Jump to content

Heater troubleshooting


Recommended Posts

Greetings,

I have the standard type heater in a 91 Seabreeze with the auto pilot. It has always worked great until now. Now I turn up thermostat and turn it on, fan starts,but only blows cold. There is no clicking to indicate the heater is trying to light. Anyone have any idea what I should check first. I did check battery voltage (good) and all fuses also look good. Any wisdom would be appreciated.

Thank You!

Eddy the breezer

Link to comment
Share on other sites

The furnace won't light if the voltage is even a little low so, just for fun, you might try starting up your engine and then try getting the furnace to light. Sometimes the voltage may read normal on a voltmeter, but not be quite enough to get the furnace to light. Also, try finding the sail switch (I don't know where it is) and see if its dirty. If it is, clean it and try to light the furnace.

John

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Try plugging the MH in if you can and see what happens that will pretty much give you max current. The controller only tries once to light if it's original so you have to turn it off after the fan stops then try again. Lighting the stove burner before trying the heat on the first winter start up some times gets it going. Other then that it's time for the manual and doing some trouble shooting. Dinosaur boards are very nice replacements if it comes down to that they make one now that actually turns off the fan if it does not light and they all try to light 3 times before they give up.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

As Maineh said - a low battery voltage may not get the blower running fast enough to engage the sail switch.

The original controller makes one attempt to ignite, if it fails, the blower continues to run and the only way to reset is to shut the heater off (with the thermostat) the blower will stop, it is then reset and ready to try again.

John Mc

88 Dolphin 4 Auto

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Thank You All,

Thanks for the input. I appreciate it. I'm going over and spend some time with the heater tomorrow. I will try to locate the sail switch. The RV is plugged into shore power already, so I don't think voltage is the problem. I'll let y'all know what I find out.

Eddy the Breezer

Link to comment
Share on other sites

The sail switch is inside the heater it is part of a proofing chain they all have to be closed in order for the gas valve to open there is a diagram some where on this site that has a check list if not check on line for a diagram it will save you from having to take the heater apart. If the chain is proofed and the gas valve does not open (you should hear it open, fairly good click) the board is toes up it's either the valve is not opening or the igniter is not working. I will say if you are not very comfortable tinkering your heater it's best left to a pro.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Hey All,

  • I got the heater going today! I ended up pulling out the whole unit. I wanted to check the sail switch and its deep in the belly of the beast. The switch was fine, but I found a big hornets nest in the exhaust duct thats connected to the squirrel cage chamber. I'm glad I pulled the unit, that nest was a bad obstruction. Any how, I reinstalled the heater and realized there is a flat connector with 4 wires that connects to the side of circuit board had disconnected, I reconnected that and buttoned everything up. Turned on the furnace and it worked great. Just in time, it's dropping down below freezing tonight.Thanks again for the help.
Eddy the Breezer

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Good job! Yeah if the flow is blocked the sail switch won't close. They make a nifty little screen to cover the exhaust/air intake to keep the little critters out.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

the area here has been taken over by paper wasps a friend of ours had the same problem i bought a screen right away a very good investment

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Thanks Maineah,

I'll have to go web surfing and locate one of those screens. I assume it goes behind the chrome exhaust plate. To bad I recaulked it already, when I put it back together yesterday. Oh well, better to pull it soon while the caulk is still fresh, then have to do it later when something gets in there and causes more trouble. By the way, I said hornets nest, what I meant to say was, wasps nest. It was one of those mud adobe nests that are tough to remove. Don't want to do it again. Thanks again for the suggestion!

Eddy the breezer

Link to comment
Share on other sites

the screen i have just hooks on the vent with very strong springs the have different styles for different make furnecs went on a trip this week my suberba n furnce would not work frst night wind blowing like 50 pilot light kept blowing out second nite no wind at all plite stay lit main burner would not light for nothing we had full hookup had a small eletric heater does anybody know about the older heaters

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 2 weeks later...

Hey 5Toyota,

Just saw your post. I've been preoccupied the last few days, dealing with my geo tracker. Any how, I'm not a furnace ace and I have the Atwood hydro flame. I don't know if the suburban furnace is similar or not. You said you had a pilot light, but furnace would not light. I believe your fan has to kick in before the heater will ignite. Sounds like you need to locate the owners manual and go through the troubleshooting procedure. Good luck on the repair. I got mine working, as I said in a previous post. My problem was, it was working intermittently, so I took Maineah's advice and bought a new Dinosaur Board. Now my furnace is working GREAT! And it is also been upgraded into the 21ST century. I'm very impressed with the Dinosaur board and their excellent customer service.

Y'all stay warm,

Eddy the breezer

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Thank you since that post a big thing has happened we just bought a 1987 21 foot dolphin looks a lot like your seabreze and same furnece 22reloaded all execpt gen will sell minimax.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 1 month later...

I have some trouble shooting manuels Hydro-flame for several different years if anyone is interested. I had them listed on ebay but they did not sell. Give me a shout if you need them.

http://rover.ebay.com/rover/0/e12010.m43.l1123/7?euid=f05846385938450e9a8b0064a23545de&loc=http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem%26item%3D140614515928%26ssPageName%3DADME:L:EOISSU:MOTORS:1123

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I have some trouble shooting manuels Hydro-flame for several different years if anyone is interested. I had them listed on ebay but they did not sell. Give me a shout if you need them.

5 toyota i would like too have those if it would be ok

http://rover.ebay.co...SSU:MOTORS:1123

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 4 months later...

Thanks everybody for this discussion. I just got my 85 Sunrader out of storage and couldn't get the heater going. I followed some of your tips and bingo-we are warm and toasty!!; I just retired so we are looking forward to putting a lot of miles on our camper, and the heat will come in very handy!!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

×
×
  • Create New...