Heater Inoperative

[Reverend D]

I have a 2018 Jayco Greyhawk. For some reason, the heater in the motorhome stop working. It was working just fine. I took the motorhome and refilled the propane tank about 3 weeks ago, and the heater hasn't worked since. The propane tank was 1/4 full. I checked the fuses and they are all good. The heater fan comes on, but the burner never kicks in. The fan only blows for a couple minutes, then it shuts off. The stove still works, and the frig works on propane. No idea what to do. Any suggestions?

[maejoicer]

Originally Posted by Reverend D

I have a 2018 Jayco Greyhawk. For some reason, the heater in the motorhome stop working. It was working just fine. I took the motorhome and refilled the propane tank about 3 weeks ago, and the heater hasn't worked since. The propane tank was 1/4 full. I checked the fuses and they are all good. The heater fan comes on, but the burner never kicks in. The fan only blows for a couple minutes, then it shuts off. The stove still works, and the frig works on propane. No idea what to do. Any suggestions?

A lot of us have been having the same type if issues lately with the furnaces, if it is a Dometic furnace it is probably the Sail switch is stuck or defective. It is covered under warranty if your unit is still under warranty. It is not an expensive part and easily fixable is you can access the furnace. Do you have a mobile service available or a dealer close by?

[Reverend D]

Originally Posted by maejoicer

A lot of us have been having the same type if issues lately with the furnaces, if it is a Dometic furnace it is probably the Sail switch is stuck or defective. It is covered under warranty if your unit is still under warranty. It is not an expensive part and easily fixable is you can access the furnace. Do you have a mobile service available or a dealer close by?

Tried bleeding the lines, nothing works. The stove, hot water heater, and frig. But not the furnace. Someone suggested the Sail switch..no idea what it is, but it's under warranty. Thanks for the advice and help.

[JFlightRisk]

Originally Posted by Reverend D

Tried bleeding the lines, nothing works. The stove, hot water heater, and frig. But not the furnace. Someone suggested the Sail switch..no idea what it is, but it's under warranty. Thanks for the advice and help.

When the furnace blower first comes on, it activates the sail switch, which tells the furnace to supply the propane. It's a safety feature built in, so the furnace doesn't overheat if the blower isn't operating. So the sequence goes, fan on, sail switch allows gas, igniter sparks to light it up. By the sounds of it, you've cycled it more than a few times trying to get it working. Sometimes it takes three attempts or so before it works, especially if it hasn't operated in a while, but that doesn't sound like the case.

[wondermn1]

We had a non working furnace it would cycle but not fire, for almost 2 years as they replaced the mother board like 5 times to no avail. finally a new furnace and no problems since. In the meantime get a 20.00 dollar space heater from walmart

[Berjr]

I have the same problem in our 2018 Greyhawk

Furnace comes on fan runs for about a min then shuts off. Thought we where out of fuel when it first happened . but we have a full tank. All stove burners work and refrigerator works as well. I believe our heater is an Atwood unit

[Berjr]

I think this may be the issue sail switch issue could be dirty or faulty I will check mine tomorrow.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-g3_Y7MqChE

[pconroy]

It was the sail switch on my 2016 Greyhawk.

[Berjr]

I believe i found a loose connector on my Sail switch as well. Heat is now working just fine after i played around withe the connectors. It wasn't on the switch tab very well.

[av8or]

sail switch on our 16 31fs was dirty/sticky, picked up a couple from amazon (replacement and a spare) works like a charm now, except there's essentially no heat/air flow coming from the back bedroom vent

[mbpharmd1]

I had a similar problem with my Seneca. Thought it was the sail switch as well. The unit worked when we first got it then stopped working. The furnace would ignite and go out after a minute or so and keep cycle then shut down. I replaced the sail switch and that did not fix it. I put it on my list of issues when we took our rig in for factory service. Explained the issue and told them I replaced the sail switch. They took it in and found that the nozzle was not properly seated in the combustion chamber so the unit did not recognize propane was being injected into the system. They reinstalled the nozzle correctly and it has worked fine since.

[Reverend D]

Thanks everyone for your help and advice. Since the Motorhome is new and under warranty, I am taking it in for maintenance on the 2nd to January 2020. I'll let them worry with it. I might mess something up.

[Forelyndogs]

We were recently dry camping (which we do not often do) and using the propane heater. The battery was a few years old and in the middle of the night I noticed the furnace was coming on but quickly shutting down. You must have a certain voltage level for the furnace to operate and with a low battery we did not. I fired up the motor and that gave the battery enough charge to run the furnace the rest of the night.

[Wisco Dude]

We had the same problem last spring. I found out that the igniter works on 12v. So the next time I turned on the furnace, I shut off everything else that drew from the 12v system first. The igniter fired and furnace worked fine. As soon as it fires I turn the other things (lights and whatnot) back on, and the furnace keeps working. It's just that initial firing of the igniter that seems to need all the 12v it can get. I'm far from being any sort of expert, but this seems to be working. I've been doing it this way every time since, and so far so good.

[Lmdye]

We had the same problem with our Whitehawk 28RK. No one could find an answer until someone said to replace the control board. Has worked fine since then. This has been an issue in a lot of 2018 RVs with the Dometic furnaces. So far replacing the control board has been the best fix....

[1SGPETE]

Originally Posted by Reverend D

I have a 2018 Jayco Greyhawk. For some reason, the heater in the motorhome stop working. It was working just fine. I took the motorhome and refilled the propane tank about 3 weeks ago, and the heater hasn't worked since. The propane tank was 1/4 full. I checked the fuses and they are all good. The heater fan comes on, but the burner never kicks in. The fan only blows for a couple minutes, then it shuts off. The stove still works, and the frig works on propane. No idea what to do. Any suggestions?

I had a gas company employee explain to me that once he turned the gas off to refill the propane on my Motor Home that he could not turn it back on. That was up to me to do that.
Some thing about pilot lights and such.

[SalzerJ]

Sometimes, when turning on the Propane after it's been closed, the expansion of the gas at some point in the several stages of the system causes a freeze up which blocks futher gas from flowing to the furnace. The only cure is a warmer ambiance (waiting till it warms up outside) or putting a heater where it can warm up the compartment the heater is. It only happens when the weather is cold out (and you need the furnace) The expansion is the culprit!!!

[Marmot]

Bad sail switch. Any mobile rv tech can replace it.