34wb furnace access question

[Dondi]

we bought a 2108 wildcat 34wb this spring (year end sale). had a short walkthrough - didn't know what questions to ask. drove it home without incident. took it 2 hrs from home last summer for tryout. things seemed to work fine. then Dec 27th headed to FL for 3 months. halfway down the furnace quit. blower comes on, cycles, no burner kickin, blower shuts off. so we get to FL using fireplace and small space heater. call dealer in nichols NY and they are as helpful as they can be (I think). gave me two mobile RV repair guys one of whom showed up the next day. (cost us $225) he stayed two hours and was on the phone to FR prime time to try and figure out access to furnace. consensus is the circuit board is bad and should be replaced under warranty. (atwood furnace). problem is there is no apparent way to access the furnace. no panel on outside only vent. furnace is located next to rear slide. hot water heater and water control box between furnace and storage. drain pipes, many wires, gas lines etc plus aluminum cage to support floor in the way. cannot access through kitchen cabinet. rv tech has not gotten any useful help from our dealer who did call and talk with him or forest river - whoever the tech talked to. Any ideas other than cutting a new access panel and then installing a door or panel? thank you

[Bperry8001]

Hi, I'm in the same boat. Furnace stopped working 2 days ago. 30 seconds of blower but no spark or flame, then shuts off. Full propane, adequate voltage, etc.

Haven't called a repair tech yet, but self discovery leads me to your results. Furnace is an arms length out of reach no matter how you access the under belly.

Interested if there are any options to correct this civilly....

[Dondi]

here's a little more on our furnace which is under warranty now. our dealer's tech and the mobile one who was here agreed that if i couldn't hear clicking while standing by the vent outside or smell unburned propane at the vent most likely the circuit board is bad and needs replacement. this is while the blower is on and the thermostat is calling for heat.ours has those symptoms and this means pulling the furnace to repair.
So monday I will call our dealer again, the mobile tech, and try to find FR prime time wildcat numbers if they exist to try and get things moving!
Again, thanks to anyone with ideas or suggestions!

[cavie]

The furnace is removed from the inside. It is screwed down to the floor with two screws. one each at the front corners. Some have duck work attached on the sides. Some don't and blow hot air straight down into the floor. You need to remove the outside vent cover in order to replace the furnace so you might as well take it off first to ease removal of the furnace. Been there done that to replace the aforementioned circuit board.

Call FR and get permission for the RV tech to repair. If you take it to your dealer you won't see your RV for months for a 3 hour repair.

[galynster]

I have a 2018 FR Wildcat 34WB, just had the board replaced in my furnace also. The furnace is accessed from the cross over storages back wall, it comes down and the unit is on the non door side of the unit (drivers side) it is screwed down with 4 ducts attached just at cavie said. There is no access from outside the camper. There is not a lot of room inside to get access either, I had warranty replace mine. Took 3 months to make that happen. Good Luck

[Walholler]

I would get in contact with the manufacturer of the furnace, believe they would be more helpful than the manufacturer of the RV. Get your paperwork out so that you can give them the model number and serial number. Manufacturer of the RV knows little or nothing about the furnace, they just buy those in bulk and install them in the units they build. The furnace manufacturer is the one providing the warranty on it, not the RV manufacturer.

[nayther]

Originally Posted by Walholler

I would get in contact with the manufacturer of the furnace, believe they would be more helpful than the manufacturer of the RV. Get your paperwork out so that you can give them the model number and serial number. Manufacturer of the RV knows little or nothing about the furnace, they just buy those in bulk and install them in the units they build. The furnace manufacturer is the one providing the warranty on it, not the RV manufacturer.

Without removing the furnace you cannot access ANYTHING without removing it. Just looked at mine last weekend.