C Schomer wrote:
I never use it for camping anymore and I only keep it cuz of my crappy power company. It will run the frig but the furnace is too fussy. Is there a device that will make it pure sine wave and will it then run the furnace?
Next ?… are all pure sine wave gens created equal so they will run this furnace or does it take a special model. Thanks, Craig
Honda 2000 is already a "pure sinewave" output so no other devices needed to make it sinewave.
The problem you are having is actually between the control board of the furnace and how the generator is wired.
Some portable generators will not have a connection between the neutral position on the socket and the ground position of the socket.
The furnace control board is designed to check that there is continuity between the neutral and ground from your power source (IE breaker panel).
Inside your main breaker panel both neutral and equipment ground are tied together (IE "bonded") so everything on neutral and equipment ground are at the same ground potential.
The furnace control board needs to have the equipment ground and the neutral to be at the same voltage potential as the control board typically uses flame sensing via a probe into the flame to determine if the burner is lit. The flame across the probe creates a small electrical path from the burner to the probe. The burner must be at the same voltage potential as the neutral as the burner is connected to the equipment ground.
Without having the neutral and equipment ground at the same voltage potential the furnace control board is unable to detect the flame properly and the control board will fail the process until it reaches the retry limit and locks out until power is removed.
As others have mentioned, if your going to run the furnace from an extension cord plugged into your gen instead of through your breaker panel you will may need to create that neutral to ground bond. Other posters have shown how to do that with a plug that you plug into the other outlet on your gen.
