Fantastic Fan and Furnace problems. - RV-Dreams Community Forum

2fortheroad · RV-Dreams Family Member

Fantastic Fan and Furnace problems.

GENECOP · RV-Dreams Family Member

Often the Fantastic has several settings, Auto/manual/on off, is that what you are referring to as thermostat? The water heater is accessed by an exterior door, i would suggest you purchase a Rv repair manual, there are a couple out that go over system basics pretty well, G

Old Snipe · RV-Dreams Family Member

Ron,

Gene is right on the fan. It is not hooked up to the thremostat.

On the furnace, the first thing I would check is your battery voltage. When the themostat sends a signal to the furnace to start, the first thing that happens is the blower fan starts to turn, blowing air through the combustions chamber to remove any residual unburned fuel.

The fan must reach a certain speed to cause enough airflow to blow closed the sail switch which will then allow the ignition to turn on and fuel to flow, lighting the furnace.

If the battery is low and not fully charged, it won't have enough juice to turn the fan at the proper speed and the sail switch won't close. After a while the furnace will just shut down.

So look at the battery voltage and charge it up before you do anything else.

Keep us posted.

Best Regards!

2fortheroad · RV-Dreams Family Member

GENECOP wrote:

Often the Fantastic has several settings, Auto/manual/on off, is that what you are referring to as thermostat? The water heater is accessed by an exterior door, i would suggest you purchase a Rv repair manual, there are a couple out that go over system basics pretty well, G

Our fan has a thermostat on the wall. There also are controls on the unit itself. As far as our furnace it seems to located behind the water heater. Was hoping someone could tell me how to access it. Thanks for the tip on the repair manual will be looking to get one.

2fortheroad · RV-Dreams Family Member

Old Snipe wrote:

Ron,

Gene is right on the fan. It is not hooked up to the thremostat.

On the furnace, the first thing I would check is your battery voltage. When the themostat sends a signal to the furnace to start, the first thing that happens is the blower fan starts to turn, blowing air through the combustions chamber to remove any residual unburned fuel.

The fan must reach a certain speed to cause enough airflow to blow closed the sail switch which will then allow the ignition to turn on and fuel to flow, lighting the furnace.

If the battery is low and not fully charged, it won't have enough juice to turn the fan at the proper speed and the sail switch won't close. After a while the furnace will just shut down.

So look at the battery voltage and charge it up before you do anything else.

Keep us posted.

Best Regards!

Thanks for the replies, there are two thermostats in our unit three if you count the second air-conditioner. I will check out the model of fan we have maybe it is a different manufacture than I thought. Once we get caught up around the house I will have more time to check things out.

Luvglass · RV-Dreams Family Member

We had the same problem with the thermostat and it turned out to be something went bad in it. When we called Fantastic fan he identified the problem right away and sent me a new thermostat.

Their customer service is the best of any company I have ever dealt with. My fan was almost 4 years old at the time and we use them all the time. He just sent me a new thermostat no charge.

2fortheroad · RV-Dreams Family Member

Luvglass wrote:

We had the same problem with the thermostat and it turned out to be something went bad in it. When we called Fantastic fan he identified the problem right away and sent me a new thermostat.

Their customer service is the best of any company I have ever dealt with. My fan was almost 4 years old at the time and we use them all the time. He just sent me a new thermostat no charge.

Thanks Fred. "FREE" thats not a word that you hear very often.

Racerguy · RV-Dreams Family Member

Just a thought on the fantastic fan.When we first got our rig I kept turning the thermostat for the fan UP like a furnace instead of DOWN like I should have to make the fan work. The thermostat will activate the fan when the temp inside the coach goes ABOVE the set temp.

flyone · RV-Dreams Family Member

The furnace will not light if there is back pressure on the exhaust. Check to see if there is a wasp nest in the exhaust vent. Also if there is to much restriction in the supply ducts it may not ignite. Check them for bad kinks or rodents nest. The sail switch itself could be bad, also involved is a selenoid valve it must open to allow the propane to flow into the burner and most likely, the control circut board on the furnace is bad. You can handle the first couple of problems yourself, after that you may have to take it to a shop and let someone who is qualified look at it.

Flyone

Workinrvers · RV-Dreams Family Member

the furnace can be accessed from the outside. Look for a metal panel about 12'" wide by 18" tall and has louvers cut in it and also has a port for the furnace exhaust. Mine is removed by 4 screws and then you can access the electrical componets of the furnace.
When you remove the panel look for the electric circuit board, mine is at the top of the opening and has a small red bulb attached to it (looks like a small christmas tree bulb). When the furnaca encounters a problem and shuts itself down this light will flash a code indicating why it shut down. The codes are listed on a tag on the blower housing which is the bigger round case you see as soon as you remove the panel. This could help diagnose the problem. Our furnace is an Atwood and they do have a support team you can call for help if needed. They will need the model and serial numbers as well as which code is flashing. Their number is 574-264-2131.

One other thing to try on the furnace is to make sure there is no air bubbles in the LP system. Try lighting the stove burners and let them burn for 30 seconds or so. You should have a steady blue flame that does not pulsate. This should purge any air out of the pipes.

I had the sail switch go bad on mine and I ended up replacing it myself and it wasn't too hard and the part was under $10.00.

hope this helps,

Phil

2fortheroad · RV-Dreams Family Member

Thanks Phil, I have found the exhaust port but for actaul access to the furnace there does't seem to be one on the outside of the unit. The water heater access from the outside and seems to set next to the furnace. I am the process of getting a lay-out of the appliances.

Dr Gonzo · RV-Dreams Family Member

Ron

There is a whole thread (long) devoted exclusively to the Designer 35 RLTS over on the RV net forum - very informative.

Doc

2fortheroad · RV-Dreams Family Member

Think I have the Fantastic Fan figured out, READ THE INSTRUCTIONS doh

. I was able to download some information (Instructions), the vent needs to be manually open 3" or the fan motor will not kick-in.
As George said the thermostat kicks the fan on auto when you set the temperature to a cooler setting.

As for the furnace, I took our rig to a repair shop today. Nothing major, turned out to be a propane hose had a kink in it, new one installed and all is well.

I know it doesn't pretain to this post so spank me if you must. I also ordered Firestone Airbags today, since our truck is only SWD hoping for more stability. I was able to get them for $ 256.00 delivered.