Forum Discussion

voodoo101's avatar
voodoo101
Explorer
Sep 17, 2014

Furnace burner start/stop problem

One time this summer, my furnace behaved badly. It had been working fine through the clod rainy evening: cycling as needed. Then it cycled on but was not warming the RV. I messed with It and noted that it would light normally and then go out in 2 or 3 seconds. It did this repeatedly. We turned it off and tossed another blanket on the bed. The next morning I tried it again and it worked fine. This was at the end of the trip so it had little chance to repeat the problem. It is a 2001 Atwood hydro flame MPD 3792.

If it happened once, it will repeat at the worst possible time. Any suggestions and is it an easy fix?

4 Replies

  • Dakota98's avatar
    Dakota98
    Explorer
    Sep 18, 2014
    voodoo101 wrote:
    Dakota98 wrote:
    I had a similar experience this year. Turned out that my propane tank was getting low. There was just enough in the tank for the furnace to cycle, but it wasn't enough to burn hot as usual.

    Thanks. In my case the furnace worked the next day and later on the same tank.


    Voodoo,

    My experience was exactly the same as yours. Ambient temperature can & will affect the performance when the tank is near empty. When it's cooler outside, is when it's most affected, as the outside temperature increases, things start working correctly once again, at least until the tank is completely empty.
  • DownTheAvenue's avatar
    DownTheAvenue
    Explorer
    Sep 17, 2014
    I had the same problem once, and once with the water heater. The propane was 3/4 full so that was not a problem. Never happened again, so who knows? Try it out again, and if works properly then just hope it was an anomaly.
  • voodoo101's avatar
    voodoo101
    Explorer
    Sep 17, 2014
    Dakota98 wrote:
    I had a similar experience this year. Turned out that my propane tank was getting low. There was just enough in the tank for the furnace to cycle, but it wasn't enough to burn hot as usual.

    Thanks. In my case the furnace worked the next day and later on the same tank.
  • Dakota98's avatar
    Dakota98
    Explorer
    Sep 17, 2014
    I had a similar experience this year. Turned out that my propane tank was getting low. There was just enough in the tank for the furnace to cycle, but it wasn't enough to burn hot as usual.

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