Heat / furnace Issue

[Lauren]

The heating system in our 32TK3 is sporatic. Sometimes it comes on; sometimes not. Have replaced the thermostat. When we go to bed at night we can wake up and it is cold; furnace has not kicked on. Sometimes it can come on a few times and then it won't. If you turn the thermostat off on the bottom and back on the furnace kicks on! It is still warranty but am looking for any input anyone might have. Was to take it to a dealer next week for all the warranty issues but they called and told me they would not do the work as I did not buy it from them (there was a good reason I did not). (Won't get into that in this message, but will - at some point - in another one. There is at least one real bad dealer out there). Comments on the heat thing welcome. Thanks.

[ponch]

lauren
Turn off the system and Wait a few minutes. Then when you turn it on hold the bottom and top buttons of the selector unit to reset it and see if that helps.

Ponch

[RustyJC]

It's quite possible that the furnace has a sporadic flame detection or sail switch problem. It tries to light, a sensor determines that either the flame hasn't been established or that there's no airflow and locks out. When you turn the thermostat switch off and back on, you reset the furnace for another try.

Rusty

[Lauren]

Oops, should have mentioined. Kent at DT MS told me about a reset procedure for the thermostat. I have gone thru that several times. To no avail. Being an intermittent thing I figure getting imput here might here the tech find something. Thanks.

[rverdlm]

Lauren, there are many possibities, but I think the thermostat is not the problem. RustyJC mentioned the fleme detector and sail switch. I'd also check the gas supply i.e. pressure and flow. Have you taken a flashlite and looked into the 2 holes on the exterior of the trailer. One is intake and one is exhaust. Any restrictions like wasp nest will cause your problem. These furnaces can be very sensitve and have many sensors anyone of which can cause problems.

[Motor31]

The furnace issue was already covered by others in this thread. I don't have additional ideas on it.

I am curious which dealer refuses to honor the warrantee on these rigs if you don't buy fromn them. The DT factory needs to be advised of this and a complaint through the BBB might be in order too. We should have a list of dealers to avoid in cases like this so no one buys from them as well.

[Lauren]

I will not be going into the dealer issue here but will be addressing it in another posting in the next few days. Yes, DT knows about it to some extent already (the rep and he basically took my side on it as he was involved when I bought it!). I appreciate all input as this is furnace thing needs to be addressed - it the darn intermittent part that is even more troubling.

[butch50]

I would call DoubleTree/Kent and get authorization to take it to another dealer. For something like this it doesn't have to go to a DoubleTree dealer. It is a Suburban furnace. Any dealer should be able to work on it and if needed they can call the factory. Actually thinking about it now the warranty is most likely going to be paid for by Suburban and not DoubleTree if it proves to be something wrong in the furnace. Either way I would contact Kent also and go to another dealer. Don't mess around with this one.

There could be a number of things failing. Like was posted if the sail switch doesn't think you are getting enought air flow it will not allow the furnace to light up. Also if the furnace tries a certain number of times and fails to ignite it will stop trying.

Butch

[bstark]

I almost hesitate to mention another possibiity due to it's simplicity, but, sensor placement may be a problem as well.

If you have the dual zone set-up, the furnace takes it's pick up from zone one and the sensor is above a light on my floorplan. Using that light or having the fireplace running will give that sensor a false indication of heat in the trailer and the furnace won't activate to heat the rest of the coach.

Perhaps in your floorplan, the sensor is near some heat source that is preventing your thermostat from getting a "cold" signal?

[hitchup]

Bypass Doubletree dealers & go straight to Dometics - Suburban.

I don't recall if I found one online or in owners manual. But they sent an RV tech out in the local area & we got ours fixed fairly quickly in Nov. $20 for service call since they were already coming to RVP for another repair.

http://www.dometicusa.com/

http://www.rvcomfort.com/

[Hobo]

Low voltage will keep the valve from opening properly, or keep the fan from full flow hens the sale switch will not close.
If you on shore power the converter should be taking the load not the batteries but that would not rule out a bad wire or connection.
And the list goes on.......

[RustyJC]

And the list goes on.......
And what list might that be?

Rusty

[Hobo]

And the list goes on.......
And what list might that be?

Rusty

The list of possible causes for the furnace sporadic operation :idea:

[JudyGail]

If you on shore power the converter should be taking the load not the batteries but that would not rule out a bad wire or connection.
And the list goes on.......

Doesn't that still draw power from the batteries? Right now we are having single digit and below zero temps.... the heater is running near constantly (even with a supplemental 110 space heater). During the day with lights on (ours are all 12 volt), the battery "lights" will drop to 3 and 2.... at night, they recharge up to full.

I sure hope AZ warms up next winter! We have to keep our trailer at least 45 degrees, 50 is better. We have two parrots.

[Gemstone]

JudyGail said "Right now we are having single digit and below zero temps.... the heater is running near constantly (even with a supplemental 110 space heater).

'Tis cold in western AZ too, but not that cold ! It'll be Mexico for us next winter ! I found our unit was leaking a lot of air around the slides. I bought a cheap black foam excersize mat, cut it in strips and stuffed all of the cracks, both inside and outside. It made a big difference in our energy consumption.....

Regards
Gemstone

[Hobo]

Doesn't that still draw power from the batteries? Right now we are having single digit and below zero temps.... the heater is running near constantly (even with a supplemental 110 space heater). During the day with lights on (ours are all 12 volt), the battery "lights" will drop to 3 and 2.... at night, they recharge up to full.

I sure hope AZ warms up next winter! We have to keep our trailer at least 45 degrees, 50 is better. We have two parrots.

Your inverter should come close to running everything even if the batteries were disconected. It my put out less in the day when the 110 park power drops due to the rest of the park turning on their space heaters in the AM.
It will be going into the low 30s here in the Yuma foothills this week but it is a lot better then your teens. In MI I had 50 amp and free electric so I ran 3 space heaters, 1 in the basment, 2 in the living area. Worked great.
I keep it between 50 and 60 at night for my birds.
Rick

[Lauren]

I will be dropping off here. Thanks to you who replied to my furnace / heat issue. I know AZ is cold, I live here. And the conversation was turned to batteries, weather and birds.

[lnklatt]

See my post on the other thread for the solution I found for the furnace operation problem - replace the gas regulatory installed at the propane tanks. The original regulatory installed on our unit was a Marshall unit.

Yesterday I also discovered that the heat from the light fixture just below the temperature sensor located on the rear cabinet (the white object) is sufficient to prevent the thermostat from activating the furnace. I turned off the light and shortly thereafter the furnace started.

lnklatt
2005 32TK3

[Lauren]

Well, it would appear this has finally been solved. As was mentioned earlier in this thread, it was the regulator. At least that seems to be it. Not sure what the numbers mean for sure but the furnace needs 12 and regulator was set at 8 - presume that is psi. I had heard from one guy that said he had changed regulators and that solved the problem. It is adjustable so they just set it at 12. It has worked three nights in a row now so we presume it is ok.

Thanks to everyone for all you ideas and help.

Lauren