Journey with Confidence RV GPS App RV Trip Planner RV LIFE Campground Reviews RV Maintenance Take a Speed Test Free 7 Day Trial ×
Gulf Stream Owners RV Forum
 


Reply
 
Thread Tools Search this Thread Display Modes
 
Old 11-14-2010, 11:10 AM   #1
tcrsolutions
New Member
 
Join Date: Nov 2009
Location: Vail, AZ
Posts: 13
Default Propane Furnace won't ignite on batteries

I have a '95 Scenic Cruiser Diesel Pusher. I noticed last winter that the propane furnace will not ignite on batteries. The blower motor comes on and works just fine, and you can hear the electric igniter try to light (3 times); but all that blows out is cold air. When the generator is on or plugged into shore power, it ignites and works just fine. I assumed it was just the battery voltage was low and that was causing the problem.

Well, we went out over the weekend and I had the same problem; so I decided to get some new batteries yesterday. I hooked them all up and they have an excellent charge and voltage. I attempted to see whether the furnace would work solely off the batteries today and I am having the same problem. Again, it ignites and works just fine when plugged into shore power or the generator is on. Is it possible it is a relay? If so, where is that located? Does anyone have any other suggestions or thoughts to this problem?

Thanks for any suggestions!

Chris
__________________
Chris Compton
tcrsolutions is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 11-15-2010, 11:53 PM   #2
tcrsolutions
New Member
 
Join Date: Nov 2009
Location: Vail, AZ
Posts: 13
Default

OK, so I've done some troubleshooting. Still looking for some assistance here. This is what I've done:

Using a Multimeter, checked voltage at the batteries: 12.75 volt on a full charge. Check the voltage at the converter, 12.5 volts (already a loss of .25 volts on a 6 foot run with 2 gauge wire to the inverter).

Check the voltage at each of the fuse terminals on converter and reads 12.5 and check voltage on the hot lead at the furnace and it is also 12.5. Turn the thermostat on and before the fan kicks on, the voltage dips to 12.4. Once the blower motor kicks on, it dips to 10.5 then goes up to 10.9. You can hear the electric igniter clicking and you can see the spark, but nothing lights. After 3 attempts, it locks out and the blower stays running.

I had some extra 12-gauge electric wire, so I decided to run a direct run from the batteries to the furnace. I ran two ~25 foot wires through the window and hooked one up to the positive and one to the negative and connected the yellow ground wire to the negative and the red hot wire to the positive and checked the readings. The reading was 12.7 volts. Interesting enough, when the blower motor kicked on, the voltage only dropped to 12.1 volts and the electric igniter lit and everything worked great. The voltage actually seemed to climb a little the longer I let it run, which was also interesting.

So, I'm assuming I've got a bad ground or a bad wire somewhere. Since the problem occurred with the older converter and now the new converter, I'm less likely to think that is the problem. I would think I would have a lower reading when checking voltage at the furnace wire than at the converter if the wire/ground were bad, but not sure on this. I have yet to try running a direct run from the converter to the furnace. I'm just trying to figure out if I'm missing something completely obvious here. What about the .25 volt drop on 2 gauge wire on a short 6 foot run from the batteries to the converter?? All other appliances work just fine.

Any help or insight would be much appreciated!
__________________
Chris Compton
tcrsolutions is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 11-17-2010, 08:13 PM   #3
GStream40
Site Team
 
Join Date: Nov 2005
Posts: 936
Default

Check all the wiring connections and connectors. Look for loose/corroded wire/connections. Also check all your ground/negative connections.

That is what it sounds like to me. The lower 10.5 voltage is not spinning your fan fast enough so that it triggers the "Sail Switch" in the furnace which turns on the gas for the furnace.

Ron
GStream40 is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 11-18-2010, 09:08 PM   #4
darbyjudy
Senior Member
 
Join Date: May 2005
Posts: 254
Default

I had somewhat the same problem on my SunVoyager and the mechanic found the furnace setting on the wires that go to the furnace and they were partly worn through. He got rid of the excess wire and the problem was fixed.
__________________
Darby R. Corwin
darbyjudy is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 11-22-2010, 11:34 AM   #5
Midniteoyl
Junior Member
 
Join Date: Oct 2010
Location: Indiana
Posts: 27
Default

Quote:
Originally Posted by GStream40
Check all the wiring connections and connectors. Look for loose/corroded wire/connections. Also check all your ground/negative connections.

That is what it sounds like to me. The lower 10.5 voltage is not spinning your fan fast enough so that it triggers the "Sail Switch" in the furnace which turns on the gas for the furnace.

Ron
Wow....
__________________
Jim

'89 Sun Vista Hi-Rise
Midniteoyl is offline   Reply With Quote
Reply

Thread Tools Search this Thread
Search this Thread:

Advanced Search
Display Modes

Posting Rules
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts

BB code is On
Smilies are On
[IMG] code is On
HTML code is Off

Forum Jump

Similar Threads
Thread Thread Starter Forum Replies Last Post
Propane fordcobra420 Class A 5 09-24-2011 06:21 PM
Oven won't ignite.......... stonesfan Class A 6 06-10-2011 12:32 PM
Learned something new...Propane Alarm and Coach Batteries David Bott Class A 8 08-31-2009 08:41 PM
Propane leak gbarngrover Class A 1 06-29-2009 10:42 PM
Propane Sensor TheHansens Class C 5 01-22-2008 03:29 PM

» Featured Campgrounds

Reviews provided by

Powered by vBadvanced CMPS v3.2.3

All times are GMT -5. The time now is 03:24 AM.


Powered by vBulletin® Version 3.8.9
Copyright ©2000 - 2024, vBulletin Solutions, Inc.
×