Furnace problem

[hadogenes]

2007 Fleetwood Avalon, Atwood heater

Hopefully someone can help me out here.  On cold nights, the heater turns on, heats up the trailer.  The problem is once we fall asleep, it never comes back on.  The "fix" is to get up and physically separate the thermostat contacts.  Once they reconnect, the heater turns back on.  Then its the same process over again.

I've cleaned the thermostat contacts on the cheap brown thermostat, replaced with a battery powered thermostat (has the same problem...have to reset the internal relay before the heater will come back on.)

We never camp with hook-ups.  I have 2-6v Trojan batteries at full charge.  I'm starting to think the voltage getting to the furnace isn't high enough, or is dropping during furnace use.  I know I am continually frustrated with how dim the interior lights are when more than two are turned on.  Is there an easy way to upgrade wiring to provide higher voltage throughout the trailer?

Any tips??

Thanks,

Mike
Temecula, CA

[austinado16]

Mike what I think you'll end up doing is having to operate the furnace in camp driveway, have a digital volt meter handy, and start taking readings both while it's working and then when it fails.

Larger diameter wires will allow more current to flow, but they may not be your problem.

[wavery]

2007 Fleetwood Avalon, Atwood heater

Hopefully someone can help me out here.  On cold nights, the heater turns on, heats up the trailer.  The problem is once we fall asleep, it never comes back on.  The "fix" is to get up and physically separate the thermostat contacts.  Once they reconnect, the heater turns back on.  Then its the same process over again.

I've cleaned the thermostat contacts on the cheap brown thermostat, replaced with a battery powered thermostat (has the same problem...have to reset the internal relay before the heater will come back on.)

We never camp with hook-ups.  I have 2-6v Trojan batteries at full charge.  I'm starting to think the voltage getting to the furnace isn't high enough, or is dropping during furnace use.  I know I am continually frustrated with how dim the interior lights are when more than two are turned on.  Is there an easy way to upgrade wiring to provide higher voltage throughout the trailer?

Any tips??

Thanks,

Mike
Temecula, CA

I'm not sure that is your heater problem because you can get it going by messing with the thermostat.

The most common problem with low voltage is caused by bad grounding. The second problem is often poor quality wiring. Here's how to cure that.

1. Clean and tighten all battery cables (also clean the tops of the batteries). Take a voltage reading at your furnace (heavy black wire).

2. Replace the ground (white) wire from the battery to frame. By-pass the connector. I recommend 8-10g wire. I would replace the pos (black) wire as well and install a new single pole connector or battery shut-off switch.

3. Remove the connector from the frame (located under the frame, near the tongue) and thoroughly clean it. Replace wires and tighten connections. Take a voltage reading at the heater again.

4. Pull all of the fuses out of the converter. Clean contacts.

5. Tighten all connectors, all over the camper.

At this point, you may well see as much as a .5v increase in voltage.

I would recommend going to a marine store and purchase marine grade wiring. The wires are tinned, high quality wire. Purchase new crimp-on connectors and solder them to the wires or get the crimp-on connectors that have heat-shrink built in. When you heat the heat-shrink, it melts a low-temp solder into the connector. This is a common item at marine stores also. Although it may be difficult to find 8g heat-shrink connectors. For 8g, you may be forced to solder them and use heat-shrink tubing.

BTW ....WELCOME TO PUT!!!!

[chip]

4. Pull all of the fuses out of the converter. Clean contacts.
 
 

And you may want to reinstall the fuses after you have cleaned them...

And, absolutely, WELCOME!

[PattieAM]

Your furnace requires 10.5-13.5 volts DC (at the furnace) for the fan to come on, open the sail switch and ignition.  Your propane leak detector has a 24/7 draw, as does the face plate of the radio/cd player (if you have one).  Doesn't take long to draw down the battery, which most likely got a slight boost when you were towing.  Consider disconnecting the battery after charging, until ready to use.

[WolfPack]

Hi and welcom to the put make sure your batterys are fully charge and what wavey said check all your grounds and conectors. hada problem with my Ref when it was on the elec side the wire were lose on the back of the gfi outlet tighten them up problem solved.