I have an 84 Barth with 2 furnaces. In the past 3 weeks, twice now I have nearly frozen to death(!) because the main front furnace has continued running and blowing cold air. This has occurred during the night while I've been asleep so I can only speculate about what may be happening. My best guess is that when the coach has heated to the set temperature, the propane/heating element shuts off but the fan stays on, eventually reducing the temperature to below 40 degrees. When I turn off the thermostat switch then turn it back on, it blows hot air again and runs just fine. All the other times it runs just fine. Any ideas what may be causing this problem?

Hi Barth owner,
The one dollar answer is your batteries are probably getting too low to get the fan speed up high enough to get the sail switch to turn on allowing the gas to be ignited.
More in-depth answers probably will be found on these web sites.

http://www.rverscorner.com/articles/furnace1.html
http://www.marksrv.com/furnace_trouble_shooting.htm

The battery problem is why I installed the Wave 6, the furnaces just take too much battery power, and I have about 250 watts of solar power on the roof and 4 extra large golf car batteries on the battery tray for the coach.
I’m still in my Barth, although I’m moving back into the house shortly.
HTH



------------------
89 Barth Regal 32
Runs like a Deere
New Hampshire

I concur with Jack. The voltage is dropping enough to reduce the airflow. So...no light off!

I just got through working on my furnace. It would work at times and then stop again. I pulled the furnace out of the cabinet and put it on my work bench. I have a spare Propane bottle with a regulator and hose. I used a spare battery and spare wiring harness form an old furnace to check the operation on the bench. I checked the sail switch with a volt meter and found it to be in good working order. You can watch it move when the fan kicks on. I figured that it must be the igniter board. I ordered on from a RV parts house that I found on the internet. The name of the company that makes this board is called Dinosaur Products You have to order the board from a RV place because they don't sell the boards direct. There two types of boards. One has a spade clip and the other has a post type.Mine had the spade. It was very easy to install the board. The holes for the screws are the same on the old and the new. The cost is around $100.

Hey Dennis,

The only experiance I have is that I needed a board for my water heater and my RV guy says that Dinosaur Products kick. He only uses them. Apparently they have frig boards too.

------------------

And what pray tell, is a "Wave 6"??

Hi Maureen,

The Wave 6 is a gas fired ceramic heater manufactured by Olympian



To have one installed you need an available wall and gas directed to it. They cost around $300.00 or so.

We use a Mr Heater Portable Buddy. It puts out 4500 or 9000 BTUs. We move it from area to area as required. I have rigged a little 2 D cell powered fan in front of it so it blows heat gently. It even warms the bathroom for shower time. We refill the little propane bottles, so it is pretty economical.

It has a low oxygen shutoff so you won't die, but we will not sleep with a heater on. On cold mornings, one arm reaches out from under down comfortor and clicks on the heater. Then we wait until it is warm inside, which is not very long.

We have named it "Frankie", as in Franklin stove.