Heater needs shore power??
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Forum Name: Podmods, Maintenance, Tips and Tricks
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URL: http://www.rpod-owners.com/forum_posts.asp?TID=4014
Printed Date: 22 May 2025 at 2:04am
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Topic: Heater needs shore power??
Posted By: Jdub
Subject: Heater needs shore power??
Date Posted: 24 Sep 2013 at 7:40pm
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Just got back from a four day cruise and, for the first time, woke up to a chilly pod...44 degrees. We were in a forest service camp so no shore power. I hit the heater and it just blew cold air for 20 seconds and turned off. No heat. But now back home I find plugged in the heater works great. Really? You need shore power just to blow some propane heated hot air? This seems very dumb to me....
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Replies:
Posted By: Tars Tarkas
Date Posted: 24 Sep 2013 at 8:26pm
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Sounds like the pod was warmer inside than you thought and maybe you didn't have the thermostat set high enough. Shore power is not necessary, but 12v is. TT ------------- 2010 176 FJ Cruiser |
Posted By: Craneman
Date Posted: 24 Sep 2013 at 8:29pm
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Did you try again with the shore power unplugged at home?? Your batteries might have been low. Moe ------------- Jo and Gary, 2010-174,2011 F150 
Jo and Gary 2010 174 2011 Ford 150 |
Posted By: techntrek
Date Posted: 24 Sep 2013 at 8:34pm
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Usually with low batteries the blower won't blow hard enough to trigger the vane switch, which keeps it from igniting. This is a safety feature to make sure the blower can move the heat out of the furnace. However, the blower will still blow until the battery is completely dead. I'm not sure why yours was turning off.
------------- Doug ~ '10 171 (2009-2015) ~ 2008 Salem ~ http://www.rpod-owners.com/forum_posts.asp?TID=1723 - Pod instruction manual 
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Posted By: Jdub
Date Posted: 24 Sep 2013 at 9:35pm
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We had plenty of juice, 50-75% based on the panel lights. There was just no ignition for the propane. When the pod was 44 degrees and I had set the thermostat for 85, I think it should have fired. It did fire in the driveway when it was 75 and the thermostat set for 85. Sound like something is set wrong.....still in warranty.
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Posted By: Jdub
Date Posted: 24 Sep 2013 at 10:03pm
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Well ok. Just went outside and checked. Fully charged, no shore power, and the furnace kicked on just fine. So what is a range here? The pod has to have 100% charge to fire the furnace? Not 75% or 50%? As usual the documents that come with the pod are completely worthless. This almost means that when dry camping we have to have the truck on charging the pod at the same time we are trying to fire the furnace. Any thoughts?
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Posted By: Tars Tarkas
Date Posted: 24 Sep 2013 at 10:34pm
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If this was the first time you fired up the furnace in a while it may be that the propane never made it to the pilot. Once the gas gets to the pilot it will probably light every time. One trick to get the propane going is to make sure the stove lights. Had you been using the hot water heater on propane? Just guessing. TT ------------- 2010 176 FJ Cruiser |
Posted By: Jdub
Date Posted: 25 Sep 2013 at 8:50am
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Hot water heater and stove and refrigerator were all working fine on propane. I have to assume there is some kind of safety device that does block the firing of the heater when only running on somewhat drained 12 volt batteries (2013 178 with two batteries up front). Maybe we need a generator,
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Posted By: furpod
Date Posted: 25 Sep 2013 at 8:58am
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Ours has run at "lowered" battery levels just fine. I don't pay much attention to the factory battery indicator, but I have had the heater running when my batteries were at 12v exactly, which is a %50 charge, or just a hair less.. I try not to ever get that low, but it has happened a couple times.
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Posted By: techntrek
Date Posted: 25 Sep 2013 at 12:02pm
As I mentioned in my previous post, the safety device is the vane switch. It will prevent the ignition process but it won't kill the blower. The battery has to be pretty low before this happens, usually the lights will appear very yellow and the blower will sound very noticably slower. 50% capacity isn't low enough to trigger this. ------------- Doug ~ '10 171 (2009-2015) ~ 2008 Salem ~ http://www.rpod-owners.com/forum_posts.asp?TID=1723 - Pod instruction manual
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Posted By: Jdub
Date Posted: 25 Sep 2013 at 2:37pm
I was told by service at the rpod RV store that below 11.5 volts will not fire propane to heat. Our lights were not yellow....the blower ran fine but the propane would just not kick on. He said the gauge on the wall is worthless at predicting whether or not we had enough battery life to fire the furnace, but he could sell me a voltage meter that could. Another reason to drop a wad on a generator. |
Posted By: furpod
Date Posted: 25 Sep 2013 at 2:52pm
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If you let your batteries get down to 11.5, the fact that your heater won't run is only one of the problems you are facing.. letting your batteries go that low is VERY bad for them. Very Bad. I worked for 20 years in a field where, if your batteries failed, you could die. I pay pretty close attention to mine and know the right and wrong way to treat them. Just habit. EDIT: also, unless you anticipate boondocking for 4 days or more in cold temps, save the wad of cash and go to a dual battery setup, and LED lights. (unless you just want a generator..  )------------- |
Posted By: Jdub
Date Posted: 25 Sep 2013 at 3:00pm
We were dry camping for three nights, four days. The battery charge lights on the panel never showed lower than 50% charge. We were a double battery set up as I mentioned above. We very sparingly used the electricity. Just how did we treat those batteries in a "bad " way? I don't think we were in danger of dying. |
Posted By: furpod
Date Posted: 25 Sep 2013 at 4:39pm
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Sorry.. I didn't say you did let them get that low, I was refering to what your RV guy told you.. point being that if you let them get as low as HE was talking about, it was/is bad for your batteries.
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Posted By: techntrek
Date Posted: 25 Sep 2013 at 4:56pm
Exactly what I was saying. 11.5 volts is about a 20% state-of-charge http://www.solar-electric.com/deep-cycle-battery-faq.html - http://www.solar-electric.com/deep-cycle-battery-faq.html (scroll down to the colorful chart)
The problem you experienced is not the same, as you've verified since your lights were not yellow. It may be a faulty thermostat. I doubt its a fuel issue since you said your other propane appliances were working, and if the furnace didn't light the first time it would try multiple times. Much longer than just 20 seconds. I'm leaning towards the thermostat as the problem since it will turn the furnace blower off like yours did.
The battery meter isn't perfect, no. Using a voltmeter (get a cheap $20 multimeter) will give you a good idea but only if the battery "rests" for at least 3 hours. No charging or discharging.
A generator may appear to solve the problem but it isn't fixing the root cause. Besides, if you are going to run a generator all night you would do better using a small ceramic electric heater which will be much quieter than the pod's furnace. I plan to do exactly this myself this weekend at a Girl Scout campout. I get to use my pod for my bunk and don't want to listen to the furnace since it usually wakes me up, so my quiet inverter-generator is going with me. Anyway, the only reason to use the furnace is because you are on battery power for the night so you need to figure out the root problem before spending big bucks. If that is your only reason to buy a generator. If you need a backup for your home, too, I highly recommend it. I have 3 and wish more people would buy them to be self-reliant. ------------- Doug ~ '10 171 (2009-2015) ~ 2008 Salem ~ http://www.rpod-owners.com/forum_posts.asp?TID=1723 - Pod instruction manual
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Posted By: Keith-N-Dar
Date Posted: 25 Sep 2013 at 5:58pm
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The first time we needed the heater it would not light in our 177. Even though the water heater and the cook top worked. We were cold that night. The next day when we set up I tried it again, and it worked. I had the gas off and went to battery power for the day as we drove, and for some reason it worked the next day. It has been fine ever since. This was on shore power so is apples to oranges, but it may have something to do with first starts of the furnace. ------------- Keith-N-Dar Boris & Betty (Boston Terriers) 2011 R-Pod 177 2010 Ford F-150 |
Posted By: dsmiths
Date Posted: 25 Sep 2013 at 9:28pm
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I had the same problem as keith and dar. the first year I ran everything in the drive and it all worked great. first time we needed the furnace (before we got the 1500 watt electric heater) the purge blower ran , I heard the clicking of the igniter no heat and then it shut off. I had to cycle the furnace about 3 times and then she lit and worked fine. that little heater will run you out of the pod. I think the furnace is the last item in the circuit and it has to purge air from the lines before lighting. make sure stove and refrig are doing ok, then run the furnace, it may take a couple of tries but she will light if nothing else is wrong. If we camp with shore power we use a 1500 watt heater with a thermostat, it is quieter and keeps the pod toasty warm. I have got up in the morning and have seen 35 degrees outside with a hard frost and the pod is a cozy 72 inside with the little heater. The factory furnace works great, but when that blower kicks on my eyes pop open. ------------- Dane and Donna Smith 2011 RP-172 2008 Chevrolet Trailblazer 4X4 lift kit prodigy wireless brake controller |
Posted By: Thredbende
Date Posted: 25 Sep 2013 at 9:31pm
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My furnace wouldn't work until Forest River replaced the thermostat completely at the Rally this year. Fortunately, the AC worked fine and we used shore power on cold nights. Now we can use the furnace too! BTW, the outside thermometer also stopped working, so we just had a bad unit. Thanks for the free fix, FR! ------------- Thredbende |