Durning the summer I had my Dometic A/C swapped out for an Atwood Air Command Heat Pump. It worked great on Air Conditioning but would not work on heat pump. It would not let me even turn on the gas furnace. Customer service was clueless when I called them. The agent claimed it was not cold enough for the heat pump to work ....duh.....49 degrees is plenty cold enough.......after getting frustrated with the agent I called the company that installed it. They came and decided I needed to bring it in the the shop. For 2 days they claim they have been trying to figure out what is wrong. It has a 2 year warranty why not just replace the whole thing instead of fiddling around.....I suspect it was wired wrong when it was installed....

If it was wired wrong when it was installed, replacing it won't help. It will still be miswired. They do need to diagnose the problem. Throwing parts at a problem is a poor, and expensive, way to fix it.

I thought atwood got out of the RV heating business?

I agree just looking at the OP post at face value. looks like it might be a wiring issue. Doing retro jobs are higher risk vs a direct install, requires a higher skill level that includes, diagnosing, abstracting and implementing.Mike

If the furnace will not turn on, there may be a lack of signal from the thermostat or any of another hundred reasons. I learned early in a career of fixing things that consequent time-line or juxtaposition to other related pieces can make the puzzle even more difficult.I guess you could call the shop and ask for an estimated time of completion if you're growing impatient. Sometimes, I chose to let everyone work at their own speed.

The thermostat probably needs to be programmed...will have to go into the Menu to check if the original thermostat is capable of operating a Heat Pump...if not will have to change it out.Whenever you have a can of worms....GO FISHING.

Can of worms | Good Sam Community

westend
Explorer
Nov 14, 2017
Could there be a sensor on the board that has failed so that it interrupts current to the furnace? A work-round may be to add a switch at the thermostat to send current to the furnace, temporarily. To me, it sounds like a circuit board failure but I have no history with this type of appliance. It may have also been miswired/wrong part installed during the swap.

There are at least a couple of RV techs on this Forum, a couple of them, very knowledgeable about RV air handling. I'm thinking Chris Bryant and douggrainer. I think they hang out in the Tech Issues section of this Forum and that's where you would get the best help, IMO.
TenOC
Nomad
Nov 13, 2017
I am current outside of Nashville. In the summer I purchased a second Atwood A/C for my 5er. I had a problem with the DIY installation. After several phone calls, with the seller saying call Atwood and Atwood saying call the seller I got the seller to put me in contact with the local Atwood sales manager. He lived 50 miles from where I am camped. He drove out on a Saturday and saw the problem.

The problem was quickly solved by Atwood sending me the correct part by FedEx.

I am very happy with the Atwood service.
Campinfan
Explorer III
Nov 13, 2017
You say they told you it is working correctly....do you have heat now?Can you turn on the furnace?
Bob_Vaughn
Explorer
Nov 13, 2017
The RV repair place just called and after calling Dometic/Atwood twice they determined that the unit is working correctly......I have enough experience with how heat pumps work and I am confident that there is a design flaw. So after speaking to others who have this unit my advise is do not buy it . The advertising hype far out lives the actual performance. I own it now so I have to live with it.....
Bob_Vaughn
Explorer
Nov 12, 2017
minnow wrote:
Atwood was bought out by Dometic a year or so ago. Not even sure an Atwood warranty would be honored ?? I know Dometic stated that they will not be making any replacement/repair parts for the Atwoods so anyone out there is SOL. Dometic was however kind enough to send along a Dometic/Atwood comparison page so that those of us with orphaned Atwoods could buy a comparable Dometic replacement.

I know that when I called them and finally got to talk to an agent I felt like I was talking to some one who had worked at flipping burgers the day before because she knew absolutely nothing about heat pumps and air conditioning. I knew she was just reading from a script.....
minnow
Explorer
Nov 11, 2017
Atwood was bought out by Dometic a year or so ago. Not even sure an Atwood warranty would be honored ?? I know Dometic stated that they will not be making any replacement/repair parts for the Atwoods so anyone out there is SOL. Dometic was however kind enough to send along a Dometic/Atwood comparison page so that those of us with orphaned Atwoods could buy a comparable Dometic replacement.
TenOC
Nomad
Nov 11, 2017
Bob Vaughn wrote:
The Dometic thermostat was replaced with an Atwood touch pad/remote one that came with the unit. I think that is where the issue may be. The installer thinks it is a control board on the A/C itself. It has 4 sensors within the system. The reversing valve seems to work but a sensor shuts it off before the the thermostat is satisfied.

My Atwood T/C did not have a remote, if it did I trashed canned it. My Atwood T/C is hardwired and mounted to the wall in the living room so I do not need or use a remote.
NanciL
Explorer II
Nov 11, 2017
Bob Vaughn wrote:
Durning the summer I had my Dometic A/C swapped out for an Atwood Air Command Heat Pump. It worked great on Air Conditioning but would not work on heat pump. It would not let me even turn on the gas furnace. Customer service was clueless when I called them. The agent claimed it was not cold enough for the heat pump to work ....duh.....49 degrees is plenty cold enough.......after getting frustrated with the agent I called the company that installed it. They came and decided I needed to bring it in the the shop. For 2 days they claim they have been trying to figure out what is wrong. It has a 2 year warranty why not just replace the whole thing instead of fiddling around.....I suspect it was wired wrong when it was installed....

Some one with an electrical background needs to get a wiring diagram or schematic of it and the connections to it and a matching thermostat and then trouble shoot it.

Jack L (who has an electrical background)
Bob_Vaughn
Explorer
Nov 11, 2017
The Dometic thermostat was replaced with an Atwood touch pad/remote one that came with the unit. I think that is where the issue may be. The installer thinks it is a control board on the A/C itself. It has 4 sensors within the system. The reversing valve seems to work but a sensor shuts it off before the the thermostat is satisfied.
TenOC
Nomad
Nov 11, 2017
When I replaced my Carrier A/C with an Atwood AirCommander heat pump in the summer, I check the HP and the furnace. Each worked at 80(?) degrees.

Did you replace the thermostat with the Atwood new one? If I remember correctly the wires to the thermostat are "plug in" type.

If the furnace will not come on the problem is the thermostat or the wires going to the furnace from the thermostat.

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