Where do I light this thing?

[Razinni]

Here is a picture of my heater I have DC power and gas. Thermostat works and blower comes on. I've turned on all the gas I can find. I don't smell anything and, after about 3 minutes of blower running I still don't have heat. Two questions.

1. How do I confirm that it automatically did or did not light?
2. Where do I light it?

[idroba]

I see two shut off valves on your intake gas line, one at the bottom where it goes into the furnace and a second one about 6 inches above that. Are both on?

The furnace is not original I am pretty sure, as in '71 they were all pilot light models and yours is an electronic ignition. Somehow a PO then put a second shut off valve in the line.

I would still be very careful of that furnace. The combustion chambers are very prone to rust out and yours looks like it might be well on it's way to failure, if not already there. That can let dangerous gasses into the coach. I personally would not spend a lot of time or money on an old and questionable furnace. Your life is at stake here.

I had a furnace in a '71 Caravel which gave me headaches and left me feeling bad any night it ran much. I replaced it, and found the old one had a rusted out combustion chamber which I could not see but was leaking carbon monoxide into the coach. No more headaches and feeling bad with the new one. Glad the old one didn't kill me.

[nilesrob]

Hard to tell in the picture, but is that a fuse in-line on the black wire? On our water heater there is a fuse that looked good but was in fact bad, not sure if there is a fuse similar on your furnace, but if so you might replace - cheap fix or at least eliminate a point of failure.

[GeocamperAS]

Both shut off valves look to be off in your photo.
The handles should be parallel with the gas lines.

[Razinni]

Originally Posted by tiger

Both shut off valves look to be off in your photo.
The handles should be parallel with the gas lines.

I had turned them off before I took the picture. The PO had been using these heaters and claimed they had worked recently. I hate to replace something unless I'm sure its bad.

I turned on gas for quite a period before I adjusted the thermostat just to see if I could detect any odor.

[Protagonist]

Originally Posted by Razinni

I turned on gas for quite a period before I adjusted the thermostat just to see if I could detect any odor.

Obligatory safety note: LPG producers add ethyl mercaptains to propane to allow it to be detected by smell. The amount of oderant added should be enough to allow detection at one-fifth of the lower explosive limit (or about 0.4% propane in air). Assuming you put your nose near the floor and inhale where LPG will collect, and aren't standing upright where your breathing zone is above the vapors. And assuming you haven't harmed your sense of smell by a lifetime of smoking.

However, LPG is an inhalation hazard at concentrations as low as 0.1% propane in air and may cause damage to the central nervous system.

In other words, by the time you can smell it, there's enough in the air to hurt you, even though there's not yet enough to catch fire.

Please don't make a habit of using your nose to detect propane leaks, if you can use an electronic LPG detector instead.