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Old 09-01-2013, 07:18 PM   #1
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Furnace won't turn on unless generatir is on

We're on our first outing with our brand new 2013 Work and Play 25ULA. Weird thing... The furnace will only kick on if the generator is running. Once it starts up we can shut the generator off and the furnace will continue to run just fine. What's the deal? Is it a setting on the thermostat?
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Old 09-01-2013, 07:27 PM   #2
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thats odd a I thought the furnace was a 12V system
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Old 09-01-2013, 07:54 PM   #3
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Originally Posted by ORMelen View Post
We're on our first outing with our brand new 2013 Work and Play 25ULA. Weird thing... The furnace will only kick on if the generator is running. Once it starts up we can shut the generator off and the furnace will continue to run just fine. What's the deal? Is it a setting on the thermostat?
Sounds like a low battery. Heater only runs with near full battery, generator would provide this situ.
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Old 09-01-2013, 08:40 PM   #4
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Battery is reading full. It only needs the generator to start the furnace, then we can shut the generator off and the furnace will continue to run.
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Old 09-01-2013, 08:51 PM   #5
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Furnace? Where are you camping that you need the furnace this time of year?
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Old 09-01-2013, 09:07 PM   #6
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Battery is reading full. It only needs the generator to start the furnace, then we can shut the generator off and the furnace will continue to run.
This is weird, are you connected to 120v shore power? Don't trust the pushbutton light indicator, they only represent a short range of values, where one light is battery is so low its in self destruct mode. Suggest you buy a inexpensive A/C meter plugs into spare outlet and some means of reading DC bus values at the battery or at the distribution panel bus. In the future it would help yourselves or another to help troubleshoot power situ's.
If you are on shore power you'll have about 13.6 volt DC which is plenty to start the heater.
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Old 09-01-2013, 09:09 PM   #7
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Furnace? Where are you camping that you need the furnace this time of year?
Same question but noted new unit........
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Old 09-01-2013, 09:45 PM   #8
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We're in Central Oregon. High 80's during the day, low 40's at night. No shore power we're dry camping. I should've mentioned in the beginning that it tries, for about 10 seconds to run, you can hear the furnace just never tries to "light". I'll try the battery test. I'd think it wouldn't run at all if the battery were low, but it does indeed continue once it's "lit". We thought maybe something wasn't hooked up right.
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Old 09-01-2013, 09:58 PM   #9
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We're in Central Oregon. High 80's during the day, low 40's at night. No shore power we're dry camping. I should've mentioned in the beginning that it tries, for about 10 seconds to run, you can hear the furnace just never tries to "light". I'll try the battery test. I'd think it wouldn't run at all if the battery were low, but it does indeed continue once it's "lit". We thought maybe something wasn't hooked up right.
Is this a fixed or portable generator? You don't mention your camping unit in your profile or first post. If this is happening in the am after a cold night, my bet is still the battery is "low" and by using the generator its provides the higher DC via the converter, also tops the coach battery via the same converter. A new, stout battery can be brought to its knees in one cold night by that heater. It is by far the greatest load of all the DC features. If you were plugged in somewhere this would be a non issue. When I say low battery, I don't mean "dead" more like 12 volts or less. Course could be a faulty PCB in the heater reading low voltage prematurely, preventing start.
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Old 09-02-2013, 03:17 PM   #10
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This happened to us as well and the battery lights showed full charge but I tested the battery with a meter and it wasn't putting out enough to heat, only to run the fan. I got a new battery the next day, after a chilly night, and it has been fine since. I also keep my battery on a battery tender when parked now.
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Old 09-02-2013, 04:23 PM   #11
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Originally Posted by ORMelen View Post
We're on our first outing with our brand new 2013 Work and Play 25ULA. Weird thing... The furnace will only kick on if the generator is running. Once it starts up we can shut the generator off and the furnace will continue to run just fine. What's the deal? Is it a setting on the thermostat?

Get your battery load tested.
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