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Old 04-08-2015, 10:56 AM   #1
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New Atwood furnaces AFMD series

This complaint is coming from an Rv Tech who is also speaking for our customers . Forest River has been using atwoods new designed furnace model AFMF20141A ,AFMD3011a,AFMD20111A in many of their coaches the design of the outside door is allowing water from heavy rains or a wash job to run into the furnace. So far as a service tech I have seen the burner tube fill with water because of the bend now in the tube and the circuit board short out. In one case the board was wet causing the blower motor to run without shutting off. I have been servicing a unit and have seen water running across the floor coming in from the furnace. The other thing is the gas valve is to easily able to be move out of place causing failure of operation. There needs to be a design change the problem is starting to be a big service problem.
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Old 04-08-2015, 11:16 AM   #2
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Atwood Furnace vent Problem

This is the Outside Furnace door vent that is allowing the Furnace board to short out or allow water to leak into the interior of the unit. It is install on the atwood AFMD20141A, AFMD20111A,AFMD30111A Models. being used by Forest River.
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Old 04-08-2015, 11:20 AM   #3
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Looks like they formed the louvers backwards.
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Old 04-08-2015, 11:27 AM   #4
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Something like this, but metal painted to match is in order. This would be tempoary till like OC says they make a proper punched panel.

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Old 04-09-2015, 06:22 PM   #5
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Cool

I recently purchased a new 2015 Coachmen Prism 2150 LE.

My Atwood AFMD20141A (outside) furnace panel also has the inverted louvers. Does anyone know if this design flaw has been reported to Forest River and Atwood?

I plan to alert both FR and Atwood in the next day or so.
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Old 04-10-2015, 10:11 AM   #6
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Sign of Water In New Atwood Furnace

These are photos showing water that had collected in the new style Atwood Furnace
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Old 04-10-2015, 11:33 AM   #7
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Cool Atwood Response

I contacted Forest River and Atwood about this issue, and received replies from both.

I'm told the inverted louvers are intentionally designed that way to prevent the furnace from sucking in hot 'exhaust' (i.e. CO) air from the chrome 'chimney' below into the furnace's fresh air. This could extinguish the furnace flame. Installed correctly by the coach builder, any water entry vie the furnace's panel louvers should drain out harmlessly via furnace drain holes and not harm furnace components or get into the coach itself.

Also, Atwood told me the panel 'gasket' must be intact, installed and fitted correctly. A missing or improperly fitted gasket could allow water entry into the left side of the compartment where damage can occur.

As regards my Prism's AFMD furnace, I believe this is no longer a furnace issue. I note that my furnace chimney pipe is bent downward to prevent water entry there.

Kudo's to Forest River and Atwood for their prompt replies.
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Old 04-21-2015, 08:41 AM   #8
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How can I get a vent cover? I have the same proplem with my new 2015 free lander
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Old 04-22-2015, 07:22 AM   #9
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No cover

There has been contact with forest River & Atwood with confusing answers I have been given a name & contact number of a person at Atwood taking care of this issue Judy Schulty 574-266-4828
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Old 05-01-2020, 10:55 PM   #10
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I ran into this same exact problem

This thread is a life saver. I ran into this same problem with water settling under the control board on my Winnebago Spyder. I solved it with a two part process. First, I coated the control board with Neverwet (after I replaced the board twice and got tired of doing that). Second, I designed a plastic cover that can be 3D printed and adhered to the vents. Think of it as a mini awning for that vent in the picture. I attached mine with some silicone adhesive, so it was semi-permanent but would not damage the paint or part underneath. The cover allows air into the vents but keeps water from dripping in for reasons already mentioned. If anyone is interested in the 3D file send me a message. If you don't have a 3D printer, I can probably work something out with you if you're willing to cover costs. Neverwet is seriously good stuff for circuit boards by the way.
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Old 05-02-2020, 08:45 AM   #11
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What were some solutions for this problem? My furnace is fried...won’t work. Atwood has been bought out. Frustrating.
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Old 05-11-2020, 06:16 AM   #12
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no support for wet ignitor board problem

My AFMD35111 had the wet ignitor board problem. When you need the furnace the most, in cold wet conditions, water gets into the ignitor board and either temporarily causes the board to fail (until it dries out) or fries the board. I have seen both. NOW, according to Dometic this is an "installation issue" where the unit was not installed properly. Uh huh. I could get no support from Dometic to replace this board, even though (a) it is a known problem for many years, (b) they now have a "relocation kit" to solve the problem, and (c) they have provided the kit out of warranty to others.

I decided to make my own relocation kit to solve the problem, rather than spend $150 to buy one of theirs. My fix raises the board up off the bottom of the wet, plastic case and gets it out of the water.
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Old 05-01-2021, 09:14 AM   #13
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fix for wet board works

My furnace has now operated reliably for a year after my fix described in the previous post.
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