atwood furnace issue

[nbhybrid]

Currently camping and had a question about the furnace operation

Have never fall camped so not use to the furnace running so often. The furnace will lite but maybe in 30 seconds it shuts off then it starts back up and runs again for a bit then shuts off. Sometimes it runs for a few minutes then does it. It is heating the trailer well and after it reaches thermostat temperature it shuts off and then of course the fan shuts down after

It was used some in the summer but never noticed it before

Is it simply reaching operating temp and shutting the burner off periodicly?

[Ustabslim]

Maybe normal.

[nbhybrid]

It almost seems normal because it is running good but the short cycles are really really short and just seems weird

[Ustabslim]

I guess it's smarter than us. As long as its doing the job.

[Paintinfool3]

I used mine last weekend for a bit and didn't notice it cycling like that but wasn't paying too much attention

[TNCraig]

You may have one of the floor vents blowing directly onto the thermostat. That would cause it to short cycle. On one of our previous trailers the opposite happened. The thermostat always saw warm air and the air conditioning would never shutoff. Had to tape over the hole in the wall where the wires came out. Fixed it before the fall season so I assume it would have had cold air and the furnace would not have shut off. Good luck in solving the problem.

[qwed94]

Well Im not sure about the 30 seconds of run time AND the keeping it warm story. What I mean is--after these furnaces blowers start, it takes at least 30 seconds for the "heat" to actually start. If it is really a 30 second run time, it would never blow "hot" air.

Now if it is just short cycling. There may be an adjustment for that in the thermostat. I dont know what your tstat looks like. Can you remove the cover? If so, do so, then look for a slider and move it some! Also check, make sure the fan setting is on "auto". -- It could be a sensor or thermocoupler (internal). -- Then again, if its keeping you warm, maybe all is OK anyway.

[The Hawk]

Turn up the thermostat and see if it still cycles. If it stills does then something is wrong.

[emjayuu]

Originally Posted by The Hawk

Turn up the thermostat and see if it still cycles. If it stills does then something is wrong.

X2

[sask934]

Originally Posted by The Hawk

Turn up the thermostat and see if it still cycles. If it stills does then something is wrong.

Agree.

Also is the fan still running when it short cycles? Anyone heating with gas in their homes know that the furnace shuts off and the fan still runs until the heat in the furnace reaches a certain temp. Your furnace may in fact be running very efficient as it is only running when it is required to keep the temperature at the level required to heat the furnace at the desired temp and turns off.

If the furnace is running longer, is it at times when it is coldest outside, during over night? If so, it maybe doing its job very well.

[nbhybrid]

It is always throwing heat when the burner shuts off.

It will start and run for 2 minutes approx. then the burner shuts off then back on in maybe 10 seconds then sometimes the burner will shut off after it just came on within a few seconds.

Then after the burner has shut down and started back up for maybe 5-10 minutes it shuts down(fan and blower) assuming once the thermostat reaches temp.

At first I figured it was just the furnace reaching a certain temp and then shuts the burner off for a bit but the short short cycles(10 seconds) don't seem right.

I think I will just give Atwood a call and see what they think.

[Camping Couple]

It sounds like a limit switch is tripping.

[Fisherfeld]

Furnace-ignition lock out-where can I get a new control panel online that I can install myself?

[Panhead]

Insufficient gas flow to stay lit? Maybe the burner is not sufficiently warm to stay lit, like on a home water heater, in order to light it off you have to keep your pilot button pushed in for a minute or two to warm up the burner so it will stay lit.

I notice on ours that after a period of non use the fridge will not stay lit on gas until it is warmed up a bit. Now I start out on electric and then run on gas when we take off and it is fine.

Steve

[DocBrown]

I must have missed this one. We didn't come back from our last trip until the 13th. Did you ever gen an answer from Atwood? I'm curious to know what they had to say.

NB, I don't think it's abnormal. Furnace behavior is different for a hybrid than a fully enclosed trailer because of the rapid heat loss through the bunk ends. So it's going to kick in more often in a hybrid. However, I can also tell you that our current Atwood Hydroflame behaves differently than our old pre-Atwood acquisition Hydroflame did.

Our old Kiwi, with the pre-acquisition Hydro-flame, that also did not have ducted heat, would run for long periods and when the temps were really low, like upper 20s, pretty much only shut off for a few minutes and turned back on. But in general it ran for fairly long periods and didn't turn on again unless it really needed to. Our old '93 PUP behaved the same way.

Our current X20E's Atwood furnace will run for a long period and get the trailer warm, then it will run in short bursts similar to what you are describing. Oddly enough it can also go for very long periods without kicking in. So far with this trailer, the coldest we've camped in is upper 30s. But the first season we had this trailer, the furnace didn't behave the same our old ones did.

[klpoppe]

Is there a flame sensor on these furnaces? This sounded like a similar problem I had with my home furnace few years ago. It would ignite for about 10-20 seconds then shut down. The sensor was dirty - had charring on it - and did not detect the flame and the shut down the furnace. HVAC guy told me us gently use sandpaper on it to remove the soot. After that it worked like normal.

[firestorm128d]

Originally Posted by nbhybrid

Currently camping and had a question about the furnace operation

Have never fall camped so not use to the furnace running so often. The furnace will lite but maybe in 30 seconds it shuts off then it starts back up and runs again for a bit then shuts off. Sometimes it runs for a few minutes then does it. It is heating the trailer well and after it reaches thermostat temperature it shuts off and then of course the fan shuts down after

It was used some in the summer but never noticed it before

Is it simply reaching operating temp and shutting the burner off periodicly?

NOT NORMAL - Your furnace is overheating and the internal safety is shutting it down to keep it from melting inside and killing you with Carbon Monoxide!

This seams to be a theme with some of Jaycos designs of late!

http://www.jaycoowners.com/forums/showthread.php?t=9195

[troutslayer]

Originally Posted by firestorm128d

NOT NORMAL - Your furnace is overheating and the internal safety is shutting it down to keep it from melting inside and killing you with Carbon Monoxide!

This seams to be a theme with some of Jaycos designs of late!

http://www.jaycoowners.com/forums/showthread.php?t=9195

I could be wrong (and often am) but I don't think the attached thread is the same issue as with the OP. The attached thread talks about a furnace that never heats up enough to be shut down by the thermostat. I think OPs furnace is operating normally. The flame cycles on and off (normal for a Propane furnace IMO) until the desired temp on the thermostat is reached. This is how mine works and how my SOB previous 5er furnace worked.
However, if the OP is really concerned for his health, he may want to rely on a dealer's opinion rather than anyone on this forum...especially mine

[Harvard]

Sounds like the high temperature limit is being reached. If so, could be because of too little hot air circulation. Any vents blocked or shut in?