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49ford's avatar
49ford
Explorer
Oct 01, 2017

Atwood furnace

I have a trailer with a Atwood 7920-II furnace. I have worked it down to the point it gives a code 3 for ignition lockout fault. Does anybody know what that means or what might be causing it? I am guessing it is an igniter problem.
It previously gave a code 1, which was limit switch or air flow problem. It turned out to be bugs inside the chamber I knocked loose by smacking the housing. Now the fan runs, but makes an low pitched click every so often then shuts off.
  • Ignition lock out..flame failure

    Fan comes on and purges combustion chamber....at same time it is supplying room air flow. That causes sail switch to make up (air flow moves 'paddle' which closes micro switch)....DC Voltage then goes thru sail switch to/thru limit switch and to control board.
    When control board gets DC voltage it then sends DC Voltage to 'spark electrode' circuit and to gas valve solenoids.....gas valve opens for 6-8 seconds allowing gas flow to spark electrode.
    High voltage spark ignites MAIN FLAME which then generates a miliamp signal (flame ionization/rectification), This miliamp signal goes back to control board to 'PROVE' flame lit. No signal/control board drops DC to gas valve shutting down gas flow and Ignition Lock Out (3 attempts)


    You had 'airflow' issues due to low airflow/sail switch not making up......kinda cleaned obstruction so airflow increased/sail switch makes up

    Now you have flame failure due to:
    *Spark electrode dirty/soot-carbon .....high voltage can cause spark but that miliamp signal can not over come the resistance and go back to control board via spark electrode circuit
    *Spark electrode not in direct path of main flame...must be 'engulfed' to generate miliamp signal path
    *Ceramic insulator on electrode is cracked---miliamp signal goes to ground
    *Spark electrode high voltage wire connection is dirty/corroded/loose...miliamp signal can't flow back to control board
    *Main flame lights off but flame is obstructed due to dirty/clogged burner slots


    Need to clean up burner area, spark electrode/circuit and combustion-exhaust chamber

    http://bryantrv.com/docs2/docs/hflamefurn04.pdf
  • Two things to check is the supply voltage and the LP gas pressure. If you can hear the igniter sparking it is probably not that or the control board. I had that problem just last month and it turned out to be the pressure regulator at the tanks. Oil from the gas can deteriorate the diaphram and mess up the pressure. I had the same problem a few years ago with the fridge. It was igniting the flame but the flame was too low to fully heat the chimney.