Teleman
Clayton, CA, USA
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Joined: 08/11/2004
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Part way through our two week trip our furnace stopped working. It's an Atwood Hydro Flame 8500-IV, in a 2000 Airstream Land Yacht. Does anyone have experience with these furnaces and if so can you suggest how I might proceed to troubleshoot this problem? It would be great if just replacing the board solved the problem as its readily accessible. I think the igniter and sail switch might be difficult to access. Any helpful info would be greatly appreciated.
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RobWNY
Jamestown, NY
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80% of the time, it's the sail switch
2020 Silverado 2500HD LT, CC, 4X4 6.6 Duramax
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I asked him to do one thing and he didn't do any of them.
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Bionic Man
Colorado
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Joined: 04/03/2009
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Propane full?
Do you have a propane leak detector that is past its expiration date?
2012 RAM 3500 Laramie Longhorn DRW CC 4x4 Max Tow, Cummins HO, 60 gallon RDS aux fuel tank, Reese 18k Elite hitch
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Teleman
Clayton, CA, USA
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Bionic Man wrote:Propane full?
Do you have a propane leak detector that is past its expiration date?
All the other appliances work...stove, fridge, hot water heater. I don't think it's a propane issue as it just stopped igniting. I don't hear the igniter either.
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Teleman
Clayton, CA, USA
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RobWNY wrote:80% of the time, it's the sail switch
I was afraid of that. Are you familiar with this unit and what is involved in replacing it?
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enblethen
Moses Lake, WA
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Joined: 01/05/2005
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Sail switches are effected by low voltage to motor not allowing in to come up to full speed. Many times sail switches contacts are not closing due to a very small piece of debris. Can quit often be blown out by compressed air.
Bud
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Dutch_12078
Winters south, summers north
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The first thing I typically do for an RV furnace or water heater failure to ignite is disconnect and reconnect the wiring and ignition/sensor connectors a few times at the ignitor board to see if the problem is as simple as some contact corrosion. The ignitor/sensor connection in particular can be a problem since the sensor mode is working with millivolts. If that solves the problem, then I suggest using an appropriate contact cleaner at the first opportunity. I've worked on at least 100+ RV furnace problems over the years, and only replaced a couple of sail switches. The rest with ignition problems have generally been failed igniter boards, mis-adjusted or cracked igniters, failed gas valves, etc. Reseating the connectors alone has worked a surprising number of times.
Maybe Doug Rainer will stop in and lend his professional expertise to the problem...
Dutch
2001 GBM Landau 34' Class A
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ksg5000
Oregon
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Joined: 06/30/2008
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Low battery is a common reason for furnaces not firing up - when a battery is low it won't run the furnace fan at high enough speed to open the sail switch. If battery is Ok then check the sail switch.
Kevin
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Teleman
Clayton, CA, USA
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Thanks for all the info. Low battery isn't the issue as they were fully charged. I'll see if I can get compressed air to the sail switch. I did try unplugging and re plugging the contacts on the board terminals. I'll try some contact cleaner too.
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enblethen
Moses Lake, WA
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Can of air with the tube works pretty good!
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