How to Turn Furnace Off

[lcurrie]

Hello All,

Crazy question. We've never, ever, run the furnace on our 2005 Bambi. We store the Airstream at the in-laws and just rolled in for the holidays, where it's about 40ish degrees right now.

We will spend tonight in the Airstream tonight so ran the electric cord so we can use our small ceramic heater. As soon as the power was turned on, the furnace fired up. The good news is that it seems to work and blows hot air! The bad news is I don't know why it's on or how to turn it off!

I've got the furnace set to off and it still runs. I opened the panel by the floor and seem to be able to turn it off using the reset/off button, but when I do that, a red light is flashing in the panel every 5 seconds or so.

Thoughts?



Lynn


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[blmitch5]

It runs for a bit after you turn it off. Set the thermostat to the lowest setting then turn it off and just wait? Sorry no other advise for you.

[lcurrie]

Thanks, Brad. The lowest setting is all the way to the left with the bottom lever?


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[blmitch5]

Yes did it turn off?

[tinbender]

My Bambi is a little older than yours and the thermostat has another button on the bottom part of it that is the main on/off switch. It must be firmly pushed to actually be in the off position and there is definite "click". I don't see any other control on your photo but when you slide it all the way towards "off", make sure that it is all the way over. It may have that little extra travel at the end.

2nd on what blmitch5 said on putting it on lowest setting if all else fails.

[lcurrie]

Thanks for the additional info. I *think* the only off switch is at the top and it does click off when I go all the way to the right. I'll double check underneath though.

This really is just crazy. I didn't even know it worked. I'll probably also turn the propane tank off for now. We don't need hot water tonight anyhoo.


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[tinbender]

You mentioned above that you have a bottom slide lever to set the temp. I think your's works about like mine. Just that your off switch is on top and mine is on the bottom. Good luck with it and stay warm.....

[Phoenix]

If you look closely at the lever arm, it is NOT touching the right side of the cut-out in the top of the thermostat. It MUST touch the right side of the cut-out for the furnace to be OFF. Otherwise, the furnace is still ON; and the thermostat is set at the minimum temperature, which is about 50 degrees.

To turn the thermostat OFF, press the lever firmly to the right, in the OFF direction. This may take more force than seems necessary, but the lever will not break -- just push it firmly. When the thermostat actually switches to OFF, you'll hear a distinct click; and the lever will be touching the right side of the cut-out.

[lcurrie]

Thanks for the tip about the lever. I'll push it harder and see if it goes further!


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[paiceman]

I all else fails trip the circuit breaker. Then if it stays on someone has done something to your AS and a dealer should take a look see.

[ghaynes755]

Lynn, if you are still having an issue it may be that the thermostat coil inside has moved, rotated, or just plain broken. If you can unsnap the front cover the typical thermostat has a coil with a mercury switch. The coil/switch rotate around the mounting pin. When the switch (glass tube filled with mercury) is tilted the mercury makes contact with the two contacts in the switch turning on the furnace. When rotated/tilted the other way the mercury moves down the switch and away from the contacts.

Usually the 'lock off' position is simply a way to keep the lever which attaches to the temperature coil from being moved to the left.

SO with the cover off if the mercury switch with the lever in the far right spot has the silver mercury sliding and covering the contacts the thermostat will never shut off. Usually there is another small lever at the bottom of the thermo coil that can also be adjusted and worth a shot.

If none of this works then someplace there is a short on control lines.

And as someone mentioned, if the furnace has been running and you shut it down the furnace contains a sensor that makes the fan run during a cool down period. Usually takes a minute or two.

Photo is of a home thermostat but you can get an idea of the coil and the mercury tube switch. Looking at that one the mercury is to the tip of the tube, thus in the off position. If the tube tilted to the left, the end with the wires/contacts would be covered by the mercury and the furnace would turn on.

[lcurrie]

It was the lever!! It needed a little harder of a nudge to click off. Thanks AirForums!!


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[iowaroots]

Turn of the breaker.

[Martgt]

A related (newbie) question. First night out. Our new Bambi has the same On/Off lever on top. However, I can't seem to move it away from the Off position without risk of breaking it. If I can't move the lever to the left, I'm assuming its Off and we'd like to run the furnace. Any suggestions short of a sledge hammer?