help with furnace

brandal

New Member
Joined
Jul 29, 2012
Messages
3
Location
ky
i have a 1986 hilo and i tried the furnace out and it works great but it is located under the couch and the box gets hot so hot you can only hold your hand on it a couple seconds is this normal and is it safe cause its right under the couch thanks
 
Is the fan running when the furnace is on, and are the vents or ducts open to allow air flow? The area around the furnace should be left open. There should not be appreciable heat generated around the furnace if everything is working properly.
 
Last edited:
yes the fan blows good ducts clean its just the furnace box gets really hot to the touch and the couch is only bout six inches above it so i was worried it would catch fire
 
Furnice trouble shooting

Give the parts guy at my HiLo dealer a call. He has worked at the dealership for 27yrs. Very experienced with HiLo trailers. Jay Simon 1-716-625-8877.
 
Did you ever find out if that was normal? I have a 79 and I just tried my furnace out for the first time and it does the same thing. Gets very got to the touch. I checked the air intake and exhaust vents, which are normal. I checked the heating tubes with are open and throwing out hot air. I am worried about the same thing with my couch/futon starting on fire. If someone knows anything about this situation, help would be greatly appreciated. Its a Suburban furnace, if that helps.


Thanks
 
I would think that if the fan motor is blowing well and you have high heat build up there is a restriction of outside air.
Remove the outside in-put/out-put plate and see if a mud dobber or bees nest is in the vent.
You may need to completely remove heater to examine.

Do not use until you have done this. It can be dangerous and is not to have such high heat build up in that cabinet.
The heater can't bring outside air to cool/ and heat the air in the heater.

steve
 
Steve, I checked all that out and it was all clean - no bee hives or mudd etc.. I ended up calling Jay Simon and talking to him about the issue. (Thanks Sam) He said it sounded like it was the limit switch. The limit switch tell the fan when to kick on and off. He suggested to bring the furnace in to my local RV place and have them go through it for me. Maybe this will help someone else out there :)
 
The limit switch is supposed to limit the high range of the temp. I must say I have never seen one that changes range. They normally just fail and nothing works.
FIX IT RIGHT
Also install a CO2 alarm/meter. For the meager cost. it makes a wise investment.
Since this unit has had an issue with overheating, it only makes sense.
Carbon monoxide is deadly.

Sam, gives good advice!

steve
 

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