Atwood Furnace Problems
I have a problem with the Atwood furnace on my 5th wheel (2019 Montana High Country ) I just bought the unit second-hand six months old from a private seller and have never used the furnace system ...
Forum Discussion
Hello Friends!
First please pardon this very tardy reply. Second I REALLY appreciate every reply above. They really helped me. Your input allowed me to fix the problem, here’s how I did it:
So I took the burner out of the unit and immediately saw the problem. The burner “grate” ( not sure the official word - it’s the screen-like part, filled with tiny holes) appeared to be completely rusted. It was rather soft, and could be brushed off with some effort with a toothbrush, almost like orange hard caked mud. Every hole was plugged with this stuff. It did also appear there had been water in the unit as the inner side of the exhaust port where the burner is inserted, clearly had rust streaks where it looks like water was in the unit and drained out of the inside of the exhaust port into the bottom of the furnace.I saw a little corrosion on the back of the electronic logic board. Also when I disconnected the gas line, several drops of water ( not oil!) dropped out of the gas line! So I brushed off all the rust , put everything back together and it started right up! For about 15 minutes it was constantly burning for 10 or 20 seconds, then going out , relighting, and burning 15 or 20 seconds more, over and over and over. I’m guessing that maybe there was water in the line that needed to get eliminated? Anyway, after about 30 min, the unit stopped having to relight intermittently and now runs perfect. As for why water could have gotten in the unit i checked after a rainstorm and indeed there was water on the bottom of the unit as well as on the shelf in the middle of the unit. At first I couldn’t tell where it could possibly come from, but then I saw that the silicone caulking around the edges of the outside of the unit had a couple small cracks in it at the top of the unit , apparently allowing rain to enter. I re caulked and will check for any more water after the next rain.
Thank you again everyone, your input helped me so much!
Randy
First please pardon this very tardy reply. Second I REALLY appreciate every reply above. They really helped me. Your input allowed me to fix the problem, here’s how I did it:
So I took the burner out of the unit and immediately saw the problem. The burner “grate” ( not sure the official word - it’s the screen-like part, filled with tiny holes) appeared to be completely rusted. It was rather soft, and could be brushed off with some effort with a toothbrush, almost like orange hard caked mud. Every hole was plugged with this stuff. It did also appear there had been water in the unit as the inner side of the exhaust port where the burner is inserted, clearly had rust streaks where it looks like water was in the unit and drained out of the inside of the exhaust port into the bottom of the furnace.I saw a little corrosion on the back of the electronic logic board. Also when I disconnected the gas line, several drops of water ( not oil!) dropped out of the gas line! So I brushed off all the rust , put everything back together and it started right up! For about 15 minutes it was constantly burning for 10 or 20 seconds, then going out , relighting, and burning 15 or 20 seconds more, over and over and over. I’m guessing that maybe there was water in the line that needed to get eliminated? Anyway, after about 30 min, the unit stopped having to relight intermittently and now runs perfect. As for why water could have gotten in the unit i checked after a rainstorm and indeed there was water on the bottom of the unit as well as on the shelf in the middle of the unit. At first I couldn’t tell where it could possibly come from, but then I saw that the silicone caulking around the edges of the outside of the unit had a couple small cracks in it at the top of the unit , apparently allowing rain to enter. I re caulked and will check for any more water after the next rain.
Thank you again everyone, your input helped me so much!
Randy
