Removed fuse and furnace works!

[Tacolli]

It’s the middle of the night and we woke up cold (50 degrees inside). Went to turn the heat up - no electricity to thermostat. No electricity to refrigerator or overhead lights either. Outlets do work. Started to replace relevant fuses - didn’t change anything. Hmmm, let’s try replacing the fuse for the “Charge line slide out motor”
As soon as we took that fuse out the furnace came on, and refrigerator and lights now work. Thought maybe we should put a new one back in but it started sparking as soon as the fuse touched the (socket?)

So we’re starting to warm up and wondering why everything is working without having that fuse in? What does it mean? Is it safe to try to go back to sleep?

[GTS225]

Originally Posted by Tacolli

Hmmm, let’s try replacing the fuse for the “Charge line slide out motor”

It's probably safe to go back to sleep, as long as that fuse is out.

It started sparking because there's a load, or short circuit on that branch line somewhere downstream. Dig into it, inspect the wiring for it. I suspect you might find rodent damage, or possibly a pinched cable, grounding to the framework.
What most likely happened is that the short caused a voltage drop problem, not allowing the other circuits to function. Why that fuse didn't blow is anyone's guess, but it's certainly worth investigating.

Roger

[TaftCoach]

So I understand. Items on a different circuit weren't working when that fuse was installed. Once that circuit was shut off, things on other circuits started working.

The mystery is what device on that circuit was causing other items to stop working.

[rccs]

It is probably the ground connection at the battery or converter is loose. The load on the fuse you took out was likely enough that the other items did not have enough of a ground any more to let them work. I would start be checking out the ground connections and tightening them.