Heater stopped working

[jquayle]

Hello,

Sorry if this has already been covered, but I wasn't able find troubleshooting information for the heater in the forums.

I have a 2013 interstate and the heater has stopped working. It doesn't attempt to start when turned on via the thermostat. (As apposition to the gas line being off and it trying to start, but not being able to)

I checked the circuit breakers and see nothing out of the ordinary.

Hoping someone might have a suggestion and its some small issue I've overlooked.


Thanks,

Jeff


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[Lumatic]

Are you out of propane?

[jquayle]

Nope. Full tank. Again, I've tried to start t in the past with the propane off and it will "click click click" as it tries to start. Currently it does nothing. No fan comes on, etc.


Jeff


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[Lumatic]

Is the pilot light on? If not you may have a bad thermocouple or clogged orifice. You can check the thermostat by crossing the 2 wires that connect it to the furnace. If the furnace starts you have a bad thermostat. If that does not solve the problem I would suspect a bad circuit board.

[jquayle]

Think I figured out the problem. I turned on the generator to see if that made a difference. (Shouldn't need the gen, but nothing else was working so I figured it couldn't hurt to try)

Anyway, once I turned k. The furnace, the domestic top unit turned on and started blowing air.

I had a valet brilliantly try to park the interstate in a cover garage and hit the top ax unit. The dealer replaced it over the summer but didn't set the dip switches correctly so furnace wasn't even an option showing up in the thermostat. They gave me the correct dip switch settings over the phone and I took of the cover front the top unit and set it correctly myself. The furnace setting showed up after changing the setting, but since it was the middle of summer I never actually tested to see if it worked.

Either the thermostat or top unit is probably confused and thinks it's should use the domestic for heat when it should be the furnace at door level.

Now that I think about it, it's probably the thermostat.

Wonder if I have programming instructions for the thermostat.

Hmm, I'll have to look and report back.

Anyone have experience with this that might be able to confirm if I'm looking on the right direction?


Thanks,

Jeff


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[Protagonist]

Originally Posted by jquayle

I checked the circuit breakers and see nothing out of the ordinary.

The furnace will not attempt to start until the fan starts running. so if the fan doesn't start running, it's sensible to suspect an electrical problem. However, both the fan and the thermostat operate off 12vDC, not 120vAC. Checking circuit breakers doesn't help— you need to be checking fuses.

On Edit— the OP was posting at the same time I was, so my advice has already become a moot point. But instead of deleting this now-worthless post, I'll leave it up for the benefit of others who might be searching a solution to a similar problem later.

[jquayle]

No luck. Reset thermostat and no change.

Jeff


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[jquayle]

Prot,

The fan for the floor furnace unit or from the top domestic unit?

I'll start checking fuses either way...


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[Protagonist]

Originally Posted by jquayle

The fan for the floor furnace unit or from the top domestic unit?

Floor furnace fan is 12vDC. Rooftop A/C fan is 120vAC.

[jquayle]

Fuses all look ok.

No fan comes on from floor furnace. I pulled the cover and there is a reset switch, but it was already on and resetting it made no difference.

Anything else I should check it is this looking like a dealer issue?

Thanks,


Jeff


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[lewster]

If you have the ability, check to see that you have 12VDC at the furnace igniter board. If you do, you either have s problem with said igniter board or a communication problem between the CCC-II, the A/C's control board and the furnace igniter board.


Lew Farber
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[jquayle]

Thanks lew. Ill see if I can confirm power there.

Thank you everyone for all the quick responses!


Jeff


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[Boxster1971]

Originally Posted by Lumatic

Is the pilot light on? If not you may have a bad thermocouple or clogged orifice. You can check the thermostat by crossing the 2 wires that connect it to the furnace. If the furnace starts you have a bad thermostat. If that does not solve the problem I would suspect a bad circuit board.

No pilot light in the Interstate furnaces. It is electronic ignition.


- - Mike
2013 Lounge EXT on 2012 Sprinter

[Bambi_Bandit]

Can you open the furnace access door from the outside, access the reset switch from "reset" to "off", check for loose wires/reset them and switch back to "reset"?

Is there any red blink light code from the circuit board?

[Protagonist]

Originally Posted by Bambi_Bandit

Can you open the furnace access door from the outside

Airstream Interstates (except maybe older T1N models) don't have an outside access door for the furnace, only for the water heater.

[jquayle]

Bambi,

Access is on the inside as prot stated. I did pull the panel and tried the reset switch with no luck. Saw the chart of error codes in the manual, but i can't see any LEDs on. I may need to disassemble the unit in order to see the control board better. It faces inward and although it looks like nothing is on, I can't be 100%. (Although I would think I should be able to see something on or blinking without pulling it apart).

Doesn't seem to be easy to access anything by just removing the outer cover and I didn't have time to work on it yesterday beyond a quick look around.

It was recommended I short out the connection wires from the thermostat to see if it turns on. Anyone able to advise exactly where I should do that?

Here's the diagram from the manual



Thank you,


Jeff


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[InterBlog]

Originally Posted by Protagonist

Airstream Interstates (except maybe older T1N models) don't have an outside access door for the furnace, only for the water heater.

I have yet to see any lay-out or model year of T1N that has exterior furnace access. Everything I have seen in person and in the sales market has interior access only.

[Wingeezer]

From the wiring schematic that you posted, can you disconnect the +12v wire from the control board and pput 12vdc directly onto the motor to see if it starts up?

If not, that would seem to indicate that the motor is the problem, if not, then quite possibly the control board.

One thing I always do early in any attempt to diagnose problems with any appliance on the trailer is to unplug and re-plug all wiring connectors, cleaning them as well if there is any indication that it is needed. Also cleaned any ground connectors in the circuit to ensure good contact

Many times I have found such a simple thing gets everything working again. Probably you have already tried that though!

My trailers have always been bought a few years old, and as trailers age, bad electrical connections seem to be problematic.


Brian.

[HowieE]

On the right side of the diagram there is a Red and a Black wire. They have some form of connection to the heater, most likely a wire nut. Find that connection, disconnect it and test for 12 volts across the red and black wires. If you have 12 volts across them, reconnect the connections to the heater, then look for the on/off/circuit breaker switch in the heater. It will have 2 red wires on it. If the switch/breaker is on you will have 12 volts from each red wire to the black wire at the connection you just attached. If not the switch/breaker is open.

You have an electrical problem and you have to find out where that problem is. If you have 12 volts to the heater then the problem in in the heater. A fuse on the control board or the board itself. If you do not have 12 volts across the red and black wire you have a blown fuse in the 12 volt panel, a dead battery, or open wire suppling the heater.

[jquayle]

Thanks all for bearing with me.

Confirmed power at the switch.

Not sure where to jump to bypass the control board.

Here's a picture. Don't want to jump in the wrong place and fry something




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