Leprechaun fireplace

[Mmgulfcoast]

Hi everyone, before I try to get answer from Coachmen I thought I’d post here.

I was exercising my generator today. I wanted to put it under load and when I tried to turn on the fireplace I had no power. Everything else works fine. I used electric water heater which shares the same circuit board, the ac, the water pump, microwave, everything... only the fireplace didn’t work on genie.

I have used it for the last two weeks while sleeping in RV over holidays and it performed flawlessly. I actually was thrilled with the efficiency, quiet operation and perfect temperature control. When I reconnected shore power it again is working perfectly. So it is only on genie.

So, any ideas? Can any other owners with a fireplace tell me if this is correct? When boondocking I definitely want to be able to use the fireplace!

[SeaDog]

not know your rig this reminds me of how many of the older Class A rigs were wired that on generator both ACs would run but on shore only one would run (sort of the opposite problem you are having) The logic behind it was the incoming shore power breaker was not sufficient to handle the entire load. Is your onboard generator large enough to handle the entire load? Some rigs have a switch that directs power to fireplace and microwave but not both, this doesn't help you much but it is something to check.

[Mmgulfcoast]

Thanks seadog

I love opinions and thoughts, you never know what might be right.

Genie is big enough plus I turned everything else off and tried just fireplace as second check.

I discovered after electrician error that I posted previously that a circuit board controls power between electric version of hot water heater and fireplace. That is working properly so I think they wired fireplace for use only on shore power... but I do not know that as fact. I am not thrilled if that is the case as I really enjoy using it vs furnace.

I will try to call Coachmen next week and post when I have an answer. If anyone has any other thoughts please post.

[SeaDog]

I have not heard about the WH on electric and the furnace but an easy check would be to put the WH to propane only and see if the furnace will run might be worth a try.

[Mmgulfcoast]

I didn’t word that well. The furnace is completely separate. The electric side of WH and fireplace share switching circuit board. WH works on electric both shore and genie. Fireplace only works on shore. Comment regarding furnace was meant that when dry camping I would like to use fireplace for heat not furnace.

[SeaDog]

I read your post wrong I and typed furnace it should have been fireplace. give it a shot with the gen running turn off the WH and see if you can get fireplace to start.

[Witch Doctor]

You have a relay behind the fireplace, the W/H and the FP are on the same circuit. The W/H has priority so when you W/H kicks on the FP will off when the W/H gets satisfied the FP will come back on. If I need mine for heat I just put the W/H on propane.

[Roddor]

Originally Posted by Witch Doctor

You have a relay behind the fireplace, the W/H and the FP are on the same circuit. The W/H has priority so when you W/H kicks on the FP will off when the W/H gets satisfied the FP will come back on. If I need mine for heat I just put the W/H on propane.

Witch Doctor is correct on this. My unit is the same as his and I found that my Fireplace was actually plugged into a different circuit which kept blowing it. I switched it back to the correct relay. My fire place actually has a small (tiny) sticker that reads "to operate the fireplace the 120 volt water heater switch must be turned off."

[rbev2308]

Monica...tried to respond to your private message but your inbox is full and will not take it from me....

[Mmgulfcoast]

Originally Posted by rbev2308

Monica...tried to respond to your private message but your inbox is full and will not take it from me....

I cleaned it out. Ok to receive now.

[Mmgulfcoast]

Thanks everyone, I forgot to post solution. Witch doctor is correct. If I switch WH back to propane it releases the electric back to fireplace. Yayyy!