need some help

[heathercasey]

New to the forum here so apologize if posted in wrong area. We are current owners of a wolf pack toy hauler(bumper pull) and are wanting to upgrade to a 5th wheel bunk house. Unfortunately we are extremely unhappy with our toy hauler. The heater in it has never worked for us when we go up to the mountains camping. We bring it back down to have it checked and it starts working. So we have been told there is nothing wrong and nothing they can do about it. We are trying to find out if this is a common problem with forest river. We don't want to spend all this money and have the same kind of problems. Anyone have any input. Thank you.

[MtnGuy]

1st of all, welcome to the forum !!

Are you using batteries in the mountains when it doesn't work, and on shore power at home when it does work ?? If so, I would suspect a weak battery problem.

[heathercasey]

We have tried being plugged in to power source up in mountains and have run it off batteries down here, doesn't seem to matter. We are thinking something with the altitude. It may be a flaw in our system, but we don't want to buy another forest river and have the same thing happen. since we weren't happy with the service work we received here. We need to upgrade to bigger one and want to be happy with it for years.

[MtnGuy]

The altitude difference makes sense. What are the altitudes ??

After this question, I hope others chime in, because I know little about furnace problems.

[cfsoistman]

Originally Posted by heathercasey

We have tried being plugged in to power source up in mountains and have run it off batteries down here, doesn't seem to matter. We are thinking something with the altitude. It may be a flaw in our system, but we don't want to buy another forest river and have the same thing happen. since we weren't happy with the service work we received here. We need to upgrade to bigger one and want to be happy with it for years.

Forest River doesn't make the furnace. I believe they use mostly Suburban. You may need to provide the altitude information to the manufacturer and see if they have an easy solution for you. You may need to change to a burner with a larger orifice to compensate for the higher altitude, but then that may present a problem at lower altitudes.

Service Documents

Scrool down to Furnace Service Manuals and see if there is anything mentioned there.

[heathercasey]

Thank you for your help, hopefully won't be an issue this summer because we will be in a new camper, lol. But altitude is 7000 ft were we live than we go up to 9000 ft up to 11000 feet sometimes. My husband was thinking something with orifice too.

[cfsoistman]

Originally Posted by heathercasey

Thank you for your help, hopefully won't be an issue this summer because we will be in a new camper, lol. But altitude is 7000 ft were we live than we go up to 9000 ft up to 11000 feet sometimes. My husband was thinking something with orifice too.

I would imagine your water heater would not be working as efficient either. May need to look into changing that burner as well.
Here's a link directly to Suburban Manufacturing.

Airxcel | Suburban Manufacturing

Good luck! Let us know what they say!!

[rick_h]

A gas tech may just be able to change the pressure settings as well. It likely just needs to be set up differently. Air pressure can make a difference - especially with ignition. Talk to a licensed gas tech.