# Furnace Won't Ignite



## Steve W

Hi guys, I need some help with the furnace in our Outback.

I went out to work on our trailer this afternoon (installing a new stereo) and discovered that my furnace will not ignite when I tried to warm up the trailer. Everything appears to be working. I have gas in the tanks, the gas is turned on and everything else will light except for the furnace.

Electrically the furnace appears to be working correctly. The overhead unit beeps when I turn it on, then the fan come on for while and finally I can hear the igniter clicking. But after that the burner will not ignite. It seems like the furnace is not getting any gas.

The furnace has been finicky in the past but running one of the cooktop burners for a while to bleed any air out of the lines has always worked to get the furnace running. I tried this several times but it isn't working this time.

The trailer has been stored for few months so its possible that something has crawled into the furnace vent and plugged something up. How do I check for that? And more importantly how would I clean it out? How can I check to make sure the furnace is getting gas?

Any advice would be appreciated.

Steve


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## raynardo

I went camping for the first time in three months (after having spent three months traveling once around the U.S.). I hadn't used the furnace in about a year. On the second morning it was cold enough that the ceramic heater I had wasn't getting the job done, so I grabbed the Outback's remote and turned the heater on.

Nothing happened. And I had been using the propane to cook both inside and on the outdoor kitchen.

I thought for sure that I would need to take it to a repair facility to have it looked at.

But lo and behold, about ten minutes later it sprung to life and warmed the OB toasty warm.

Conclusion: give it at least 15 minutes and see if it doesn't spring to life.


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## Steve W

That had worked for me in the past as well, but not today. I tried several times throughout the day with no luck.

Steve


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## GlenninTexas

Could be a dirt dapper nest or spider webs in the heater pipe. I've used one of those long wire bristle bruches used to clean under the refrigerator. Run it up and done the tube a few times. Also take an air hose and blow out the tube and the the thermocoupler area.

Good Luck, Glenn


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## Steve W

Glen,

I tried blowing through the air intake and the exhaust. Some small stuff came out but the furnace still will not ignite.

I pulled the furnace out of the trailer this afternoon and I'm going to try and check the electrode alignment this evening. If that looks good, I'm guessing that something is wrong with the board and it is not opening the gas valve.

Anyone know how to troubleshoot the gas valve/main board?

Steve


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## Steve W

Everything looked pretty good after taking the furnace out so before bringing it in for repair I reinstalled the furnace and it fired right up. Obviously this made me very happy but I'm not sure why it's working now. My guess is air in the LP line and that it was air locked.

Steve


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## CamperAndy

Steve W said:


> Everything looked pretty good after taking the furnace out so before bringing it in for repair I reinstalled the furnace and it fired right up. Obviously this made me very happy but I'm not sure why it's working now. My guess is air in the LP line and that it was air locked.
> 
> Steve


Possible but more likely it was a loose connection or poor ground. Remember these things do bounce down the road some and things do work loose.


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## Steve W

I ran the heater several times over a couple of days and all was fine until my tanks ran out of propane. After filling both tanks up the heater won't ignite again. It is showing the same symptoms as before so something is still not right. At this point it seems like it has to be a gas valve issue or low gas pressures problem.

I need to have the brakes on my trailer worked on so I may just end up taking it in after the holidays.

Steve


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## Traveling Tek

Well let me know what they find. My furnace will run just fine for a bit, then it will shut off and not start back up. I have to it off and back on to make it go again.


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## Steve W

I took my trailer in today to have the furnace looked at and they found that my gas regulator was not working properly. They said the pressure was low without the furnace running and dropped even lower when the gas valve on the furnace opened. They replaced the regulator and now everything is working like new.

Steve


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## marker

Steve W said:


> I took my trailer in today to have the furnace looked at and they found that my gas regulator was not working properly. They said the pressure was low without the furnace running and dropped even lower when the gas valve on the furnace opened. They replaced the regulator and now everything is working like new.
> 
> Steve


Good to know. Did the tech say what the pressure should be? How did he measure it?

Thanks, Gary


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## Chabbie1

Our regulator went out on us during a camping trip last year in the mountains. We Couldn't figure out why it was taking so long to cook and knew that our tanks were full. Thankfully we were camping with N70Q and they had to finish cooking for us. (Good excuse to get out of cooking anyway and it worked! Sshhh don't tell Bill!) 
Anyway, we found out when we got home that it was the regulator. Replaced it and haven't had a problem since.


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## SDCampers

marker said:


> I took my trailer in today to have the furnace looked at and they found that my gas regulator was not working properly. They said the pressure was low without the furnace running and dropped even lower when the gas valve on the furnace opened. They replaced the regulator and now everything is working like new.
> 
> Steve


Good to know. Did the tech say what the pressure should be? How did he measure it?

Thanks, Gary
[/quote]
It's pretty easy to put a guage on the output side of the regulator. Pressure should be 12-14 inches WC (about 1/3 lb). Not uncommon for this type regulator to work fine one day then fail. There's an internal check valve that will fail causing low output.


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## KTMRacer

One thing to look at if your propane doesn't seem to be delivering enough gas or no gas is to be aware of the "excess flow" protection on most new systems. If it detects what it thinks is to much gas flow, it cuts way way down on the flow, down, not completely off but enough that a furnace, WH won't start, and a stove has hardly any flame. What can trigger the excess flow is turning on your gas valve on the tank to quickly if the line is not presurized. If you experience low flow, try this:

1) turn off the valve on your tank(s)
2) disconnect the lines from the tanks. This MUST be done to reset the excess flow valve
3) reconnect the lines to the tank
4) VERY slowly turn on the valve to the tank. If you hear a "click" as you turn it on it may have triggered the excess flow valve. (not always the case that it does)
5) Now try your gas again.


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## CamperAndy

KTMRacer said:


> One thing to look at if your propane doesn't seem to be delivering enough gas or no gas is to be aware of the "excess flow" protection on most new systems. If it detects what it thinks is to much gas flow, it cuts way way down on the flow, down, not completely off but enough that a furnace, WH won't start, and a stove has hardly any flame. What can trigger the excess flow is turning on your gas valve on the tank to quickly if the line is not presurized. If you experience low flow, try this:
> 
> 1) turn off the valve on your tank(s)
> 2) disconnect the lines from the tanks. This MUST be done to reset the excess flow valve
> 3) reconnect the lines to the tank
> 4) VERY slowly turn on the valve to the tank. If you hear a "click" as you turn it on it may have triggered the excess flow valve. (not always the case that it does)
> 5) Now try your gas again.


Well for me to reset the OPD or high flow valve was to re close the tank isolation valve. I have never had to disconnect the hose. I agree with the rest of what you wrote but I would add to point 4 VERY VERY (not just one VERY!) and if you hear the click, close the valve and repeat step four until you can open the tank valve without hearing the click. The high flow valve reacts to differential pressure.


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## KTMRacer

CamperAndy said:


> One thing to look at if your propane doesn't seem to be delivering enough gas or no gas is to be aware of the "excess flow" protection on most new systems. If it detects what it thinks is to much gas flow, it cuts way way down on the flow, down, not completely off but enough that a furnace, WH won't start, and a stove has hardly any flame. What can trigger the excess flow is turning on your gas valve on the tank to quickly if the line is not presurized. If you experience low flow, try this:
> 
> 1) turn off the valve on your tank(s)
> 2) disconnect the lines from the tanks. This MUST be done to reset the excess flow valve
> 3) reconnect the lines to the tank
> 4) VERY slowly turn on the valve to the tank. If you hear a "click" as you turn it on it may have triggered the excess flow valve. (not always the case that it does)
> 5) Now try your gas again.


Well for me to reset the OPD or high flow valve was to re close the tank isolation valve. I have never had to disconnect the hose. I agree with the rest of what you wrote but I would add to point 4 VERY VERY (not just one VERY!) and if you hear the click, close the valve and repeat step four until you can open the tank valve without hearing the click. The high flow valve reacts to differential pressure.
[/quote]

I'm sure there are mutiple excess flow valve configurations, I wish I had one like your. I have the green knob hoses from my tanks to the regulator, and that is usually an indication of an excess flow prevention device in the hose. Certainly is in my case. Unfortunetly, with this configuration, the only way to reset it is to remove upstream pressure, which means disconnecting the hose after turning off the tank valve.


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## CamperAndy

Well that is a hose of a different color!

I have never seen a hose with a high flow preventer valve, only seen them in tanks.


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## AK or Bust

Speaking of propane and pressure ... I'm going to mention what happened to us recently.

Last weekend was our first time dry camping. I turned the propane refrigerator on several hours before leaving hoping the refrigerator would be cool when we loaded it with food. When it was time to leave, the refrigerator still wasn't cool. When we got to the campground, I turned on the propane hot water heater and an hour later noticed that also wasn't working. Previous camping trips always had electric so I was worried that there was a problem with our refrigerator and water heater propane systems. Our stove was working fine so I knew we had plenty of propane.

When all else fails, read the manual. The manual for the refrigerator said that sometimes you have to turn the refrigerator on several times before it catches. Sure enough after a few tries, I finally heard the refrigerator doing something and then it finally worked. Same with the water heater. Oh and also the little "check" light on the refrigerator never turned on.

Our outback is a 2006 so I'm wondering if this is normal behavior or possibly something needs to be adjusted or serviced on the refrigerator and water heater. I'm finishing up solar modifications to our fifth wheel and hoping to do more dry camping in the future. Thanks


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## CamperAndy

AK or Bust said:


> Our outback is a 2006 so I'm wondering if this is normal behavior or possibly something needs to be adjusted or serviced on the refrigerator and water heater. I'm finishing up solar modifications to our fifth wheel and hoping to do more dry camping in the future. Thanks


Should actually be a new thread so that you can get more responses but just to let you know it is very normal for the condition you describe to occur. That is except for the check light not working.

When ever the gas is shut off for a while the line will leak down and will be replaced with air. You have to purge the air by cycling the appliance several times or my preferred method is to turn on the gas user that is the most distant from the tanks first. Once this runs normally the line is mostly purged. Then start turning on the others.


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## AK or Bust

Thanks Andy ! Yeah, I should have probably started a new thread.


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## KTMRacer

CamperAndy said:


> Our outback is a 2006 so I'm wondering if this is normal behavior or possibly something needs to be adjusted or serviced on the refrigerator and water heater. I'm finishing up solar modifications to our fifth wheel and hoping to do more dry camping in the future. Thanks


Should actually be a new thread so that you can get more responses but just to let you know it is very normal for the condition you describe to occur. That is except for the check light not working.

When ever the gas is shut off for a while the line will leak down and will be replaced with air. You have to purge the air by cycling the appliance several times or my preferred method is to turn on the gas user that is the most distant from the tanks first. Once this runs normally the line is mostly purged. Then start turning on the others.
[/quote]

I've experienced the same thing on many occasions (gas line bleading down). My normal pre trip checklist is to turn on the water heater, stove, furnace & fridge and make sure they all run on gas. good way to see if there are cobwebs in the gas lines etc. Better to know they are working before you leave.


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## raynardo

My lines are almost always totally bled out of propane whenever I go camping.

Here are the things I do when I bring my trailer home from the storage yard:

Turn on propane tank. I have gauges on both, and they work well. I also take a Sharpie and write on the outside of each tank when I fill it, how many gallons, and what it costs. It keeps me in touch with my propane.
Go inside the trailer, turn on a burner on the stove, bled it while simultaneously using a long-wand lighter to attempt to ignite the burner. It may take up to 20-30 seconds before it actually lights.
Once one burner is lit, I turn on the second burner and light it using the piezo lighter built into the stove, once that's done it's on to the third burner.
After all burners are lit, and burning well, I turn them off and set my refrigerator to the gas position.
Using this tried and true method, I have always been successful.
I usually don't turn on the hot water heater until I'm at the campsite, since it seems to heat the water quickly.
YMMV.


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## AK or Bust

Good tips !

I'm relieved that this is normal behavior for the refrigerator and water heater. Next time I'll be better prepared using the techniques suggested.


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## Jewellfamily

raynardo said:


> My lines are almost always totally bled out of propane whenever I go camping.
> 
> Here are the things I do when I bring my trailer home from the storage yard:
> 
> Turn on propane tank. I have gauges on both, and they work well. I also take a Sharpie and write on the outside of each tank when I fill it, how many gallons, and what it costs. It keeps me in touch with my propane.
> Go inside the trailer, turn on a burner on the stove, bled it while simultaneously using a long-wand lighter to attempt to ignite the burner. It may take up to 20-30 seconds before it actually lights.
> Once one burner is lit, I turn on the second burner and light it using the piezo lighter built into the stove, once that's done it's on to the third burner.
> After all burners are lit, and burning well, I turn them off and set my refrigerator to the gas position.
> Using this tried and true method, I have always been successful.
> I usually don't turn on the hot water heater until I'm at the campsite, since it seems to heat the water quickly.
> YMMV.


Thats the same way I do mine. I had problems off and on getting the fridge to light until I started doing it this way.


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