This one goes down as stump the stars. Turned on the furnace the other night and no problem. Blower came on and out came the heat. Cycled on and off a couple of times during the night. Woke up at 4 AM and I am cold. Go to turn the heat up and no blower. Nada. Turned unit off and tried a restart. Nada. Checked the inverter box under the couch and all the circuits are in the on position. Help!! Any ideas? I am open to suggestions of which replacing the furnace is not on the top of the priority list. All donations greatly appreciated. CanineCaravan :'(
CC
Do you have a Coleman or Suburban furnace?
JerryT
Coleman furnace
This sounds like the problem I had with mine. But I have the suburban furnace.
Does anyone know if the Coleman Furnace has an ignitor board? I replaced mine.
I would seriously suggest KICKING the furnace a few good times with a heavy boot. No... seriously :o.
The igniter board first senses the position of the SAIL SWITCH (literally a switch with a sail), and if it is stuck in the up position, your furnace wont turn on. You may also want to simply go on a drive over some bumpy road, if kicking your furnace is not an option. If you determine that it is the sail switch problem, then remove the furnace (have fun!) then try to vacuum out as much dust and rust etc. from the furnace as you can, then blow out the sail switch with a can of compressed air. Then lightly lubricate the switch with some electrical contact cleaner (available at radio shack). I also added a slight bit of a back bend to the sail to ensure gravity has maximum effect.
If you determine that the igniter board has failed (you would probably hear the ignition clicking, but no fire happens), I would look at finding a replacement, perhaps Dinosaurelectronics.com could help you. You can replace it yourself if you can get the furnace out.
-D
I hope this helps, and maybe someone with the coleman furnace can chime in as well. I have to beleive that the suburban furnace and the coleman furnace are similar in operation.
CC
I got out my Coleman service guide for my 1978 Coleman furnace.
#1 Check for power -12V- inside the furnace, if no power then look for a blown fuse or a bad connection.
#2 If you have power then it could be a faulty fan relay, faulty thermostat or faulty thermostat wiring.
#3 Bad blower motor. Check by jumping the fan switch. (behind/next to the gas valve)
#4 Bad wiring/connections.
These are standing pilot non-electronic simple units that can be repaired/serviced. Don't give up on it, just find the right person to repair it. If you tackle this yourself, ask all the questions you want.
JerryT
Hi Jerry I beleive that Dan had the problem and it turned out to be the Sail"
This maybe their prob as well but whos to say... John
Hi John
I just checked and the sail switch is suspect only if the blower runs but the furnace does not heat, or so says the Coleman manual. I can light mine with a match/lighter all day long but the piezo sparker will not light the pilot, and it is zapping the right area, one more thing to fix/adjust :)
JerryT
Hey guys and gals,
Just to clarify, my initial problem was that the blower came on, igniter attempted to light, but furnace would not run due to some part of the igniter board failing and not opening up the lp supply. outcome= new Dinosaur electronics igniter board.
Thendue to the furnace being removed,rust/grit got into the Sail Switch so it would get stuck in the up/blower on position, which the new advanced igniter board (the brains of the whole operation) interpreted as a fault, since it had not told the blower to blow yet.
In the instance you mentioned from your manual Jerryt, the fault would seem to be the sail switch being stuck in the off/no blower action position, even though the blower is actually working, which the igniter board would recognize as simply "no blower = no fire" preventing a possible furnace fire due to the lack of proper heat circulation.
I sure wish these furnaces were easier to remove!
Cheers!
-D
Hi D
If CC has the original Coleman furnace like I do, then it has no electronics. In mine, the sail switch is inline with the gas valve electrically i.e. no blow no gas. CC has a no blower/dead condition. Unlike a home furnace the blower must come on first in these units and the blower is controlled by the thermostat/blower relay, if it's getting power first. I hope I never have to remove my furnace as it looks like a big job. Question when we painted the Clipper I tried to take off the exhaust/fresh air garnish that is held on by 4 screws on the outside. The screws were stuck/frozen so I left them. To remove the furnace, do these screws and garnish have to be removed?
JerryT
I am getting ignition and I have a pilot light. I just don't get the blower to come on which puts out the hot air. I drove it home for 2.5 hours and went over bumpy roads. Still no go on. What now?
CC
What do you mean by ignition?
JerryT
Jerryt,
I was wondering about the electronics situation in the Coleman. good to know. There are two screws that need to come out of the face plate, but not the plate itself. If I recall correctly, the screws are for the upper exhaust vent. The intake vent on the bottom just aligns loosely with the lower portion of the faceplate, and is just a piece of rubberized vent tube.
CC,
Regretfully I am at a loss. I think you will have to remove/have removed the furnace to get to the bottom of the problem, which seems to be with your blower motor. Is your furnace located under the fridge/pantry closet? Mine is, and I was able to remove it with a small bottle jack after disconnecting the LP supply line and electrical connections. the electrical connectors were barely accessible through a vent by the coach entry. I takes alot of elbow grease, contortionist positions, and an ample supply of foul language.
Did you try Kicking it hard?
-D
Hey pd2,,,,, ,,
how hard is it to remove the fridge???
I am not keeping it so I really don't care if I beat it to death it is already dead..
I've got the new fridge and want to start making new cabinets .
While I have the fridge out I want to over haul the furnice.....
It stopped working as well as everything else. The wife wants me to install the microwave
in the same area that the fridge was.
With the daughters help it will e done.
I lost heat the last time we were out and it did get cold. no heat no sound of clicking. I even put a new t
thermastat on and nothing happened. just double up the blankets..
Nice talking with ya!!!! John E. :)
I couldn't tell you about the fridge John, Ive never had mine out. But I understand that it has to be removed through the cab on the passengers side with the seat removed.
What kind of furnace do you have? Got blower?
I put a small microwave above the fridge and ran the cord through the wall, down to the outlet for the fridge. It was tricky fishing the cord down, but my wife helped me.
Toss one back for me! eight more days till I get home....... :(
-D
I hav a very Dead 3 way Dometic" electric gas and Batt...Kinda sounds like an old rock group"
Yea, I heard it is a bugger to get out the passenger door. Eight days" wow....
what ya gona do first???? Aaaaaa make that second!! yes as a matter of fact it does have a Blower...Wwwhyyyyyy... :o ;) :) John E.
Is it blowing when you turn on the thermostat? is it Suburban or coleman?
as to what I will do, take my wife out to eat at the Glacier Brewhouse, then go home and kiss the kids....and spank the wife ;D
WAAAAAAAAYYYYYYYYYYYYY to GOoooo Bro!!!!
I wish I was 30 yrs younger!!! I'd do the same :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :)
John E.
6 more days! 8)
The blower does not come on even when you put the thermostat in the high position. Tried kicking it again but it still won't work. The unit is the coleman that came with the 78 clipper origionally.
CC
You have to have it tested to see why the blower does not come on. Blower must come on first before the burner will activate.
JerryT