Furnace in our 2012 183

[KlimukRooCrew]

We just came home from our last trip of the season in our new Roo...

The morning were pretty chilly and a furnace would have been great, but it wouldn't work!

It would turn on and "blow air" for approx 25 seconds, then just turn off! (the air blowing was NOT hot air)

Any ideas of what this could be?

Thanks so much!

[TURBS]

How many times did you try starting furnace?
sometimes air is in the line and you have to get it purged out.
mine took 5 times once. Just a suggestion.

[Ovair]

I tend to agree. If this was the first time for that furnace (since the factory), it may have air in the line that will have to be purged before the fireball will light. Without a fireball, the furnace will stop.

[Coreyhunt]

Ok got to tell this story of when my furnace wouldn't light. It's a pretty good chuckler.

Cold October night a couple years back we are camping in North Ontario. Camper got pretty cold. And of course at all times furnace will not light. Got in the car drove to a walmart that was open until midnight to buy a couple of heaters as we still had 4 days left of our trip (walmart was about a hour away). Got there with 5 mins to spare. No heaters I had them check the back and everything. Only thing they had was a electric patio heater for $100 so I bought it. It was smaller then most I seen say a little bigger then a table lamp. Not those big floor models. Drove back by this time it about 1:30am and it's freezing cold.

Open up the box and it's has more screws then ikea furniture. Takes me a hour to put this thing together. It's know 2:30am. Family is cold I'm frustrated but I finally get this thing together.

Bring it inside plug it in and WOW. The trailer lights up like a the Griswolds house at Christmas. Now not only are we freezing cold we need to sleep with sunglasses on. Complete disaster.

All it was after I took it all apart the next day in the daylight was mr spider got in there and spun a web.

Not one of my brightest moments.

[KlimukRooCrew]

That's a pretty funny story!! Of we were camping any longer we would have tried to pick up a heater as well

We tried to light it at least 15 times throughout the weekend and nothing!

Let me back up and tell you about our first camping trip ever, the weekend before...

We arrived at the campground in the late afternoon and set everything up. Trying to 'test' everything, we tried the furnace and it seemed to work okay. Later on in the evening when it cooled down, we tried to turn it on while the kids were getting ready for bed and it didn't work at all. It just made the normal furnace click, but nothing was blowing. We tried a few times and nothing, so we just left it alone.

In the morning(Saturday) we tried again and it worked. We figured out that if you didn't turn it on for a few hours, it would work. But after you turned it on, if you turned it off it wouldnt re start dormant hours again.

Now it's Sunday, and we hadn't tried to turn it on at all since the last afternoon, and now it works and we have heat! Yay!!
We turn it off when we're ready, and for the heck of it, tried to turn it on and it works. By this point we can turn it off and on for the rest of the trip and it works great!

We thought the problem was solved, until this weekend when we couldn't use it at all!

I'll try today to turn it on a few times in a row...hopefully that will do it. If not I guess we'll hitch up and drive 1.5 hours to the dealer where we bought it.

Thanks a bunch, I'll let you know what happens!!

[mTn_biKer65]

It's suggested that once you've set-up at a new location and before attempting to light any of the major appliances (furnace, water heater, fridge) that you first light one of the burners on the stove and let it burn for a minute or 2 to purge the lines.

Give this a try on your next attempt before trying to light the furnace and see if it helps.

p.s. I'm assuming you have propane in your tanks and the tanks are turned on.

[KlimukRooCrew]

Yes the tanks are on and they're both full! We did double check this just to be sure

I'll try running the stove first for awhile, thanks for the suggestion!

[MtnGuy]

There is a safety mechanism at the propane tanks that doesn't allow full flow of propane unless it detects back pressure. If your furnace or other appliance valves are open when you open the tank valve, that may prevent gas to flow. Does your stove burners work properly ?? If they work, then the safety mechanism is open, and that would not be the problem. If the stove burners don't light, or light but won't burn better than a low flame, they the safety mechanism may be closed. Cut off all gas appliances, turn the propane tanks off, then turn them back on slowly.

[BackInAction]

Originally Posted by KlimukRooCrew

I'll try running the stove first for awhile, thanks for the suggestion!

When I pick up my Roo from the storage lot for an upcoming trip, the first thing I do when I get out my car is turn on the battery (I have an on/off installed) and open one of the propane tanks.

Then I go inside (to get the hitch, bars, etc.), light each burner and let them run a couple of seconds. Finally, I remove the blue tabs off my frig doors and start the fridge. You can hear it clicking as it tries to start.

Not only does that let my frig begin cooling down for the trip but it also purges the gas lines a bit.