Funny, sad and embarrassing.....

[specta]

The morning I put my new cover on I went out early to do some work inside my camper and fired up the furnace to warm it up in there a bit.

As the day went on the outside temps raised up considerably and ended up being a nice day. That's when I decided to put my cover on.

I forgot all about the furnace being on and when I came back 12 days later this is what I found. :E :R




Yep, I had forgotten to turn off my furnace and shut off the propane. :S

Fortunately I don't think there was much propane in the tank.

[jfak7670]

I am just trying not to leave my DeLonghi heater alone in the room. I have a pet that can knock the heater over. But I leave it on when I go to sleep. It has an in-built timer so it shuts off automaticallly after several hours. (https://pickadvisor.org/best-space-heaters-for-basement/ )I don't have a story with a furnance firing up , but once our microwave oven was left unattended, when my grandmother just set the timer for several hours (!) to warm up her food and forgot about it. Fortunately, that day I came home earlier from work and turned it off. Everything was fine, but the plate was burnt black and smelled smoke.

[Eric_Lisa]

hedgehopper wrote:

Kayteg1 wrote:
When propane runs out, the furnace fan will run continuously till it kills the batteries.

Our fan shuts off if there's no propane.

To be more precise... It stops trying to ignite & closes the solenoid if it does not sense a flame. The blower will then shut off after running for a few moments to dissipate any residual propane and to cool any (potentially) heated surfaces.

I would be worried about a furnace which keeps operating unlit. Seems that is a recipe for the collection of propane and a potential explosion.

That said... An old style pilot-light furnace would not have the pilot to heat up the thermocouple and open the main valve. So I could see how it will happily run the blower without being a safety issue.

-Eric

[Kayteg1]

hedgehopper wrote:

Kayteg1 wrote:
When propane runs out, the furnace fan will run continuously till it kills the batteries.

Our fan shuts off if there's no propane.

I guess newer furnaces with electronic board have a program shutting it down.
It was older furnace with pilot light, who killed batteries on my motorhome in the past.

[jimh406]

My Suburban furnace will try three times to ignite and then go into wait mode if there is no propane.

[joerg68]

Our fan shuts off if there's no propane

In our previous camper, it certainly did not. Ran out of propane*, fan kept running, eventually the low voltage alarm of the CO detector went off. It is great being woken up at 3:30 in the morning, by an alarm that goes off, in a freezing cold camper.

*) Plenty of butane in the bottle from a trip to a warmer place, temperature fell well below freezing, no more butane as it only evaporates in warmer temperatures...

[hedgehopper]

Kayteg1 wrote:
When propane runs out, the furnace fan will run continuously till it kills the batteries.

Our fan shuts off if there's no propane.

[SoonDockin]

I keep mine in a fairly wind tight and minimally (1/2" foam) insulated shop. I leave the heater on set at 45 degrees. I can promise you I would have forgotten about that if I had a cover on mine. Lucky it looks easy enough to patch.

[otrfun]

Delete

[SidecarFlip]

Mine winters in a heated garage...

[time2roll]

Yes and don't lean DW's recliner against the exhaust vent either 😞

[specta]

towpro wrote:
I bought an cover for my Arctic fox, came dropped shipped from warehouse, I noticed it was stuffed into the bag like a sleeping bag. Open it up and installed cover and found it was burnt just like that, so they drop shipped me another one (and they paid for shipping to return old one). went to install new one and it was coverd with Duct tape where someone ripped it on the down spouts. Now I am getting pissed. They drop shipped a 3rd one, open box and it folded, rolled and vacuum packed. it was a brand new cover. So this warehouse shipped 2 used covers to me.

You would think that they would either inspect the returns and keep them separate from the NIB covers.

I'm actually kind of surprised that they even shipped you returns in the first place.

Nothing like paying for new and getting used. :M

[specta]

Slymer wrote:
My cover came with an extra piece of material for patching. I have not made that mistake but did melt the back of an ice maker that was on a table in front of that same exhaust. Still makes ice luckly. Before I put my cover on I cut holes in tennis balls and tape them over each eaves trough downspout. Third Canadian winter with the same Adco tarp now.
First time I was putting it on though I stepped backwards onto the washroom/shower skylight. My right leg went right through & almost made it to the toilet before my hips got jammed. Whenever I go up there now I stay ON MY KNEES.

I wish mine came with an extra piece of material.

I have always been paranoid that I might step thru a skylight.

[towpro]

I bought an cover for my Arctic fox, came dropped shipped from warehouse, I noticed it was stuffed into the bag like a sleeping bag. Open it up and installed cover and found it was burnt just like that, so they drop shipped me another one (and they paid for shipping to return old one). went to install new one and it was coverd with Duct tape where someone ripped it on the down spouts. Now I am getting pissed. They drop shipped a 3rd one, open box and it folded, rolled and vacuum packed. it was a brand new cover. So this warehouse shipped 2 used covers to me.

[Camper_Jeff___K]

As hard as you try, sometimes the best of plans are laid to rest. Glad there wasn't a fire.