how to clean gaslines on a camper

Topic: propane furnace won't light

Posted By: girouard on 03/30/09 04:44am Hi, I purchased a 06 40ft Wildwood PT, private sale,couldn't light furnace after a few tries, gas empty, filled 1 tank, still won't start, begins to light and flame dies out. Any advice would be appr.

Posted By: 2chiefsRus on 03/30/09 04:59am if you haven't already, light the stove and let it run for several minutes to try to help purge the air from the gas lines. Then try the furnace again and see if you have better luck.

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Posted By: abc40kids on 03/30/09 05:02am Check your stove if you did'nt already so you know gas is comming in.I would disconnect both tanks(let all the air/moisture out)then hook it all back up.Also check your battery,make sure the water is full,needs to have a good charge to ignite furnace.Just a couple problems I've encountered....Good Luck

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Posted By: tvman44 on 03/30/09 06:59am You may still have air in the line.

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Posted By: mobilefleet on 03/30/09 10:01am as other poster said light one of the stove burners first and let it run 5 minutes to bleed off air in lines, then try to light your furnace

Posted By: rjf7g on 03/30/09 08:04pm I had to clean mud dauber nests out of my furnace before it would work. Make sure the fan turns by hand smoothly, too, as it won't fire unless it can turn easily.

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Posted By: girouard on 03/30/09 05:34am I was able to get the stove to light after a while, and it seems fine, it's closest to the tanks the furnace is farthest from the tanks. The old owner says the furnace worked fine. I'm going to fill the other tank this week and try your sugg. this wk.end Thanks,Terry

Posted By: girouard on 03/30/09 08:53am Hi, I spoke w/the old owner again and he said he hadn't used the furnace last season at all and it sat thru the winter. He said once w/ another trailer he had cobb webs restricted the gas flow and wouldn't light. Could this be a possibility in a newer camper it seems it's starving for gas, or do I just need to work out the air.

Posted By: ODA238 on 03/30/09 09:00am Any obstruction can cause it not to light or to burn dirty.

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Posted By: girouard on 04/06/09 04:41am Hi, Just an update on my no heat problem. It ended up being my regulater on the camper. After preasure testing and playing around w/ the reg. the tech. decided to replace the reg. and it did the trick. He also told me that an overfilled tank in cold weather is not a good for the reg. and when transporting your tanks you should keep them upright. Thanks to all that contributed.

Posted By: MorePower7701 on 04/01/09 03:54pm

Island-Slacker wrote:

with DSI there is no pilot light or thermocouple - it has a sprk ignition controller and a flame rod/ign rod ( either seperate rods or a combination ignition rod

it is not sensing the flame that is why it lights then goes out ( i'll bet it goes out after 2-4 seconds then a trial for ignition.

its likely NOT sensing the flame or the ignition board is defective - or a bad ground or possibly the flame rod is dirty - in fact there are possibly a few more causes resulting in flame failure such as low gas pressure

this is likely beyond most campers expertise and a qualified techinican should be called to check it out

I have done HVAC/R service work for almost 12 years now, I agree with this member 100%. Sometimes, not always the connection from the flame sensor to the control board is bad, a reading in the range of 3.5-7ma should be within range. I have also seen control board when powered with 120v have palarity issues, a simple reverse can sometimes correct things, but be very careful doing this. Last thing is ground connection, the ground has to be perfect or the board will sense a problem and go into lock out. It should be an easy fix.

Posted By: Hoseman on 04/01/09 08:31am I do not know how many attemts you have made at trying to light furnace. But 1: If you only filled one bottle make sure you are using
the full one, Then make sure it is fully open. 2: Make sure that all
air is purged do this by lighting stove and allowing it to burn for several minutes. Try to relight furnace if after several attemts it
still only lights for a coulpla seconds then check for obstuctions
only if you have the ability to take unit apart and put it toghther
by yourself if not have tech do it. Check and clean all orifices while
it is apart I would replace thermal couple. CAUTION If you have any doubt about your ability to do this safely have tech do it. After you have cleaned and replaced thermal couple and you still have problem
then have board checked by dealer service.Last but not least you may have faulty gas valve. These things can be done by reasonably skilled
person but I caution you not to try this unless you have the adequate
skills to take furnace apart and put it back toghther. Good luck [emoticon]

Posted By: Jeff-in-RC on 03/31/09 03:28pm When I parked my rig in the winter of 2007 I turned the gas off and winterized everything and when I got the trailer out to get it ready for our trip a few weeks ago it took me FOREVER to get that darned pilot light to light on my water heater.

I got the stove going first which took a few minutes, then got the pilot in the oven going then went to the water heater. The previous owner cut a small stick to wedge in and hold the pilot button down on the w/h so I put the stick in place and just waited to smell propane then i got the w/h pilot to light. After all of that the heater fired right up.

My long winded point here is it can take much longer than you think to get the propane to expell the air so you can get things working. Always start with the appliance(s) closest to the tanks and work you way to the furthest appliance from the tanks.

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Posted By: mike77leprechaun on 03/31/09 04:36pm I had that same issue when I bought my 02 Dutchmen. The LEDS on the board confirmed a fault with the circuit board.

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Posted By: Island-Slacker on 03/31/09 06:17pm with DSI there is no pilot light or thermocouple - it has a sprk ignition controller and a flame rod/ign rod ( either seperate rods or a combination ignition rod

it is not sensing the flame that is why it lights then goes out ( i'll bet it goes out after 2-4 seconds then a trial for ignition.

this is likely beyond most campers expertise and a qualified techinican should be called to check it out

Posted By: girouard on 04/01/09 03:45am Thanks Island Slacker, I spoke to a local tech and his advice was in concert with yours. I'm going Fri. morn. to try to get it going again, if not succesful the tech.is going to be onsite and will have a look and hopefully fix it. Thanks again and thanks to all who contributed. It's been very helpfull.

Posted By: Bull Rider on 03/31/09 08:17am When the furnace starts up, can you hear the fan? Is there air coming out the exhaust vent on the side of the trailer? It will be cold air until the gas ignites in the furnace. Is the trailer plugged into 110? Thanks...

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Posted By: girouard on 03/31/09 10:30am Hi, yes plugged into 110,When I kick the therm. up the fan starts and I can hear the clicking of the igniter the flame starts down the bar a couple inches and dies out, igniter tries again, same thing,I have the front cover off and can see thru the observation window. I'm not sure about the exhaust vent but will check.Thanks

Posted By: Riverdogrj on 03/31/09 11:09am I had a similar problem but it was with a fridge & not a furnace. It would light & run for just a bit then die. It ended up being the master control board. I bought one online (Dinosaur brand)for $104 and changed it myself. Took less than a half hour.

One other thing you could check for is to see if the thermocouple is positioned properly. I think it is bypassed on start-up and then shortly thereafter activated. If the thermocouple is not positioned properly it could be cutting out once the bypass time has lapsed. Not sure (just thinking out loud) but if there are any RV Techs watching this post they could validate whether or not I'm correct.

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Posted By: ReferDog on 03/30/09 08:28pm Check air intake on outside of trailer & look up into that pipe that goes to the furnace, to make sure no bee's nest or spiders etc are hanging out in there, that will cause the problem you are encountering

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