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treeguy100's avatar
treeguy100
Explorer
Jan 15, 2014

Question about Sunseeker 2450 furnace

Hi everyone - we are new to both RV’ing and RV.net, but I have a question that I’m hopeful can be answered by one of you seasoned vets around here! We recently purchased a bank-owned 2004 Sunseeker 2450. As it was bank-owned we got a sweet deal on it, but unfortunately there wasn’t any pre-delivery walkthrough or training to get us up to speed on how everything works. Subsequently I’ve been spending a lot of time on Youtube catching up on how most of the basics work. One problem we are having, though, is that I can’t seem to get the darned furnace to start up. Here are the specifics of what I have done to try and get it started so far:

1 - Topped off the propane tank and opened the valve for use.
2 - I purged the LPG lines of air by starting all of the burners on the stove and letting them burn for a couple minutes.
3 - I checked the LPG Gas Detector to make sure it was on. It appears to be a model that does not have an on/off switch, so it appears to be on all the time. It has a mute button but that’s it. The green light is on (constant green light, not blinking) showing that it is “Operating”.
4 - The battery disconnect is ON.
5 - I moved the Suburban thermostat from “Off” to about 80 degrees, well above the internal temp of 60 degrees.
6 - Waited for a couple minutes and nothing happened at this point. No clicking from the electric igniter at all. On the RV monitor (that thingy that shows the levels of each water tank, house batteries, etc) there is a rocker switch that says “HTR” on it. Assuming this is for the furnace, I clicked it ON and it lights up red. Waited for a couple more minutes and nothing happened.
7 - I used a multi-meter to check all of the fuses to the house and they all appear to be working correctly. At least they all show a charge going through when I touch the leads to both sides of each fuse.
8 - One odd thing I noticed is that when I slide the thermostat from off to on, there is a very very quiet whistle or beep noise (it is a constant beep noise - like beeeeeeeeeeeep, not beep-beep-beep) that I can hear coming from behind the air return near the floor. When I slide the thermostat back to off, the tiny noise goes away.

At this point I am lost on what possibly to do next, so clearly I am missing some step that would help get the furnace to fire up and heat the RV. Do the switches next to the battery disconnect have anything to do with it? The right switch appears to operate the electric step, but the left one when flipped lights up red but nothing happens. I thought it might operate the light outside the entry door, but since nothing happened I figured the light must be burned out. Does the HTR switch even have anything to do with the furnace at all? Any help or suggestions you pro’s can provide would be greatly appreciated! I’d hate to take it in to the shop just for the techs to tell me something basic, like I need to have the key in the ignition or something simple like that.

Thanks!

Scott
  • HTR is most likely "Hot Water" via LPG.

    Thermostats ON/OFF usually have 3 settings "COOL OFF HEAT"

    Some thermostats have a delay when you first turn them to HEAT so do be patient.
  • More than likely the thermostat for your heater also has an on/off switch on the bottom of the cover as well as the temp. setting on the housing.
  • Mich F wrote:
    More than likely the thermostat for your heater also has an on/off switch on the bottom of the cover as well as the temp. setting on the housing.


    x2...underneath the thermostat box, will be a small tab...it might be hard to move too. But that is your power switch.

    You mention a beep sound...is that after you have moved the tab? That sounds like maybe a low-battery alarm. mmmm...or a carbon-dioxide sensor. You will have one or two boxes along the floor that are sensor alarms. Turn them off and try the furnace. You may have a fail-safe built in.

    That red switch? I bet it's for a light in one of your storage bins or it's the outside porch light.


    Gary Haupt
  • Hey Mich,

    No, the Suburban thermostat does not have any other switches that I can see on the bottom or inside of the cover either. On the top it has the slide switch to adjust the temp. On the degree settings on the front (that little window where you line up the slide switch with desired temp) it says the following: OFF 50 60 70 80 90. To me, that means far left is off. I took the cover off and checked, and there aren't any other switches than the one on top. Thanks for the suggestion though!

    Scott
  • treeguy100 wrote:
    Hey Mich,

    No, the Suburban thermostat does not have any other switches that I can see on the bottom or inside of the cover either. On the top it has the slide switch to adjust the temp. On the degree settings on the front (that little window where you line up the slide switch with desired temp) it says the following: OFF 50 60 70 80 90. To me, that means far left is off. I took the cover off and checked, and there aren't any other switches than the one on top. Thanks for the suggestion though!

    Scott


    Sorry, thought you might have one like mine with the slide temp. switch and an on/off switch - good luck.
  • OK you have a Suburban Furnace with a simple t-stat (controls furnace only). Like this one.......


    OFF is off.
    When you move temp set point lever do you hear any click at t-stat?
    Does the furnace blower come on?
    Blower has to come ON first...it blows purging any propane out of combustion chamber before spark electrode fires (safety). No blower......nothing else will happen.

    Pull t-stat cover off....disconnect RED and White Wires from t-stat.
    Touch them together. Furnace blower should come on.
    If it doesn't then remove front grill/cover on furnace and see if there is a small circuit breaker (DC) tripped (small On/Off switch). Turn it off then back on and see if blower comes on.
    If blower comes on and the off.......switch tripped. Blower motor is probably bad.

    If blower doesn't come on check for DC power to/thru that switch.
  • Hey Biscuit - Yes, the thermostat is very similar to the picture you included. When I slide the temp set, I hear a click of the slide moving, but not electrical "click" if that is what you are referring to. The furnace blower does not come on at all. I will pull the furnace cover off this weekend and see if the switch you mentioned has been tripped. I saw another post somewhere that referred to this switch as well along with pics, so I think I know what I am looking for.

    Gary - thanks for copying that link for our thermostat, I will take a look at that as well and see if I can make heads or tails out of it.

    Scott
  • Snowman9000 wrote:
    Here is a pretty nice writeup on RV furnace troubleshooting:

    furnaces


    Snowman - thanks for posting that guide for troubleshooting the furnace. I'll definitely be printing that off for use both now and later!

    Scott