Help with Furnace (NEWBIE)

Just to set the stage. I'm a newbie to Hi Lo's and TT's. I purchase a 2204T, and now I'm doing a little cleaning, re-chalking, and generally learning the in's & out's of our new trailer. It was a little cool this morning so I figured that I'll turn on the furnace. So I plugged the trailer into my electrical outlet in the garage, turn the switch to 110 power, turned on a few overhead lights, and then tried to turn on the furnace. It took be a few tries before I discovered that the switch on the thermostat needs to be on. I thought that I was going to brake it as it was hard to switch from the off to on position. However, I heard it come on, just for a little while, but only clod air came out of the vents. Now this is where I'm showing my ignorance. Is the furnace only propane? I didn't turn on the gas. I though that it would automatically switch over to AC since I had to Master switch on AC. I also tried turning on the fridge, switching it to AC, but I couldn't tell it was running.
Please keep your laughter off the replies, and remember that I'm a newbie.

PapaRoe said:

Just to set the stage. I'm a newbie to Hi Lo's and TT's. I purchase a 2204T, and now I'm doing a little cleaning, re-chalking, and generally learning the in's & out's of our new trailer. It was a little cool this morning so I figured that I'll turn on the furnace. So I plugged the trailer into my electrical outlet in the garage, turn the switch to 110 power, turned on a few overhead lights, and then tried to turn on the furnace. It took be a few tries before I discovered that the switch on the thermostat needs to be on. I thought that I was going to brake it as it was hard to switch from the off to on position. However, I heard it come on, just for a little while, but only clod air came out of the vents. Now this is where I'm showing my ignorance. Is the furnace only propane? I didn't turn on the gas. I though that it would automatically switch over to AC since I had to Master switch on AC. I also tried turning on the fridge, switching it to AC, but I couldn't tell it was running.
Please keep your laughter off the replies, and remember that I'm a newbie.

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Need the propane on, and after turning on give it time to get through the pipes.

Whenever I'm going to turn on the heater, I turn on the gas bottle, light the stove for a couple of seconds to ensure I have gas flow then I turn on the heater. Yes the on/off switch IS hard to switch. The heater on mine, and I'm sure yours, will light automatically when there is a flame from the igniter. I go through the same drill when turning on the water heater. Some units must be lit by hand, feel lucky? BTW, the heater and H2O heater are 12v, not 120v.
As for the fridge, whether 12v, 120v or gas, you won't hear it running cause there are NO moving parts in the fridge. It takes about 3 to 4 hrs to cool down. Most of us turn on the refer 24 hrs before departure, load it with food/drinks, switch to 12v and go camp.
Tree

What Treelimber said except after getting to the campground, take refrigerator off of 12 volts and change to propane or 120 volts.

OOPS! forgot that step, Thanks Gary. Take your time Papa, this forum helped me every step of the way and many others too. You'll get there.
Tree

You might also want to search back posts on running on 12v while driving. Some do it successfully but many do not. The idea is to sort of keep things cold on the road but unless you have a pretty thick wire running from the truck the refrig will tend to run your battery down faster than you can keep it charged. Thus, many people have pulled into a campground after driving all day with the 12v on only to find they dont have enough battery to lift the top. I've given up on mine (though it has other issues) and keep a cooler in back of truck for beverages and ice and some critical food items. Otherwise- I make sure I have gotten the thing cold four twenty four hours ( or even 12-18) before I go and have been know to stick a bit of dry ice in it before I head out and basically use it as a cooler while traveling. Its the first thing I switch to propane or 110 once I pull in and it usually gets up to speed at that point by next morning. Actually, I find mine cools a bit better on propane than 110. And, "NO", you are NOT supposed to travel with the propane running as there is not sufficient ventilation with the top down. As a matter of fact- the refrig issue was one of the motivations, if I recall correctly, for jack doing a super bang-up job of installing the solar panel set up he has.

Rick

hilltool said:

...<snip>... As a matter of fact- the refrig issue was one of the motivations, if I recall correctly, for jack doing a super bang-up job of installing the solar panel set up he has.

Rick

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Yes, it WAS one of my motivations. I got tired of driving into a camping place after a day's driving and having my batteries showing half charge. I always felt "rushed" getting the trailer positioned and set up.

Another motivation was the fact that SOME campgrounds do not allow generators. And, one "high fire danger summer" we could not use our generator when we camped up on top of Mt Graham.

And, thank you kind sir for your positive comments!

- Jack

OK, I tried lighting the furnace this morning--NO LUCK!!!
I turned on the propane, and lighted the burner on the stove to insure gas is flowing, as well as the fridge, both worked.
Then I went to the furnace, and found the small operation booklet. Following the directions:
1) Set the thermostat to lowest setting [check].
2) Open access panel [check].
3) Turn switch to "OFF position. [It already was].
4) Wait 5 minutes. Then smell for gas (no gas smell).
5) Turn on the valve power switch to the ON position. [check] (I assumed that is the OFF/RESET switch).
6) Close the access panel [check]
7) Turn electrical power to the appliance ON. (I assume that it is the switch in the photo #3, on the left of the fridge cabinet.)
8) Set thermostat to desired setting.
I know that the switch for electrical is OFF, in the photo but I did have it ON when trying to start the furnace.

The white switch panel in the lower left of your picture group is for the hot water heater. The left switch is electrical heating and the right switch is for propane. The red light in the middle is a "fault" light that illuminates if the propane heater fails to light. It has nothing to do with your furnace.

When you turn your thermostat ON (the device in the upper left) it should light the furnace if you have the temperature set high enough. As I recall, the furnace lights and then after things heat up, the blower in the furnace starts up to distribute the heat.

I've never opened the furnace compartment to see what's in there, so have no comments about that area. However, I believe there is a "sail" switch that has to function properly for the furnace to work. There has been at least one thread in the forum on this item.

Your Master Switch (next to the Top Raise/Lower switch) must also be ON, so that interior lights, etc. work, because the furnace operates on 12V battery power.

- Jack

Get rid of the original thermostat, it is a dinosaur. Install a digital one. The digital thermostats are more efficient and can be had for $20 - $30 at Walmart. It is only a two wire install. In the mean time, pop the cover off your thermostat and see if it is all clean and working properly (contacts, etc).

Bob

Asking questions

We welcome all of your questions and just want to help. Even us old timers learn something new on occasion. Look up your model of furnice on the net. Perhaps it will have a trouble shooting guide. One time our furnice wouldn't run and DH call our HiLo dealer. Something just needed to be tweeked and it has run beautifully for years.

PapaRoe said:

OK, I tried lighting the furnace this morning--NO LUCK!!!
I turned on the propane, and lighted the burner on the stove to insure gas is flowing, as well as the fridge, both worked.
Then I went to the furnace, and found the small operation booklet. Following the directions:
1) Set the thermostat to lowest setting [check].
2) Open access panel [check].
3) Turn switch to "OFF position. [It already was].
4) Wait 5 minutes. Then smell for gas (no gas smell).
5) Turn on the valve power switch to the ON position. [check] (I assumed that is the OFF/RESET switch).
6) Close the access panel [check]
7) Turn electrical power to the appliance ON. (I assume that it is the switch in the photo #3, on the left of the fridge cabinet.)
8) Set thermostat to desired setting.
I know that the switch for electrical is OFF, in the photo but I did have it ON when trying to start the furnace.

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Did you turn the switch on the bottom of the thermostat to the on position? It moves very stiffly.

Follow the advice above and get a digital non-programmable thermostat. They work much better and more accurately.

RichR, I did turn on the switch on the thermostat. I have watch the YouTube video on it too. For some reason it is not lighting, and I do not smell any propane around the furnace. I think that I will go out and buy a new thermostat before moving on.

PapaRoe said:

RichR, I did turn on the switch on the thermostat. I have watch the YouTube video on it too. For some reason it is not lighting, and I do not smell any propane around the furnace. I think that I will go out and buy a new thermostat before moving on.

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A good way to check the thermostat is to remove both wires and touch them together. The furnace should at least have the blower turn on.

Rich, I taught of that this morning. Great minds?

Make sure you have the master switch in the up position, that controls all 12 volt items, lights, water heater, furnace, except for the fridge. If the furnace was starting you had the switch set correctly. Did you look into the outside vent to see if there was anything like spider webs or mud wasp activity. If there are any obstructions in there the sail switch will detect it and shut the furnace down.

Rich, I pulled the thermostat, and connected the 2 wires. Fan came on and the furnace started blowing warm are within minutes. I purchase a nonprogrammable thermostat, and will be installing it this afternoon. Thanks for your help. I'm going to be a HAPPY CAMPER!

When you replace the thermostat take the old one and throw it as far as you can. Those have been around for many years and are junk in my opinion.

I believe most thermostats have common terminal designations. I connected the red wire to the Rh terminal and the white wire to the C terminal. Even if they are switched I don't think it would matter. To be safe read the directions first, which is against my normal ways.

RichR said:

...<SNIP>...To be safe read the directions first, which is against my normal ways.

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That's a hoot! I actually almost ALWAYS read the instruction/installation manual, but when traveling, I never ask anyone for directions.

- Jack

JackandJanet said:

That's a hoot! I actually almost ALWAYS read the instruction/installation manual, but when traveling, I never ask anyone for directions.

- Jack

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I have my trusty Garmin GPS to take me on the wrong roads.