Forum Discussion

Coastalflyer's avatar
Coastalflyer
Explorer
May 07, 2020

New Member with Used Camper

Hi all
Just recently purchased my first camper, a 2013 Palomino 6601 from a private party. I have it on a 2019 F250 w/ 8 ft bed. Trouble is, the camper didn't come with any documentation and the previous owner isn't responding to my questions, which has me a little worried.

The camper is a nice size and seems to be in pretty good shape, but I can't get the Suburban furnace or the Atwood water heater to work. The previous owner had winterized the camper when I bought it, so not sure if there's something special I need to do, like fill the water heater (I put water in the fresh tank). The gas stove works so I know that propane is flowing. The water heater gets warm on the outside vent and I can hear the unit working and see a flame when I look from outside the camper, but it doesn't heat the water. The furnace doesn't do much of anything.

Appreciate any advice or suggestions.
  • find some body close that will show you how things work. you can learn the hard way but can cause damage just poking around. don,t turn the hot water tank on electric with no water in it,it,ll burn out the heat coil.
  • wnjj's avatar
    wnjj
    Explorer II
    Welcome.

    I wouldn’t worry too much about the previous owner. All campers share the same couple of brands of appliances and they aren’t too complicated.

    The water heater is likely drained and bypassed. First make sure the drain plug is installed. Look under the outside cover. Then you need to make sure it’s not bypassed. Do a Google image search for rv water heater bypass diagram” to see how to do it. There are a couple slightly different setups. After it’s in normal mode, run a hot water faucet until all of the air comes out.

    The first thing the furnace should do is run the fan when the thermostat calls for heat. If it doesn’t even do that, start looking for blown 12v fuses.