Forum Discussion

path1's avatar
path1
Explorer
Oct 23, 2013

Thermostat failure or heater; any guesses why?

This has happened twice now in the last couple of trips. RV is all warm and cozy and before going to bed I set thermostat at about 50. Wake up and temp is way below 50 so I assume heater never fired off. This is a white Rodgers thermostat that you slide knob to where you want it, and only about 3 years old. First time it happened I thought I messed up when I turned down thermostat to 50. Second time this happened I looked real close and I did indeed set temp to about 50, but heater never fired off. Slid knob to off position and then set temp back up to 50 and heater fired off. Contacts look good and making good contact. Jumped the thermostat wires (by pass thermostat)and everything works fine.
Anybody else experience this? Trying to figure out if thermostat or heater is messing up.

9 Replies

  • Old-Biscuit's avatar
    Old-Biscuit
    Explorer III
    Oct 24, 2013
    Tom20U wrote:
    Do those RV furnaces accept digital thermostats? Any particular kind?
    Love the one in my house, none of that 5-10 degree shifting.


    Yes a battery power Digital T-stat can be used to replace the analog wall t-stat in RV

    Here are couple articles on making the change.....
    LINK

    LINK

    Easy to do..and works real well. I changed ours 6 yrs. ago....no more deviations from set point.
  • Tom20U's avatar
    Tom20U
    Explorer
    Oct 24, 2013
    Do those RV furnaces accept digital thermostats? Any particular kind?
    Love the one in my house, none of that 5-10 degree shifting.
  • time2roll's avatar
    time2roll
    Nomad
    Oct 24, 2013
    Go digital.
    My Dometic with a slide bar to select temperature was always 5 to 15 degrees off from what I expected.
  • Chris_Bryant's avatar
    Chris_Bryant
    Explorer II
    Oct 24, 2013
    Bad thermostat- if you turn the thermostat up, the pressure on the contacts is pretty high, but at a low temperature there just isn't enough pressure on the contacts to overcome any corrosion.
    A quick free fix would be stick a business card between the contacts, push them together and move the card to burnish- also make sure the anticipator is set down to near off.
  • ScottnSherrie's avatar
    ScottnSherrie
    Explorer
    Oct 24, 2013
    Ditto on the digital thermostat. If you don't have a good multimeter, get one and use it to troubleshoot the circuit.
  • ksg5000's avatar
    ksg5000
    Explorer II
    Oct 24, 2013
    Not sure what model you have but it doesn't sound like a digital - if so - make the change as they are much more accurate and don't cost much.
  • path1's avatar
    path1
    Explorer
    Oct 24, 2013
    westend wrote:
    Does your furnace have any difficulty firing up, i.e. three attempts?

    No, fires first time that I can tell.
  • westend's avatar
    westend
    Explorer
    Oct 23, 2013
    Does your furnace have any difficulty firing up, i.e. three attempts?

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