jaragon
Albuquerque, NM, USA
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I have been having a trouble where my heater will not ignite when camping up in the mountains. I am running off of battery power. I have had the thermostat replaced twice. The heater fan will come on for about 45 seconds or so but never ignite. I recently hooked up the lights/hook up to my truck. When hooked up to the truck with the truck running the heater ignited. The battery was fully charged and is a newer deep cycle battery. I am confused as to why it is lighting when hooked up to the truck but not on its own. It does also work when hooked up to ac power. Could it not be getting enough power from the battery?
* This post was
edited 08/03/08 10:50pm by jaragon *
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campercajun
Central Texas Hill Country
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When the truck is hooked up and running, the heater is receiving about 13.5 volts instead of the 12 or less it will get with just the trailer battery and the converter not plugged into power. But the heater should ignite on 12v or less, until the voltage drops below the point where the battery is considered discharged (probably around 10.5v or so). Your furnace circuit board might be defective if the burner won't ignite with less than 13.5v.
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lv2rom
Kansas City, Missouri
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I think you need to have the battery checked out. The sail switch in the furnace is pushed by air flow from the fan and tells the system that there is enough ventilation to open the gas valve and ignite. In your case your truck is adding the extra OOmmph to the fan. I'll bet if you listen closely when you are hooked up to your truck or on shore power the RPM's of your fan increase considerably. ERGO...not enough grunt in the house battery. They can be pretty picky some times.....Brian
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jaragon
Albuquerque, NM, USA
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How do I test if the battery is good or not?
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Triker33
Homestead, FL
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One of these Testers you can use for a lot of different 12V & 120V checks.
Voltage State of Charge
12.6+--- 100%
12.5 --- 90%
12.42 --- 80%
12.32 --- 70%
12.20 --- 60%
12.06 --- 50%
11.9 --- 40%
11.75 --- 30%
11.58 --- 20%
11.31 --- 10%
10.5 --- 0%
* This post was
edited 08/04/08 02:02pm by Triker33 *
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javaseuf
Southern Cal
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Another possibility is there is dirt/dust on the sail-switch arm. The dust will make it more difficult for the sail to move so the few extra volts turning the fan moter a little faster, may just be enough of a increase in air-flow to activate the dirty sail-switch.
I have found this scenarion many times with owners that have pets. The hai gets into the pivot point on the sail-switch and keeps it from actuating.
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jaragon
Albuquerque, NM, USA
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I had the battery tested at Autozone they said it is good nothing wrong with the battery, it is a group 24 deep cycle. How do I check the sail switch or clean it what does it look like? Is it found on the main board? The heater is a Suburban furnace.
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vikx
Washington State
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The sail switch is very close to the fan. It senses the fan is running and allows power to the board. You have to take most furnaces out/apart to reach it. It has a long blade on it which closes the switch when enough air hits it. Another cause of this furnace behavior is a bad or weak fan motor-not turning fast enough to actuate the sail. VK
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javaseuf
Southern Cal
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Located in the back of the cabinet below the blower wheel.
The entire inside assembly will need to be removed from the outer case.
Service manuals may be found HERE
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strollin
San Martin, CA
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Since you have removed the battery to have it tested this may be a moot point but make sure that your battery terminals are clean and tight. You might be getting a voltage drop at the battery terminals. Also check that the battery ground is clean and tight.
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