Furnace and Refrigerator Elevation Issues

[Paul0730]

Hello Everyone,

Just got a 2020 Jayco Jay Flight 264BH travel trailer and dometic furnace DF Series won’t light above 6000 ft elevation and Norcold Refrigerator won’t work over 5000 ft. Both work fine below those elevations. Camping world is no help if there is a way to fix it. They just said some furnaces don’t work at higher elevations. If that is true then I feel like that should have been disclosed when purchasing especially when dry camping at those elevations and everyone else around me has never had an elevation issue with their appliances (even people with the exact same trailer just from 2017 instead of being new). Does anyone out there have the same 2020 trailer and have had the same elevation issues?

[travelingjw]

Sorry I don't have the same trailer. You might want to post the model number of the furnace and the refrigerator. It might open up the population that can answer your question. I have a 2017 Whitehawk and have never had issues at altitude (up to about 8500 ft).

[TomBaum]

I have a 2019 264BH and the furnace will not start at 8500 feet. This model has the Dometic furnace with no outside access other than the intake/exhaust port.

It is my belief that the sail switch is not activating in the thinner air at that altitude. It works fine under 5000 feet. My dealer is in Tulsa, OK, so when they check it out, it works just fine. I plan on doing a bit of maintenance and checking, as we are headed to the mountains the middle of September. It gets cold at night up there that time of year. This is the third Jayco that I have owned and the first with any furnace issue at that campground.

Does anyone know how to access the furnace tucked under the jackknife couch?

[Paul0730]

Thanks for the reply. I am from Tulsa OK by the way. Is your furnace a Dometic? I contacted Dometic and right away they said the furnace will likely have issues above 5500 feet. Mine is a DF Series MD2010. They said it was a medium size furnace and those have issues with elevation. They said that there is a high elevation kit that is just an exhaust replacement (Atwood High Elevation kit part #32503). I saw someone post pictures of them replacing this high elevation kit Exhaust tube fitting in side of RV and it looks easy. I am still a little confused of how that would help since mine seems to be a lighting issue and didn’t think the airflow to the flame would come from the exhaust vent but I am going to order the part and hope that it helps.