Podmods, Maintenance, Tips and Tricks: Furnace

Print Page | Close Window

Furnace

Printed From: R-pod Owners Forum
Category: R-pod Discussion Forums
Forum Name: Podmods, Maintenance, Tips and Tricks
Forum Discription: Ask maintenance questions, share your podmods (modifications) and helpful tips
URL: http://www.rpod-owners.com/forum_posts.asp?TID=12301
Printed Date: 03 May 2024 at 5:34am
Software Version: Web Wiz Forums 9.64 - http://www.webwizforums.com

Topic: Furnace

Posted By: D&K Davis
Subject: Furnace
Date Posted: 14 Oct 2018 at 9:01am

My wife and I are camping on this cool Indiana weekend. Last night we turned our furnace on for th first time since we owned our 179 R-Pod. Nothing happened, no blower no nothing. We checked the gas by lighting the cook stove it was fine. 12 volt battery is charged and we are plugged in. I happened to have a volt meter and found that one of the two thermostat wires that attach to the blue wires on the furnace does not have 12 v coming to it. I believe these two wires go from the thermostat to the AC and from the AC down to the furnace? Does anyone know how to troubleshoot the three button single zone Dometic thermostat? Has anyone out there in the R-pod world had this problem?

Replies:

Posted By: GlueGuy
Date Posted: 14 Oct 2018 at 9:29am

What is the setting on the thermostat? I think you want it set to "Auto" to get the furnace to work.

-------------
bp
2017 R-Pod 179 Hood River
2015 Ford F150 SuperCrew 4WD 3.5L Ecoboost

Posted By: D&K Davis
Date Posted: 14 Oct 2018 at 10:05am

Yes it is set on auto and heat. We have tried turning the thermostat up to 85 def and it still doesn’t work.

Posted By: offgrid
Date Posted: 14 Oct 2018 at 12:23pm

My 179 doesn’t have the air con connection to the heater but I think the heater itself is probably the same.

If so, this document might be helpful.

http://docs.renegaderv.com/Suburban/Furnaces/FURNACE_Service%20and%20Training%20Manual%2011-05-2015.pdf

-------------
1994 Chinook Concourse
1995 RV6A Experimental Aircraft
2015 Rpod 179 - sold

Posted By: offgrid
Date Posted: 14 Oct 2018 at 12:29pm

Oh and perhaps this is a dumb question but did you check the furnace fuse?

-------------
1994 Chinook Concourse
1995 RV6A Experimental Aircraft
2015 Rpod 179 - sold

Posted By: Iceworm
Date Posted: 14 Oct 2018 at 1:18pm

Try turning the thermostat all the way to the left till it clicks off, then back to the right to set point.

Posted By: Iceworm
Date Posted: 14 Oct 2018 at 1:20pm

Posted By: Tars Tarkas
Date Posted: 14 Oct 2018 at 1:21pm

There are a lot of possibilities. Start with the simple things first, which you've mostly done. If the fuse is okay, do you hear it trying to start? The igniter will fire repeatedly for a few second, if the furnace doesn't light, it will try again in a minute or so. I think it does that three times. You can hear it clicking. If it doesn't start, turn the furnace off for 10 minutes and try again. You could have something like a vapor lock that is preventing propane from getting to the furnace. (Trying the stove was a good move.) If it still won't start I'd say there is some kind of electrical problem, either in the furnace, the thermostat, the wires between the thermostat and the furnace, or elsewhere in the Pod.

I had a similar problem a few years ago. Turned out to be a broken wire between the thermostat and the furnace. The break, for some reason, was under the floor. Worst case scenario. I reported it here. You can try searching the archives. But my problem was a zebra. You should eliminate all the horses first.

-------------
2010 176
FJ Cruiser

Posted By: CharlieM
Date Posted: 14 Oct 2018 at 3:18pm

When the thermostat calls for heat the blower should start immediately. That clears fumes/gas from the heater before it even tries to ignite. If you don't hear the blower something in the 12V system is amiss. Check the fuse. Only one of the wires to the thermostat will have 12V; the other will be ground, maybe through the blower motor.

-------------
Charlie
Northern Colorado
OLD: 2013 RP-172, 2010 Honda Pilot 3.5L 4WD
PRESENT: 2014 Camplite 21RBS, 2013 Supercharged Tacoma 4L V6 4WD

Posted By: D&K Davis
Date Posted: 14 Oct 2018 at 4:13pm

Fuse in the breaker box is good

Posted By: D&K Davis
Date Posted: 14 Oct 2018 at 4:14pm

This has an lcd thermostat but I’ve reset it

Posted By: D&K Davis
Date Posted: 14 Oct 2018 at 9:20pm

When I put the thermostat on auto and heat and turn it up nothing happens, no clicks no blowers nothing. Apparently the dealer did not give us the manual for the furnace or the thermostat. The best I can tell the two thermostat (small 18 ga wires) should go to the two blue wires on the furnace. When the thermostat sends a signal these two wires should send 12 volts to the blue wires in the furnace. Only one is getting 12v. I need to find out how to troubleshoot the thermostat. If that’s good then I need to find that bad connection or broken wire( zebra).

Posted By: Wood River Pod
Date Posted: 14 Oct 2018 at 9:30pm

We just had some heater issues as well with our 2 yr old 179.

We were camping and the heater turned off suddenly after working fine. No matter what I tried, it would not turn back on. When we tried, the fan would run for 20 secs and then turn off. There are three switches than experience regular failure inn these units. 1st is a sail switch which measures if the outside air flow is working. The next is a over limit switch that will shut down the heater if the heat gets to hot. The last is another sail switch which won't allow the gas to light or "click". I could see the 1st switch was working. I had to take the unit in for service. They replaced both over limit and sail switch. Works great now.

If the fan is not firing, it could be the first sail switch. Check out YouTube. You can see a video how to check to see if the airflow is sufficient.

Best of luck.

Thanks

Jeff

-------------
Smith's in Hailey
Early 2017 179 HRE

http://www.rpod-owners.com/forum_posts.asp?TID=9134&PN=1&title=wood-river-179-mods - Wood River Mods

Posted By: offgrid
Date Posted: 15 Oct 2018 at 6:01am

In looking at the schematic (right side of page 35 in the link I sent) I do not think the sail switch will effect fan operation. It is there to assure that the fan is working before an ignition signal is sent.

D&K Davis, if the thermostat is not closed you would get 12V to ground on one of the blue wires only. So you are right to suspect the thermostat or its wiring.

If you go to the furnace and jumper together the two terminals where the the two blue wires from the thermostat are connected that should simulate the thermostat calling for heat. If the furnace then works normally you know you either have a bad wire or a broken tstat.

Good luck

-------------
1994 Chinook Concourse
1995 RV6A Experimental Aircraft
2015 Rpod 179 - sold

Posted By: D&K Davis
Date Posted: 15 Oct 2018 at 11:00am

Problem solved. I jumped the two blue wires on the furnace and the furnace cycled properly. Then I went into the AC unit because that is where the wires from the thermostat go before coming down to the furnace. That is where the problem was. Two sets of wires did not get crimped properly at the factory and had come disconnected. After figuring out the proper connection and wiring them back together everything works fine. Blows out good heat and cycles properly. Now on to my next problem. The hot water heater. I will start a new thread for that.

Posted By: offgrid
Date Posted: 15 Oct 2018 at 11:23am

Congrats on getting that one fixed. And you've now experienced the sometimes iffy qc done by FR in manufacturing our trailers.

-------------
1994 Chinook Concourse
1995 RV6A Experimental Aircraft
2015 Rpod 179 - sold

Posted By: TheBum
Date Posted: 15 Oct 2018 at 11:40am

Nice bit of troubleshooting!

-------------
Alan
2022 R-Pod 196 "RaptoRPod"
2022 Ram 1500 Lone Star 4x4
Three cats

Posted By: Wood River Pod
Date Posted: 15 Oct 2018 at 12:02pm

Glad you figured it out!

-------------
Smith's in Hailey
Early 2017 179 HRE

http://www.rpod-owners.com/forum_posts.asp?TID=9134&PN=1&title=wood-river-179-mods - Wood River Mods