Refer will not run on propane

Old-Biscuit wrote:
2 possibilities

Low battery......furnace demand
Low propane flow (bad reg).....furnace demand

Or the third possibility, it was further out of level than you thought and it shut itself down.

As the Old-Biscuit says have your lp pressure checked. Regulator may not be providing enough gas for both appliances online at the same time. MOST regulators can be easily adjusted. When adjustment is completed be sure all appliances can be operated at the same time.

A good test I use now, is to 12v hot wire the gas valve, and light the burner w/ a striker. If it burns good, nice blue w/ a.little bit noisy flame, look for a bad electrical connection, bad FS or a bad control board.

I second the clean the burner idea. Maybe try it at home after cleaning with refer on propane. My 99 trailer fridge always needs a quick squirt of compressed air in the burner in irder to run well on propane. Even if it's working at my house, after a 100 mike drive tiny flecks if rust partially obstruct the burner causing a flame that appears fine, but won't cool properly. One quick squirt if air and I'm good to go til my next drive!

Just went through this with my reefer. Whenever the furnace would kick on, the reefer would show a fault. It was a propane problem. Try turning on all the burners on your stove, and see what happens when you turn on the furnace. if the burners on the stove go way down or off, you have a propane delivery problem. I switched to the other propane tank and everything worked fine. Come to find out, I had a defective/plugged pigtail going to one of the propane tanks. Once I changed it, everything worked fine.


Jim

naturist wrote:
"Flame sensor" is technically known as "the thermocouple." And thermocouples are widely known to need replacement from time to time. What usually happens when one goes bad is the ignition system will light up the burner but shut it off after a few seconds.

The thermocouple is a safety device, intended to insure that should the fire go out, you don't keep dumping propane on it, possibly leading to an explosion or somebody getting gas poisoning. They are cheap and fairly easy to replace, if indeed that is the problem.

Yes thermocouples are flame sensors but not all flame senors are thermocoples.

Thermocouples are 'old school' and not used in modern rv furnaces, fridges, water heaters....appliances that use electronic ignition sources
Spark electrode not only provides the 'Spark' for ignition but also provides the means for flame sensing. 'Flame Ionization'....no thermocouple used.

OP.......
Have your RV battery load tested
And then with a fully charged good battery turn on ALL propane appliances at same time. LP Regulator should be capable of supplying 100% of demand
Fridge (low demand---2200btu), water heater (med-low demand 10,000-12,000btu) stove top burners (med demand---19,000btu) furnace (high demand 30,000 btu)

Or using a manometer check propane system pressure (11" WC------which is 0.4 psi)

"Flame sensor" is technically known as "the thermocouple." And thermocouples are widely known to need replacement from time to time. What usually happens when one goes bad is the ignition system will light up the burner but shut it off after a few seconds.

The thermocouple is a safety device, intended to insure that should the fire go out, you don't keep dumping propane on it, possibly leading to an explosion or somebody getting gas poisoning. They are cheap and fairly easy to replace, if indeed that is the problem.

It could be that the flame sensor and burner is dirty. This could cause the water heater to shut down. Check to see that the flame sensor is directly in the flame and there is no carbon on burner.
Yes, it could be low voltage however when plugged in to TV with engine running "should" provide sufficient voltage for both furnace, water heater and battery charging.
I would check the condition of the battery terminals.

Mine sometimes will shut off and check light comes on. I usually give it a few tries to start again but if not, I open the panel on the outside and blow the burner area clean or vacuum the particles that come down the vent away. That usually works for me.

2 possibilities

Low battery......furnace demand
Low propane flow (bad reg).....furnace demand