well our furnace quit working....

[dm1401]

2 weekends ago we were dry camping at one of our favorite bush lakes for 4 days. The first night furnace worked fine, 2nd night furnace worked fine, but that morning it would run the blower and would not do anything else, not even attempt to light. Our propane level was good but battery level was around 50%, so I thought that was the problem, so I fired up the generator let it run for about 15 minutes but still no go.
Any ways when we got back on Monday afternoon, I phoned our selling dealer and told them the issue we had (Along with a piece of missing weather stripping on the main entrance door) and they said they couldn't look at it for at least 3 weeks. I then politely asked if there was any way they could help me, or even walk me through diagnosing it. She then said that's not necessary and they will send up a mobile tech to my house. He was there the next day and discovered the circuit board was no good, he returned the next day with the parts and completed both repairs.
Well done Country RV in Kelowna BC

[JRTJH]

I can't tell you "for sure" that this happened to your furnace control board, but it's happened to me a number of times over the years...

We will go dry camping, it will get chilly, we'll turn up the thermostat, the battery (ies) will be fairly well charged, the furnace will run well the first night. Forget to charge the batteries, the second night, it will get chilly and again, I'll turn up the thermostat. By morning, the batteries are discharged, the furnace won't light, the "check refrigerator" light is on and the DW is not happy....

Fast forward to later in the day: Recharge the batteries, the refrigerator is working, the batteries are charged and "all is well" Darkness sets in and I turn up the thermostat. The furnace fan will run, the furnace ignitor won't "click the standard 3 times", but the fan turns off, then a few minutes later, fan is on again with no ignition. Come a chilly morning, I go looking and find the ignitor is carboned up. Clean it, but it still won't spark.

Change the control board and all is "good again"

Now, my theory: There is a component or a circuit on the control board that is sensitive to low voltage and when that component is called to function with a consistently low battery, it "self destructs" and leaves the board in "failure mode"......

Over the years, I've had probably 5 control boards on Suburban furnaces "self destruct" on me. Every time it's been after a night of trying to run the furnace with a discharged battery. You may well be a "victim" of the same situation...

A word of caution: I no longer will operate the furnace unless I know that the battery is fully charged and will "last through the night" So far, since I've started doing that, I've never had a control board failure.....

Try it, it may well save you a couple hundred bucks "next time"

[dm1401]

Thanks for the heads up, the low voltage idea did cross my mind and I did worry that it may damage the board. We have a 160ish watt solar panel on the roof, and a gen set to re-charge the batteries. I do however feel that my 2x 6 volts are defective and are currently getting a full check out at the battery supplier. I am under warranty, and we purchased extended warranty when we bought the unit new in the fall of last year, so we are covered for several more years. I sure hope they are not too sensitive to low voltage, time will tell.

[JRTJH]

Having the factory warranty is great, you're covered there, but there's a "hitch" to the extended warranty...

Most have a deductible that must be met before they "insurance company" pays for any repairs.... When you consider a control board is $150 and the repair labor charge is $100 for a total repair bill of $250. Having an extended warranty with a $250 deductible is like having an "already eaten (empty) corn cob" It's only good for one thing, but don't put it down the black tank when you're done......