Removing Excalibur 8500-III Furnace

[burobaaje]

Need help in removing an Excalibur 8500-III furnace. 98 Safari 25. Maybe someone can point me to some instructions already on the web.

Furnace has not been used much at all and the second time we tried to use it, fumes were strong enough in the trailer to set of the carbon dioxide alarm. I tried washing out the combustion chamber and did get something that looked like dirt dabber nest to come out. But no luck. Need to pull the unit and clean it.

By the way, I can't find a parts manuals on Airstreams site for 98 Safari's and I noticed that in the forum for 98 Safari's there have been no messages. My title says it is a 98! Do they really exist?

[overlander63]

Hi, and welcome to the forums. Before you pull out the furnace, you may want to light it, and let it run for a half hour or so with the windows open. There is a coating on the heat exchanger that gives off some serious fumes before it burns off. It usually takes 30-60 minutes of running before the stuff burns off. I would do this before trying to remove the furnace. If it still does it after that time, with no noticeable improvement, then you may have to pull it out for cleaning or repair.

[Condoluminum]

Furnace is really an Atwood, Excaliber model... Atwood is pretty good about furnishing parts and service info. Try their website at:
http://www.atwoodmobile.com/Products/furnace/8900.cfm

A number of RV shops provide service and repair parts as well, as they are one of two standards for RV industry... Owner's manual should have had service manual from Atwood in rear of binder...

And yes, consensus is your 98 Safari does indeed exist...

John McG

[burobaaje]

Originally Posted by overlander63

Hi, and welcome to the forums. light it, and let it run for a half hour or so with the windows open.

Thanks for the welcome and I will give this a try. We used it only once for almost a week of very cold weather and at least a year or so later when trying again is when it gave the fumes, so it could need burning out.

Dudley

[burobaaje]

Originally Posted by Condoluminum

Furnace is really an Atwood, Excaliber model... Atwood is pretty good about furnishing parts and service info.

A number of RV shops provide service and repair parts as well, as they are one of two standards for RV industry... Owner's manual should have had service manual from Atwood in rear of binder...

And yes, consensus is your 98 Safari does indeed exist...

John McG

I have tried atwoods site and they give little help to the "do it yourselfers" which unfortunately I am. Stubborn could be appropriate! I am disappointed in the information found in the binder. Seems they want it done at a shop too. And if running it for a while with windows all open does not work, I just might take it to a service center.

Wonder if anyone makes an all electric replacement. Doubt we will ever camp without electricity when it is cold enough to need a furnace.

And, glad the 98 exist!

Dudley

[Condoluminum]

Atwood's Legal Staff might have convinced them that owner maintenance, removals and re-installations are not a "Good Thing..", and thus data removed... Kind of like the warnings on consumer electronics with large capacitors.. "No user serviceable parts inside.." Propane leaks or seal issues upon re-install could be worse than original problem..

There are a number of threads that suggest most furnaces will blow smopke detectors or CO detectors for up to 45 minutes of initial operation, so hopefully that will solve the problem, though if you have wasp nest remains, that is not a great sign... We used dental pick and dustbuster with long skinny pointed tube to remove very small nest remains from ours, after I saw one of the little critters resting on the exterior vent one day...

John

[burobaaje]

Originally Posted by Condoluminum

Atwood's Legal Staff might have convinced them that owner maintenance, removals and re-installations are not a "Good Thing..", and thus data removed... Kind of like the warnings on consumer electronics with large capacitors.. "No user serviceable parts inside.." Propane leaks or seal issues upon re-install could be worse than original problem..

There are a number of threads that suggest most furnaces will blow smopke detectors or CO detectors for up to 45 minutes of initial operation, so hopefully that will solve the problem, though if you have wasp nest remains, that is not a great sign... We used dental pick and dustbuster with long skinny pointed tube to remove very small nest remains from ours, after I saw one of the little critters resting on the exterior vent one day...

John

Will give the unit a good burn this weekend and see how it goes. Also think I will put masking tape or something over the external vent when not in use to keep the critters out.

Uh Oh. Re-read my first post and noticed that I wrote that had a CO2 detector instead of a CO detector. It might just go off continually! Too many senior moments these days.

Dudley

[Condoluminum]

I figured a C02 detector was probably a pretty rare thing, and you had an extra Oxygen molecule floating around the memory closet.. No biggie... If you did have a CO2 detector, I'm thinking it would be buzzing pretty constantly in earth atmosphere...

We do use the bright blue masking tape to cover the vent, so we aren't tempted to have ANOTHER senior moment and fire up the furnace with the vents taped over... The silver duct tape might be invisible, and is also not recommended, though it keeps critters out...

John

[bobchevy89]

hello and welcome , on ebay the have mud dobber screen covers for heaters and water heaters.it's listed in rv parts..
Bob

[rrhett]

[QUOTE=burobaaje;302766]Need help in removing an Excalibur 8500-III furnace. 98 Safari 25. Maybe someone can point me to some instructions already on the web.

Un-Like my friend above, I really do need to remove and replace the Excalibur 8500 -III furnace. Did anybody ever decide if it was something somebody may have seen an instruction set for.
The screws are obvious.
The wiring is interesting.
When do you get to see the gas pipe?
How long might it take?
tnx
p

[mrchinup1]

[QUOTE=rrhett;1053896]

Originally Posted by burobaaje

Need help in removing an Excalibur 8500-III furnace. 98 Safari 25. Maybe someone can point me to some instructions already on the web.

Un-Like my friend above, I really do need to remove and replace the Excalibur 8500 -III furnace. Did anybody ever decide if it was something somebody may have seen an instruction set for.
The screws are obvious.
The wiring is interesting.
When do you get to see the gas pipe?
How long might it take?
tnx
p

I just took my Atwood 7900 out, it would have taken 5 minutes if the airstream workers made the hole just an 8th of an inch bigger. They also put vinyl under the complete unit which the first thing it says on the directions is, Don't put the unit over vinyl flooring. There were 3 wires that should have just had a disconnect on it. Those wires were too tight to get the unit all the way out, i cut them and will do the job right. The more i take this AS apart, the more i see the crappy work that has been done. They should listen to every AS owner that complains, and fix the things that matter. GL