Furnace won't fire

[Hd Wtr Hillbilly]

I was up north this weekend and went to start the furnace in my shack and it would not fire. I have an Atwood 16,000 BTU that I bought 3 years ago from fish house supply.

I had a full tank of propane, the regulator was replaced last summer, and the lines are clear because my gas light and stove were working with no problem. The exaust vent is also clear...no nests, or junk in there.

When I turn it on the fan starts and the ignition makes the clicking sound but the furnace just won't fire. It will try 3 or 4 times then auto shut-off.

Anyone else have a problem like this?

[rickl1968]

Sounds like a thermocoupler.

[motley man]

I agree with the thermocoupler. I keep a extra around, they are cheap and pretty easy to change.

[LeeMB]

could be air in the line as well. Some stoves are stubborn.

[Hd Wtr Hillbilly]

Are the thermocouplers fairly easy to replace, or will i need someone that really knows what they are doing?

[IL Res]

If you hear a "clicking" sound when the unit tries to start, it sounds like your furnace has a quartz igniter [newer technology]. It likely won't have a thermocouple as they worked w/ a standing pilot. Sounds more like the problem is w/ your fan proving switch, pressure differential switch, or main gas valve. Take the blower fan off unit and check that a bird or mouse has not lodged itself against the fan switch vane. Also try to verify if you can see the pilot flame establish when you hear the ignitor come on. If your furnace is equipped w/ pressure differential switches [ they look like sealed cans or discs ], I would disconnect the plastic supply tubing and check them for moisture. Sounds to me like a safety interlock is open somewhere and is preventing the pilot flame from establishing. Hope this helps...

[Eelpout08]

x1

If it has an auto igniter it wont have a thermocouple (unless it is an intermittent pilot system, doesnt sound like it) like he said the first place to start is taking all the covers off and giving it a good once over, clean any debris out and look for any obvious problems. then make sure it is getting lp at the furnace. it may take a while to bleed all the air out of the line if it has been sitting all summer without a tank hooked up. also be sure your tank is not getting close to empty as it seems like they cant provide enough pressure to furnaces when they start getting low.

if that doesnt work and you cant see anything wrong you will have to call someone that has the right tools to test it out.

[Smoker]

Had a guy bring one in the shop that wasn't a year old. The gas valve was bad. He got a new one under warentty and has been fine for 3 years now. his went out in the middle of the season and it took almost 3 weeks to get a new one.

[Big A]

Dont forget to make sure the power is all connected and the Thermostat is set.

I battled my furnace last year for hrs before realizing I didnt have the flippin power connected

oh well. Makes for a good laugh now.

[Grainbelt]

I'm with IL Res. I had problem with fan proving switch. The squirrel cage fan had a build up of dust/dirt on the fins not allowing enough air movement to trigger the switch.

[rickl1968]

Sorry about the thermocoupler post I didn't read the post clearly enough.(my bad) You said it was only 3 years old so probably not using a thermocoupler. First off did you remove the LP tank at all? I know when you remove the tank to get it refilled and you drop your hose to the ground it purges the propane out of your line and may take a while to refill the line with propane again. If this doesn't work I would have to go with IL Res's post: "Sounds more like the problem is w/ your fan proving switch, pressure differential switch, or main gas valve." More than likly you should have a pro look at it. Is it a permy stuck at a lake or a wheel house that you can move or bring in to have it looked at?

[Deep]

I have see bad connections at the circut board, cured by removing the connector and reinstalling it a few times. do you have anything else on the lp line you are hooked into? Do they work also? Some of the one I have seen they will flash out a code (light blinking) on the circut board that could lead you in the right direction.

[NAMASafetyDirector]

I would check the fan switch as well. The furnace in the Snobear is the same model I believe and sometime the mice will get in and pile up some debris in front of the sail switch on the fan. Otherwise I would purge the line out and make sure your getting gas. Another thing that will screw up my furnace at times is low battery voltage, there is times after fishing all day when my deep cycle starts running low that the furnace won't light. I also had an issue one time with the spark igniter itself failing so you could check that as well. The good news is that parts are relativly cheap for these if you happen to find a failed part. Good Luck

[Hd Wtr Hillbilly]

Thanks for all the advice guys, I printed out the replies and when I head up for deer hunting I am going to take a look. I am no expert on these things so it might take some time but as long as I get it up and runnning before the hard water comes I should be alright.

To some of the posts- there is a fresh deep cycle so power isnt an issue, it has a full propane tank that feeds gas to other appliences so the gas is going through the lines...I also attempted turning it on quite a few times to rule out air in the lines.

[Kellc1]

I do not have knowledge about the Atwood, but here is a problem that I have had with the furnace in my Ice Castle, which sounds about like your trouble. Mine furnace has the inlet/outlet one above the other 8. Every year rain water would get into mine through the summer, and wouldn't light when checking things before deer hunting. I would take it apart, and use a towel to extract the water from it. There was always a couple of inches, which was above the burner holes! Get the water out and it starts right up. I now cover the inlet/outlet holes all summer.

Note - Mine was doing the same thing as yours - turn the thermostat up, fan kicks in, wait a couple of seconds, hear the click a couple of times, shut down. Sounds like a possibility.

KC

[woodman]

I have the same furnace and after reading this post last night it got me worried, because I hadn't fired mine up until tonight. THank God everything worked as good as new. We leave sat to set up hunting camp. The fish house is almost packed and ready to go. Good luck with your heater and hopefully it is something simple.

[Hd Wtr Hillbilly]

Thought I would provide an update if anyone was curious.

Deer opener I went up and one of the guys in our party is an HVAC repairman....he pulled the control panel off, took apart the burner and looked at everything...found nothing wrong....put it back together and it fired right up.....go figure

hopefully this doesnt happen in the middle of the night out on the lake

thats why I keep a big buddy for backup I guess

[minnbowhunter]

I just had the same problem with my atwood furnace. I took the burner and igniter probe out and it looked like the probe (Atwood calls it an electrode) was too far from the burner suface. I tried to bend the igniter closer and I broke it in two!! I found a new one on the interweb for 9 bucks and once I put the new one in everything is working great. I hope my problems are over, c'mon ice!!