New guy, and furnace problem.

This is my second attempt to post, maybe I'll get it right this time.

Good afternoon. My name is Jim. Born & raised in Maryland. Retired from Westinghouse/Northrup Grummin after 46 years there.
My Wife and I have been using our Wildcat 27RL 5th wheel for long weekends, and two trips "out west" since 2006.
It's been a very good unit. Hardly any problems.

But now, the Suburban (SF) furnace is acting up. Some days it lights up just fine, then the next day it will not light.
Then the next campsite we pull into, it works like it should.
I am thinking it just has a loose, or dirty wire, but my problem is that I can't get to the burner,control board, or wiring, because there is no outside door to it. Just two vents.

Do I need to cut an access door on the outside wall, under the fridge, to trouble shoot the furnace wiring ?
How did anyone else work on the furnace ?
I did a search on the maintenence forum for this problem, but did not see anything.

from Ft. Worth. Sorry I can't be of any help with your issue but perhaps others who can will chime in.

Mr. Stick,

I think you can get to the heater by taking the pannel off under the refrig.

Ummm. If anyone wonders why I used the name "uglystick", it was a fishing rod made by the Shakespear company. The wife and I caught many fish with those rods. Yes,she caught more.

Dan, I pulled that panel off, but all I could see was some sort of chamber, and a thermo switch. Nothing else.

I'm sorry, no help here for your furnace issue, but





From Winona (Only the WC is still at Ft. Knox)

You have to remove the furnace in order to get to pretty much any of the components.


Earl

uglystick,

I know exactly what you are going through. My furnace is acting up just the same as yours. This past weekend it did as you are describing when we REALLY needed it. It was quite cold. Anyways, I have usually fixed it by blasting compressed air into the outside vents to "clear it up" for a while but it doesn't fix it for good. I have taken the inside panel off to see what I could do but you have to completely remove the entire furnace to get at any of the working components. Not as user friendly or easy access as some of the other appliances in the trailer. Anyways, my guess is that given that your trailer is an 06 (the same as mine) time is catching up and the inside of the furnace is getting a little dirty or corroded where the sail swithes and other safety devices are. I plan on getting mine serviced professionally before next season so the problem goes away for good.

uglystick...glad that's not a nickname.

9 times out of 10, the furnace is gunked up with dirt, cobwebs, dead bugs, etc., that's partially blocking off the cumbustion chamber. When you move from one spot to the other, the road vibration is moving it out of the way temoparily. Thus, the intermittent operation.

To clean it, you'll have to unscrew it from the floor and pull the unit out. If you google suburban RV furnace cleaning, you'll come up with step-by-step instructions on how to do it. The hardest part is getting it out from under the fridge or range, wherever your's is positioned. After you have it on a work bench, the rest is pretty easy.

Be sure to turn your gas off first before you start disconnecting the furnace.

TC

As an owner of an Ugly Stick, which has caught a lot of fish, I extend a welcome to you. Enjoy the forum and we are glad you have joined

Two ugly sticks on the same forum...wonder if that ties or breaks some kind of record??

TC

I think I had one of those ugly sticks,,,, If its the telescoping type , I slung it hard to make it teley out all the way and half of it went sailing across the river. Good thing I had a 6 pack with me I'd been mad. I think thats the last time I went fishing or at least tried to.

I'll Ditto what everyone else has said,,,,, " Good Cleaning ".

Phillip I have owned a couple ugly sticks but have never seen a telescoping one but maybe that's the reason I haven't had the success the other two have had maybe I should have found one that telescoped. I also carry a six pack in case the fish aren't biting. Jim

uglystick to the forum.

I also own a uglystick

Thank you for the friendly welcome folks.
I bought 2 uglysticks when they first came out. One for my Wife, and one for me. They were not attractive, unlike most rods of that period (about 20 yrs ago), but boy did they hold up. I think you could tie one in a knot without breaking it. Our Grandkids use those rods now.
I don't think that uglystick models telescoped though, that must be a different model.

Back to the furnace. I don't want to have to remove the furnace from inside the camper every time it needs to be cleaned.
I think I will cut an outside door to get to the parts that need maintenence. Thanks...Jim

uglystick wrote:I think I will cut an outside door to get to the parts that need maintenence. Thanks...Jim

If its possible, post pictures of this project when you're done. I'm sure there is more than one here that would like to see how it turns out.

TC

Pictures huh ?
OK, I'll take them.
Putting them on this site is another matter though.
I got the "visitedstates" map loaded to my "pictures" window,
but still can't get the map to appear in my signature.
So don't count on photos.