How do you light the furnace in a Starcraft?

[Brauma]

Sorry for such a stupid question but I spent more than an hour with my camper this wknd and wasn't able to get it lit. I even called the previous owner and he said that he never used the heater.

The manual was no help. Do you light the refrigerator pilot and is that supposed to be it? Cant be. That would force me to run the fridge off LP when I want to run it on AC.

My camper has a thermostat and it also has an interlock switch inline with the thermostat thats mounted to the sink assembly. The interlock is there to assure the sink is upright and the thermostat is mounted to this cabinet. I was starting to lean towards the interlock but I ran out of daylight.

Does the battery have to be hooked up? Mine isn't.

Thanks

[wavery]

Sorry for such a stupid question but I spent more than an hour with my camper this wknd and wasn't able to get it lit. I even called the previous owner and he said that he never used the heater.

The manual was no help. Do you light the refrigerator pilot and is that supposed to be it? Cant be. That would force me to run the fridge off LP when I want to run it on AC.

My camper has a thermostat and it also has an interlock switch inline with the thermostat thats mounted to the sink assembly. The interlock is there to assure the sink is upright and the thermostat is mounted to this cabinet. I was starting to lean towards the interlock but I ran out of daylight.

Does the battery have to be hooked up? Mine isn't.

Thanks

Most furnaces operate in a similar manner. I can only tell you how I lght the one in my Coleman with an Atwood Furnace.

My battery doesn't need to be hooked up if I have the trailer plugged into 110v.

The furnace fan, starter and thermostat run off of 12v that is supplied by either the battery or the camper's converter.

Mine has a small "on/off" switch on the side of my thermostat. I turn that to "on" and turn the thermostat to a lower temperature. The fan will come on and I hear a "Clicking" sound coming from the furnace. The "click" is the automatic starter. It will click 3 times (once every 5 seconds or so). When the furnace lights, you will hear a "whoomp" as the gas ignites and you will have heat, almost immediately. If the furnace fails to light the system will shut down. In that event. Turn the "on/off" switch to off and wait 5 minutes and try it again.

You may want to light a burner on your stove before you try to light the furnace. That will insure that you have gas in the lines and the air has been purged out, to that point.

[tlhdoc]

You didn't post what type of heater you have.  I am basing my answer on a standard hot air furnace that most newer RVs use.  You don't have to light anything.  You need propane and a power source (battery or plugged into shore power).  There is an on/off switch on the thermostat that needs to be turned on.  There is also a rocker switch that needs to be turned on, that is located under the cover where the warm air blows out.  Make sure you have power, and the propane is on.  Make sure the switch under the cover is on and then turn your thermostat on.  Adjust the heat to where you want it.  The fan should kick on in the furnace blower, then after 20 to 30 seconds you should hear the igniter clicking.  Soon you should feel warm air blowing out of the furnace.  

[Brauma]

Thanks for the replies. I'll be darned if I saw a switch on the thermostat but man I hope I overlooked it. I hope its that simple. Im 99% positive there is no switch on the grill where the hot air comes out.

I'll check on the name of the furnace. I remember seeing it on the exhaust vent but I cant call it right now.

Thanks again

[wavery]

Thanks for the replies. I'll be darned if I saw a switch on the thermostat but man I hope I overlooked it. I hope its that simple. Im 99% positive there is no switch on the grill where the hot air comes out.

I'll check on the name of the furnace. I remember seeing it on the exhaust vent but I cant call it right now.

Thanks again

If it is an Atwood, the master switch is inside the grille panel. You have to turn the little plastic nut to unlock the panel, then lift it off.

That switch is usually left in the "On" position. The switch on your thermostat is the one that most people miss. It is a small switch, on the side of the thermostat.

[Brauma]

If it is an Atwood, the master switch is inside the grille panel. You have to turn the little plastic nut to unlock the panel, then lift it off.

That switch is usually left in the "On" position. The switch on your thermostat is the one that most people miss. It is a small switch, on the side of the thermostat.

Atwood doesnt sound right. There were 2 philips screws holding on the grill (there may have been 4) we took off the grill to look around and then put it right back on.

I'll bet I overlooked the switch on the side of the thermostat. All I did was move the temp lever back and forth trying to make it go "click" and fire up.

[chip]

I have a switch on the TOP of the thermostat...It is pretty stiff, and doesn't protrude much.

If the dealer hadn't shown it to me during the walk-through, I would have been befuddled trying to figure it out.

At any rate, the thermostat in the popup is about the same as the one in your house--there is an on/off switch, and a temp adjustment.  And, apparently, there may be another on the furnace itself.

Once you determine the manufacturer of the furnace, you may want to note the model number and try their web page for a manual.  Look under "Support," or "Manuals."

Good luck and hope you get it working...

[tlhdoc]

The switch on my thermostat is on the bottom.  It is very stiff to move.  Left is off, Right is on.  The rocker switch on my furnace is under the cover.  My cover pulls off, nothing to undo.  Just grab the bottom and pull it up and out at the same time.  

[garym053]

You mentioned turning the thermostat up and down to hear the click. Just turn it up and leave it there for a while. It takes a while for the Electronic Ignition to cycle, open the gas valve and fire. When you want heat, this can seem like forever!

The Click you MIGHT hear would only indicate the point when the Thermostat would start or stop calling for heat, depending on whether you heard the click while turning UP the thermostat or down.

[Brauma]

At one point we held the temp lever all the way over to hot for a good while. I never heard a "woosh" and never heard clicking. But because we had messed with lighting the pilot for the fridge, I started to smell gas and we decided to give up before we blew it up.

I'll bet I missed the on/off switch.

It wasnt like we were desperate for heat and it ruined a camping trip. We were just doing a trial run in the front yard and I realized that we've never used the furnace. I had a friend over who has a much older pop up and I was showing my new (new to me) camper off. No big deal. I'll figure it out.

Thanks again to all who replied. I'll post the name of the furnace tomorrow.

[Brauma]

The furnace is made by Surburban.

Sorry, I guess I should have put this in the Mr Fix It thread. Im fairly new here. Still doing a lot of searching and reading.

If someone knows how to start a Suburban heater please let me know. Thanks

[wavery]

The furnace is made by Surburban.

Sorry, I guess I should have put this in the Mr Fix It thread. Im fairly new here. Still doing a lot of searching and reading.

If someone knows how to start a Suburban heater please let me know. Thanks

You might want to get the model # then check out this website:

http://www.rvcomfort.com/suburban/service/furnaces_model.php

[Brauma]

You might want to get the model # then check out this website:

http://www.rvcomfort.com/suburban/service/furnaces_model.php

Awesome. Thats exactly what I needed. Thanks Wavery