I'M FREEZING PLEASE HELP

helpimfreezing wrote:
I've been having problems with my furnace for a while but lately it hasn't been working at all.
This RV is my home until I finish college and it's freezing outside (quite literally). Any help/suggestions would be welcome.

My furnace is an Atwood Excalibur 8500 IV
My RV is a 2006 Cavalier. There is no outside access door and no way to access the inner workings of the furnace without removing it completely.
I didn't want to remove the furnace so I bought an access door + frame and my Step Dad has offered to install it next week (by cutting into the side of the rv. yikes!) then attempt to repair the furnace. He's a retired electrician who can repair just about anything, so I'm trusting he won't mess things up too badly.

Anyways, I need suggestions and insight into what may be causing my problem.

Last winter is when things started. The blower would run for 15-20 minutes without igniting. After turning the thermostat on and off several times, it would finally ignite - then it would stay on until I turned the thermostat to the off position.
It continued doing this until about 2 months ago when it stopped producing heat all together. Turn the thermostat on, the blower runs for approximately 30 seconds, no ignition.
Propane is full. Stove and hot water heater work fine. I'm on shore power, so it's not a battery issue.
I replaced the thermostat because that was the only thing I really knew how to do. No change. The blower runs for 30 seconds but doesn't ignite.
Last night I turned the heat on and nothing happened.
I forgot to turn the thermostat off before going out in search of a space heater, came back about 4 hours later and the furnace was finally working.
It worked perfectly for about 5 hours (I didn't even have to turn the thermostat on and off a million times to get it to work when the temp. fell).
This morning (when it was 4 degrees, as luck would have it) it reverted back to what it was doing before (blower runs, no ignition).

First I would suggest NOT modifying the outside by installing some sort of access door. RV furnaces are basically sealed units and designed to have a complete seal at the outside side of the RV. Also, while I'm not positive I think there is very limited repairs that can be done with out removing the unit and taking it out is generally what needs to be done to trouble shoot and repair one. Also, repairs might not be a DIY project and you have to be very careful so you don't create a health or safety hazard in the process of messing around with the furnace. As such I think you should call a professional, maybe a mobile RV tech to diagnose and repair it if cost effective. I think you need the services of a professional to do this. Furnaces are fairly expensive so a repair attempt would probably make sense, but it should be done by a professional and not either by you or your DAD. I might be a $100 problem or a $700+ total replacement problem.

Larry