Iflyfish Posted January 16, 2017 Share Posted January 16, 2017 My 1987 Sunraider is sitting in the driveway in the freezing snow etc. There is a sound coming from what appears to be the heater. It sounds like a pump. I have checked the water pump and this is not what is making the sound. Any ideas? I am worried that something might burn out. Thanks Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WME Posted January 16, 2017 Share Posted January 16, 2017 Check the thermostat, many of them have a on/off switch on the the bottom. make sure its OFF. Last resort, find the 12v fuse for the heater and remove it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
linda s Posted January 16, 2017 Share Posted January 16, 2017 Is your heater turned off at the thermostat? Heaters don't usually sound like pumps. They sound like a fan. Is your water pump on? If so it might be running because you have a leak somewhere. Is your motorhome plugged in. Sometimes the converters can make a humming sound. Check all this and get back to us Linda S Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Iflyfish Posted January 18, 2017 Author Share Posted January 18, 2017 Thank you very much for your responses. I am in Mexico and a friend is looking after my motor home and reported the noise to me. The noise is not the water pump, he turned it on and then off and heard it go on when he turned it on and off when she shut it down....whew! It's colder than a Popsicle there! He isolated the sound to the vent that says "hot" below the Panel for the refrigerator compressor. I suspect that this is the heater vent. He will check for a "fan" switch on the thermostat and disconnect the appropriate fuse if necessary. He is sending me photos to post of the exterior vent below the refrigerator that says "hot" on it, I assume that is the vent for the heater. I did not receive email notification of your kind responses so need to sort out how to make that happen. I am grateful for your kind advice. By the way I found a site where one can obtain an owners manual. I paid $25.00 US for it. https://www.ioffer.com/i/sunrader-rv-motorhome-operations-ac-furnace-manuals-192448328 Is this the heater vent? Thank you very much. Iflyfish Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
linda s Posted January 18, 2017 Share Posted January 18, 2017 Yes that is the heater vent. If it is hot the furnace is on. The on off switch is on the thermostat front near the bottom. Click it to off. If it's on it will just keep turning on trying to heat the camper. If it's plugged in it will stay running forever. After the propane is gone it will run non stop cause inside will never heat up enough to turn the thermo off Linda S Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Iflyfish Posted January 18, 2017 Author Share Posted January 18, 2017 Thank you very much for your responses. I am in Mexico and a friend is looking after my motor home and reported the noise to me. The noise is not the water pump, he turned it on and then off and heard it go on when he turned it on and off when she shut it down....whew! It's colder than a Popsicle there! He isolated the sound to the vent that says "hot" below the Panel for the refrigerator compressor. I suspect that this is the heater vent. He will check for a "fan" switch on the thermostat and disconnect the appropriate fuse if necessary. He is sending me photos to post of the exterior vent below the refrigerator that says "hot" on it, I assume that is the vent for the heater. I did not receive email notification of your kind responses so need to sort out how to make that happen. I am grateful for your kind advice. By the way I found a site where one can obtain an owners manual. I paid $25.00 US for it. https://www.ioffer.com/i/sunrader-rv-motorhome-operations-ac-furnace-manuals-192448328 Is this the heater vent? Thank you very much. Iflyfish Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Iflyfish Posted January 18, 2017 Author Share Posted January 18, 2017 (edited) Thank you very much Linda! I have forwarded this info to the person looking after Casper, my Sunrader. The first beer is on me Linda! It appears that the fan is running but there is no heat coming from the heater. Is there a "Fan" mode on the thermostat or heater? I once owned a 2005 Winnebago View and hosted a rally for 52 of these rigs on the Oregon Coast and met some wonderful people. I hope one day we too can meet. It is invaluable to have a group like this at your back and your and WME's timely responses may have saved me a very expensive repair. This motor home is new to me as I purchased right before I left on vacation to Mexico, where we too had a terrible temperature drop, it fell to 86 F! Salud from sunny Mexico! Life is good in the slow lane! Edited January 18, 2017 by Iflyfish Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
linda s Posted January 18, 2017 Share Posted January 18, 2017 No heat means the propane is gone or the tank is turned off. Must have been running pretty much constantly as cold as it's been up there. They need to turn it off. Somewhere on that thermostat is an on-off switch. My original thermo has the switch just beneath the dial where you set the heat. I don't know if yours is original or not but it's got to be there somewhere. I have seen some newer ones with the switch inside. Need to take off the front plate Linda S Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Iflyfish Posted January 18, 2017 Author Share Posted January 18, 2017 Thanks Linda, will forward this to my stalwart friend who is looking after Casper in my absence. This is going to cost me a very nice bottle of Mescal.....but, heh, it's worth it. Iflyfish Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
linda s Posted January 19, 2017 Share Posted January 19, 2017 For a nice bottle of Mescal I would have driven to Oregon and fixed it. Just kidding but I hope they get it worked out Linda S Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Maineah Posted January 19, 2017 Share Posted January 19, 2017 If it fails to light the fan will keep running until the battery is dead sort of dumb but that is the way the system works. There are some newer boards out there that work a lot better than the old ones they will try to light 3 times and it does not light it turns the fan off. This really has nothing to do with the noise but could explain why the fan is running and no heat perhaps what he is hearing is just the fan running. like Linda said check the propane and if it's good try a few time to make it light (has to be turned off and restarted) it may help to light the stove first that will do two things means it has gas and it is getting to the furnace too. The old igniter boards did go bad and that would produce the same results all fan and no heat. Here is what happens, first the fan runs (pre purge) then after awhile it will light it does run for a bit before you have heat then once it warm enough inside the fire goes out then it goes into post purge for a minute or to then turns off. With the older boards if it fails to light it manually has to be turned off it will not reset it's self. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Iflyfish Posted January 19, 2017 Author Share Posted January 19, 2017 Thank you Maineah for the excellent description of the issues related to the heater fan. Thanks to the input on this site the problem is solved. The heater was on in a low setting and the fan switch was also on. Fortunately the motor home is plugged into shore power and so the battery was not used up! Thanks again for your very helpful support and information on this. Iflyfish Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DanAatTheCape Posted January 19, 2017 Share Posted January 19, 2017 Maybe you should consider having your friend: 1) turn off propane tank 2) Disconnect house battery. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Iflyfish Posted January 20, 2017 Author Share Posted January 20, 2017 Thanks to people here problem solved. Heater fan inadvertently left on so fan running full time. Now resolved. Thank you. Iflyfish Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
picklebill Posted February 28, 2017 Share Posted February 28, 2017 Glad you solved your problem, but as mainiah mentions, it is a really good idea to upgrade to the Dinosaur aftermarket furnace control board. The factory board in the furnace tries to light the unit once, and if it fails, the furnace will run without generating any heat until the battery goes dead. The Dinosaur board will make 3 attempts to light the unit, and if the furnace still does not light it shuts off the fan and tries again an hour later, and if this fails, shuts down the furnace permanently. I got my replacement board on Ebay for about $75 and the installation is pretty easy with the good instructions supplied with the board. The hardest part was removing and reinstalling the furnace. Bill Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Iflyfish Posted March 6, 2017 Author Share Posted March 6, 2017 Thanks Picklebill, have noted this and will explore as weather gets better. Iflyfishwithoutmyheaterinthesunshine! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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