum. What brand/model of furnace? It could be any number of things and knowing brand at least will help.

[tctc]

It' an Atwood, I'm not sure of the model.

[chuckster57]

This should get you started:


http://www.rverscorner.com/furnace1.html

[tctc]

Thank you sir.

[jsmith948]

Just an added FYI: There have been numerous threads/posts regarding Atwood furnaces. There seems to be a proclivity for bad control boards.

Our control board went bad the second season we had the camper. Fixed the issue with a replacement control board from Dinosaur Electronics. Some of the other folks found bad sail switches, but, since your furnace will light, I doubt that is your problem. If you can access your furnace (maybe using an inspection mirror) there is a red LED on the control board that will flash a trouble code- check your manual.

Our previous camper had a Suburban furnace that was trouble free for the six years we owned it.

[rhagfo]

Could be your Propane regulator, we had an issue with our furnace trying to light and the solution was to replace the regulator. It provided enough pressure and volume for the stove and water heater, but the volume the furnace needs is much larger.
Could also be partly blocked air intake affecting the sail switch.

[tctc]

I checked the furnace yesterday and found the red light, and it wasn't blinking. The heater was working yesterday though. I've read through all the threads containing heater issues and nobody has had quite the same issues. What's driving me crazy is the randomness of the problem. Like I said it will work normally for a day and the next I have to restart it 10 times to get it to work, with the conditions exactly the same on both days. My furnace is an Atwood 8535 IV and their website is now Dometic, and there support is not the best. Thank you both for your help, I appreciate it.

[flybouy]

Where are you located? Did the "identical conditions" include Identical" overnight and daytime temperatures ?

It may be a control board issue (good possibility as shutting it off can sometimes "reset it" or could be a low flow issue caused by extremely low Temps or Ann issue with a regulator. Only way to positively find that out is to perform a water column test at the furnace.

[JRTJH]

"If I turn the furnace off and back on again it works"... Are you doing that "off/on" at the thermostat???? If so:

Digital thermostat ???? It could be anything from a "finicky diode" to a "voltage blip" when the converter kicks in to recharge the batteries....

I wouldn't rule out a thermostat issue as there have been a number of problems ranging from "set limits incorrect" to "foam under the touch pad too thick"....

[tctc]

I'm in East Texas and our temps have been 45-60.

[tctc]

I've been turning it on and off again at a digital thermostat.

[chuckster57]

This one:


https://www.campingworld.com/dometic...%20accessories

Know to be extremely finicky. I’ve watched them change set temp on their own.

[sourdough]

If you've checked everything mentioned in the thread and you're down to the control board or the thermostat I will add this; that thermostat is a real pain. I didn't see what year or model your trailer was but I'm on my 4th one - all due to the unit's touch panel being erratic. If your trailer is somewhere around an 18 model Dometic will probably send you one for no charge.

[tctc]

Thank you mine is a 17.

[Miles]

Just went through same thing, mine was a fuse in the fuse panel it would trip and then reset itself, drove me crazy trying to figure it out! Replaced the fuse all was good,

[sonofcy]

Originally Posted by tctc

My heater lights half the time, the blower will come on for a minute and then go off. If I turn off furnace and turn it back on it it may start working again. I have had to restart as many as 10 times before it starts working. My propane is full, and I am getting gas everywhere in the camper. We may go two days with the heater working perfectly normal, and then it will start acting up again. My wife and I have a 2015 Cougar 5th wheel and are full timers. Thank you for your help.

I had the exact same problem. I verified the sail switch was ok with a 12V tester, then verified the high limit switch was ok again with the 12v tester so according to the troubleshooting flow chart I found the board was bad. Ordered a Dinosaur brand board and it has worked perfectly ever since. It's ob amazon and the Dinosaur brand is rated #1 (they make NASA parts). Go to the dinosauer web site to determine board model, mine was the common board, link below
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0...?ie=UTF8&psc=1

[Tfmyers]

We have a 2018 Fuzion 357, had the furnance rebuilt already. Still having issues. Seems to run steady, but most people say its normal but every 4 maybe 5th time it kicks on and runs and shuts off it kicks right back on within a second, we've just about given up on this piece of junk!

[jimthemosaicguy]

If you have had a problem with the furnace not working when temps drop really fast it’s probably because of the way the Incommand system was wired (by design) after a yr of freezing temps I figured out a space heater close to the thermostat helped slow the temp drop. No problem since. No idea whether there is a way to modify the system to correct the issue.

I had one of the first 2016 models. Didn’t learn until after I bought it that it was considered a “pre-2016” I guess to test it. The kicker is it was wired for the Incommand but didn’t actually come with the system also didn’t come with the backup camera. The keystone customer service Dept (ha-ha) wouldn’t add either one.

[Keystoned]

So I'm having issues with my heater, new fill of propane, turn it on and the fan blows immediately but it never lights, so the fan shuts off fairly soon. The intake and exhaust look clean and it is an airxcel suburban model. Any ideas?