Heater issues

[Thedawg28]

Quick question. Heater doesn't heat. The blower comes on but not heating. Our gas water heater and stove tops working so we have gas. Here the deal I ran out of daylight to mess with it but on a older camper we had we had same issue. Manual said if battery isn't charged it won't ignite. We charged battery and started working. The battery is dead and won't start the genny. I'm going to mess with it in morning and see if that problem.

[crasster]

Yeah follow on this one. Very obvious place to start first is the battery. Get a charge on it and then try the heater.

[Bordercollie]

Find your house battery, look inside the caps to see if plates are covered with electrolyte. Add distilled water if needed using a rubber bulb battery filler from auto supply store. If you see corrosion around connectors, take apart and clean with a wire brush for good connections. Test voltage of house battery(s) with a voltmeter set on 20 volts DC. If rig is connected to shore power, battery voltage should read around 13.6 volts, if it reads 12 volts it's dead. With truck engine or RV generator running, it should read around 14 volts. Have house battery charged and load tested, it may be worn out from sitting discharged or just old age. Your converter/charger may be defective or old type that over-charges/boils out battery. Good to upgrade converter charger if needed to modern type and don't let batteries go dead which damages them and shortens useful life. Use auxiliary battery switch to disconnect house battery when rig is parked for a couple of weeks and not being driven. Cheap but usable digital multi-testers are available from Harbor Freight, etc. Read directions before use.

[j-d]

Welcome!

Nearly every "LPG" Appliance in your RV needs 12-volts-DC to operate it. Fridge does, furnace does, most water heaters do, and if you have a wall thermostat, so does your rooftop A/C.

It'd be helpful to know if your coach is plugged into a shore tie pedestal or home outlet while this problem is happening.

Make/Model of Furnace would be good to. No biggie, but when you said "Heater" I was thinking of the one in the dashboard that you use driving the coach.

I hate to tell anybody to run out and spend the $100 or so that even a basic single RV (or "trolling motor") battery is gonna cost. That said, a lot of trouble gremlins hide in a "House" or "Coach" (as opposed to Chassis) battery.

[RoyB]

Your 2013 RV Unit should have the smart mode type converter/charger in it to keep your battery from boiling out fluids. My 2004 5th wheel only has the single mode converter/charger in it and I have to keep watching the battery for boiling out fluids. If you don't have the multi-mode type converter/charger or using a WFCO product you would gain alot by replacing the converter/charger unit to a Progressive Dynamics or IOTA model converter/charger unit. They always works and the WFCO products are known not to do that for you...

I suspect just sitting and maybe not plugged-in has done your battery in... My battery would only last a couple of weeks being discharged by the so called parasitic drains... The rule of thumb to run your furnace when off-grid is one night for one battery. My furnace blower draws around 6AMPS DC current when running.

If you are plugged into shore power then the converter/charger should be giving you the 12VDC you need to ignite your furnace...

The Battery is your lifeline and like the rest of us keeping a close eye on the battery really pays off in the end... When they get discharged below the 50% charge state (Around 12.0VDC) then they kinda act like your car battery holding a charge - not good indeed...

Let us know what happens after getting a charged-up battery back in the system.

Roy Ken

[Cobra21]

garyemunson wrote:
Sounds like time for a new battery.

Yes, get the new battery and take it from there.

[garyemunson]

Sounds like time for a new battery.