I need a "tip" -- how to turn on my furnace

[Oma in Julian]

We have a brand new ( July 2014) FR Wildwood travel trailer. It's 26' with the rear bunk "house." It is permanently sited at a camp site in the San Diego County mountains. We use a generator -- the Honda 2000 "quiet" one.

I guess my DH and I didn't pay great attention when we did the walk-through regarding how to use the heater (furnance?). It was about 105 degrees that day in July out on the RV dealers blacktop so we zoned out on the heating how-to.

Today it was 35 degrees at our trailer and we tried our darnedest to remember.
Zip!

We had the propane tanks on. We moved the title thermostat needle to 68 degrees. Nothing happened. Our battery (12V) was fully charged. The heater didn't make a sound. No blowers came on either.

Any one have a check-list for how to operate the heater? I'm sure it worked when we bought the trailer (from RV Solutions in San Diego). We just don't know if we missed a step --- is the a pilot light we need to check? We dry dock so we don't use the hot water at all. Not sure if that is relevant to the heater issue.

The owners manual we were given when we did our walk-through do not address how to get the heater to work at all.

Any guidance would be most appreciated.

Thanks,

Oma

[Krawler]

I am assuming you also switched it over to heat? Does everything else work on propane (purged the line)?

http://www.everything-about-rving.co...e-in-a-rv.html

[Oma in Julian]

You mean on the thermostat? We could only move the little needle nub from OFF to the desired temperature.

And yes, the stove works great. We don't use the fridge for cooling; we use it as a pantry.

Thank you for your reply.

Oma

[Steeljag]

Well if you have a good battery, stove is working, thermostat on heat (might take a few minutes to turn on) ............fuses good?

[Ford Idaho]

You have had it sitting in one place, I would check for spider webs and wasp nests behind the outside cover door.

https://www.google.com/search?q=wasp...ed=0CAgQ_AUoAw

[Oma in Julian]

Is a newer 12V enough to run the heater? There are 2 blower vents under the sofa; I assume that's why we need the battery -- to blow the non-existent warm air?

We'll check for webs, etc. Thanks for the suggestion.

[Taranwanderer]

Wait, let's back up a sec: you say you set the needle to the temp you want, but did you switch the selector to "heat?" On the thermostat, there should be some sort of selector that says "AC" or "cool" on one side, and "heat" on the other...yes? Maybe a pic of your thermostat? It shouldn't be that hard.

[Oma in Julian]

Honestly, I don't remember if there is a "cool" and "warm." My home thermostat has an "off," "cool," ans a "heat" setting. The trailer's thermostat is nothing like my home one.

The ceiling AC oddly has a "heat" setting. The brochure said the heat setting is only to be used for a " morning chill" and very briefly. I turned that on this morning too just in case that was the right heat switch. And nothing happened ... no matter what was "on."

I'll take some photos and post them. And probably call RV Solutions tomorrow to ask them to walk us through the heater steps again. It's a new trailer -- it should all work.

Thanks & HNY to all.

Oma



Since the trailer is 40 miles from my home, I'll have to take some photos this weekend.

[Iwannacamp]

I can't imagine a "needle" on a newer trailer/stat. Mine has an on off button. Put it on heat/furnace...fan auto/au... Low speed if applicable and set the temp to the desired temp.

Mine looks like this...



Sent from my iPhone using Forest River Forums

[BooBoo23]

Go to www.forestriver.com/rv and click on "manuals", then next screen click on "forest river camper trailer English 2015", then next screen click on "appliances", and pull down, click on "furnace" and on the right hand side of the screen at the top it says videos. Click on heating and cooling. A short video with a brief show of how to operate the thermostat. Just make sure the fan is set to "AU" or it will turn on the AC fan when the furnace comes on, the AC does not come on, just the fan.

[BooBoo23]

Correction on my link. It should be Forest River RV - Manufacturer of Travel Trailers - Fifth Wheels - Tent Campers - Motorhomes

[mike.t]

Push the on/off mode until the light next to Furnace comes on

[ervinglobal]

Originally Posted by mike.t

Push the on/off mode until the light next to Furnace comes on

That's correct. The mode you have to select furnace. and in the same mode you select the temperature.
I hope you will get it going.
Cheers

[Tiggerdad]

The picture posted does not appear to be like the one the OP refers two. Says he has has a :needle nub" whatever that is. A picture would help.

[ervinglobal]

Originally Posted by Tiggerdad

The picture posted does not appear to be like the one the OP refers two. Says he has has a :needle nub" whatever that is. A picture would help.

That maybe a very old type of Thermostat. I had one of those 20 years ago. I think they have a selector on the side for heat and air only. Then you just pull the top or the bottom needle positioned to select the temperature. I picture would help to verify how it can be turned on.

[Don 265]

When the thermostat requests heat the furnace blower will come on after a delay of one to two minutes. The gas does not have to be on for this to happen.
Forest River likes to put the furnace and refrigerator on the same fuse so you need to check your 12 volt fuses and make sure the fuses are all in and there are no red lights on which would indicate a blown fuse.

According to the literature for your T T you should have a digital thermostat shown earlier. That would be a Dometic Single Zone, the same thermostat that controls your fan and cool.

There is a switch on the furnace that is not identified in any literature. In the first link scroll to figure 1, the switch is inside the opening marked "Electrical Connections" if it is not on the fan will not turn on.

You need to read the "operating instructions on page 5 of the following link.
http://idn.tweddle.com/media/bundle-...0Class%20C.pdf

The following link is for the Dometic Single Zone Thermostat, start by pressing the mode switch until the fan LED comes on and press the + or - button until the dislpas says AU. Then press the mode button until the Heat LED comes on, after about one minute the fan should come on.
If you do have the Suburban thermostat which you can see on page 8 Figure 7 item 2, all you need to do is move the selector arm to rhe right to a number higher than the current room temp and wait for the fam to come on.

Since this is the first time the furnace has been used follow the instructions to clear the dust out of it.
The following link is for the thermostat.
http://idn.tweddle.com/media/bundle-...Thermostat.pdf

Hope I have not confused you too much and HNY
Don

[Reb Kitt]

Ford Idaho has a good point about checking for wasp nests. Mine had a wasp nest built inside of a tube which prevented the proper flow of air to the furnace and that prevented the furnace from lighting. After that was repaired, I installed a screen to prevent insects from going into the breather tube. Also, the first time I turn on the furnace in the fall,m it can take several tries to get it to fire up. This is because it can take several times to get propane from the tank to the furnace.

[mike.t]

Reb. i have found the 1st thing i do after the T/T has been sitting is to turn on "ALL" the burners on the stove. That gets propane moving pretty quick. When they light your pretty much good to go on the other stuff.
Happy New Year all