Is this normal?

[FWR]

I have a new fish house with a dealer installed 18,000 BTU Atwood forced air furnace. I was fishing today and when the furnace would ignite it would ignite on the fourth attempt. If it did ignite on the first or second attempt it would fire for about 1 second an then wait for 4 seconds and then try and ignite again.

After it would ignite it would blow out great heat and it would cycle on and off normally when the thermostat called for heat. It had not problem keeping the house at 70 degrees.

It is normal for it to ignite after 4 tries and not the 1 try?

This is my first force air furnace. When I bought the house all I did was put the battery and turn on the tank. I never touched the furnace at all. I have an automatic switch over duel regulator. No codes were shown via the LED light. It did flash one time and only one time before the fan kicked on but that was the only time. The LED remained off the entire time.

Here is a list of potential variables. See if any of these could be the problem if the above description is not normal operation. I ran the furnace this fall when I was working inside it but i never paid attention how many times it took to ignite.

Two 20lb full tanks. Only one was turned on.

Temp was -5 to -12 degrees

New 12 volt charged battery

Ran with a Honda generator

Sorry for the long post. Thanks for the help

[B-man715]

It should light and stay lit on the first try.

I would start trouble-shooting by bypassing the thermostat. Jump the wires and see if the problem persists.

[FWR]

The thermostat is calling for heat and furnace and the furnace will start up it just takes tries to ignite. Could this be a thermostat issue? I am not sure how to bypass the thermostat to try this.

[outkast7222]

Are you saying it lights on the fourth click or fourth set of clicks?

[mnhunter79]

Don't seem like a thermostat issue, obviously its sending a signal to the furnace to start up if its trying to ignite. Try cleaning the spark ignitor and pilot assembly with a small wire brush, same with flame sensor if equipped. Also check gas pressure if possible, check regulator, and fresh air intake. Hope this helps.

[FWR]

outkast..It ignites on the fourth set of clicks.

After looking at other posts do I need bigger tanks instead of the 20's I am currently using and open up both tanks?

Thanks for the replies.

[WishnIWsFishn]

FWR... I called my brother with your issue. He works in the heating and air industry and he says it sounds to him like a dirty flame sensor. He says all you have to do is take that out and clean it up and it should fire on your first attempt. Try that before you have someone look at it, because it is going to cost you a lot of money for a 5 minute fix.

[FWR]

WishnlWsFish...Thank for making the phone call. I appreciate it. I will try it in the morning and see if it works.