Hi All, New guy here. 1998 Coleman Cheyenne. Been a long while since camping, but I do work on riding mowers, so I think I am savvy to working on things. I have resurrected all the systems from storage and previous owners, but I find one issue with the heater when on battery. On shore power: All the lights work, the heater works and cycles correctly with the thermostat, stove works inside (haven't tried outside yet), water holds and pumps by hand, propane tank is full, looking good. Now the issue, when I unplug from shore power and transfer to converter/battery power (brand new battery with 14.7v) the heat stops working. I still have lights and fan for heater. The only change is switching the converter and unplugging. Why would the heater stop igniting? Hints to where I should look or check? All fuses are good inside and out, unless I am missing something..... Thanks in advance Cliff
Trace the wiring for the furnace, from battery to the furnace, and on through the ground for the furnace. Clean all contacts. You may not be getting quite enough current flow to the furnace fan to move the sail switch. The sail switch is downstream- air flow wise- from the furnace fan, and is there to prevent ignition if not enough air is moving for safe combustion and heat distribution. The problem might also be a sticky sail switch. Open up the heater and clean the sail blade, shaft and bearings. Good luck!
Thanks for the reply. I will go back and check connections as you say. But, why would it only stop igniting (heat) when I switch? Everything else still works. Where is this sail switch?
Could you clarify a bit? When you say the heat stops working, do you get any power to the heater at all? Is the fan running, but just not igniting? Or is it totally dead?
Sure. Yes, the fan keeps running, the lights still work. The only change is the heat stopped. Not igniting, you are correct.
My money is on the sail switch. It prevents the furnace from igniting if the fan isn't blowing hard enough. The battery may not be providing enough power to spin the fan fast enough if you have too many other things on.... Of course sail switches go bad too....
Apparently the sail switch is often the culprit. Our TT furnace had intermittent issues, where it would not ignite. Of course, the dealer's shop couldn't get it to reproduce it. After some research, I ordered a sail switch. I was going to also order a limiter switch, but the helpful parts guy said to hold off, the sail switch was usually the problem. My husband replaced that and it's worked fine since.
Check to make sure your battery is properly connected... if leads are reversed, the fan spins backwards and will not trip the sail switch.
Neighbor Mike.......bam! Right on the head. You are correct. I used the previous owners harness for the battery. They were wrong. I switched the leads and the heater ignited, same as on shore power. Thanks for all the hints everyone! Easy for the win tonight!
Glad you got it figured out. One of our members from here also mentioned the reverse battery leads on the facebook thread you have going. The Portal guys know their stuff.
Glad you figured it out. The converter on my pup has a reverse polarity protection fuse, so I didn't even think of that.
