94 Saturn T2251 Hydro Flame furnace

[Cutebutnot]

Hello all, I’m a first time Caravan owner and am loving the challenge of figuring it all out. However, some things I’m totally baffled by and now needing help. I’ve had this Betty for a few months and cant seem to figure out how to start the ignition of the propane to run the furnace, water heater & Dometic frig 5cf.
This appliance doesnt have a pilot, its equipped with an ignition and no pilot light. I’m plugged into 30amg electric and frig doesn’t currently work on electric. (Was told by prev owner that it could possibly be a short in heating element) There is no 12v battery connected at this time. Doe anyone have the time to help me deduce this issue? I’m a first time caravan owner, so have patience with me plz 😉
Thank you

[JohnB]

Hi Cutbutnot,

Lets take one appliance at a time on how to get them all going. Lets start with big picture and what can be needed.

The Furnace, lets start here. Depending on the brand and model of the power converter you have in the camper, you may need to have a battery installed to supply enough power to make the furnace run. You will need a battery, just being plugged into shore power may not be enough.

The battery should be a "deep cycle" lead acid battery. Sunline provided room on most campers for a group 24 battery. If you plan to boondock off grid, now is the time to think about the battery size. They make bigger batteries then the group 24 size, but the battery tray on the camper may need a modification to hold the larger battery and case.

You do not want a car "starter" battery. Deep cycle is what you really want. If you cannot find a deep cycle battery, then and RV/Marine battery is the next best. Walmart does sell the size 24DC battery. This one https://www.walmart.com/ip/EverStart...-MCA/180350522

You do not have to get them there, I'm just showing that one. I use the Walmart batteries as Johnson Controls makes them for them. It is more about good battery maintenance to make a battery last then where you buy it.

Next on the furnace, we need to know the make and model number. If it is the original, it would be an Atwood Hydroflame furnace, but not sure which model. Look for the sticker. If you cannot find a sticker, post pics of the inside and outside and we can help get closer with where to look for the sticker. I'm not sure if you have a 79 series or the 85 series.

Does the blower on the furnace run when you turn on the T stat when you are plugged into shore power? If the blower does not run, that is step one to sort out why not.

The LP gas system, you did not mention the stove/range. Do the stove burners light on LP gas?

On the fridge, h'mm while the electric element may be bad, it might be a lot more then that. We need the model of the fridge to help best. And we ideally need a few pics of the outside back of the fridge with the outside vent cover off. There is a possibility the cooling coil had a leak and it would of left yellowish residue all over the burner area. Look for any kind of yellow powder or smell of ammonia if there is any left in the system to smell. We need to rule this cooling coil out before we try and get the fridge going.

The water heater, we need the make and model of that too. Assuming the original is still there, it would be an Atwood. Go outside, flip down the cover and look for a sticker with the model number. Take a pic of the whole outside with the cover down. Get close but include the whole heater.

Give us some info to go on and we can help better from there.

Hope this helps

John

[JohnB]

If you need help on how to post pics, see here

There are 3 ways to add pics.

1. Upload pics to a specific post attaching them at the end of the post.

2. Linking them in from a public viewable web photo hosting service you have.

See here for 1 and 2 https://www.sunlineclub.com/forums/f...html#post86041

3. You can upload pics to the forum in your own personal photo album. Then link them to anywhere in the text of a post. See here on how to create an album. https://www.sunlineclub.com/forums/f...html#post87945

If you still get stuck, let us know. Pic's go a long way in helping show things you are working on, and we really like seeing Sunline pics!

Hope this helps

John

[Cutebutnot]

JohnB, Thanks for taking the time to help out, you are truly appreciated. I did deduce the battery issue needed last night after reading one of the posts here so the forum is a great resource.
My next question regarding the 1st battery to purchase will be needing to know how much power I’ll need to power everything off grid while traveling west long distance. I’ll be running the frig, furnace, dehumidifier, air purifier, and powering/charging laptop, phone, and other electronicals. My mind has tried to figure out amps watts and necessary power but its a struggle, my brain isn’t functioning mechanically that way with so much going on currently. Lol. I just dont want to purchase “a” battery later to find out that getting a bigger one or two would be a better option. I can build a batter box to house them if I need to, that IS within my scope.

The furnace is the original which is 8520 Atwood HydroFlame ser#39461.
The blower does turn on when I selection the Heat on the Dometic AC unit (model#57912621 ser#41216639) I had it on just last night to distribute the radiating heat used.

The Model # on the Dometic frig is RM2510 ser# 41100302 and it is a discontinued model. I called a friend of mine who works on RV’s recently and mentioned a few things to him and he said it sounded like it may be a short in the heating element.
I’ll snap a photo of the back later today and forward to you, thanks, you have been a HUGE help here in this first message sent. Soo appreciated.
The water heater is still the original GGA-7 Atwood 96202261951.

Before I purchase a battery and begin there, I’ll wait to hear back from you.

Big hug and gratitude ✌️
HeatherAnn

[JohnB]

Originally Posted by Cutebutnot

JohnB, Thanks for taking the time to help out, you are truly appreciated. I did deduce the battery issue needed last night after reading one of the posts here so the forum is a great resource.

My next question regarding the 1st battery to purchase will be needing to know how much power I’ll need to power everything off grid while traveling west long distance. I’ll be running the frig, furnace, dehumidifier, air purifier, and powering/charging laptop, phone, and other electronicals. My mind has tried to figure out amps watts and necessary power but its a struggle, my brain isn’t functioning mechanically that way with so much going on currently. Lol. I just dont want to purchase “a” battery later to find out that getting a bigger one or two would be a better option. I can build a batter box to house them if I need to, that IS within my scope.

The furnace is the original which is 8520 Atwood HydroFlame ser#39461.
The blower does turn on when I selection the Heat on the Dometic AC unit (model#57912621 ser#41216639) I had it on just last night to distribute the radiating heat used.

Hi HeatherAnn,

First off, you are welcome. We try and help the best we can.

Lets ask the easier question first, the 8520 furnace, that helps, we now know the series, but there is a rev number we need too. With your 94 vintage it might be a 8520-II or a 8520-III, I think your camper is too old to be a 8520-IV. And I'm not sure it is a 8520-I.

Check your furnace and see what the rev number is.

Regardless of a rev I, II, III or IV, they all have a sail switch which is a safety switch. The blower motor has to spin fast enough to make enough wind to turn the sail switch on before the gas burner will open and the ignition will start. Not having a battery in one of the older power converters campers, may not produce the right motor speed, (the 12 volt DC is too low,) even if the motor spins some, it may not be fast enough.

By chance, once the fan started to run, and about 15-17 seconds went by, did you hear any faint clicking going on from the furnace? The clicking (the sparking of the igniter) does not last long, about 6 seconds and then it waits and tries 3 times, then the clicking will stop all together if the furnace never lights.

At this point, if there is no clicking going on, it could be the sail switch never made as the motor speed was too low. But again, the clicking is faint even when it happens, you have to know to listen for it. If by chance you hear the 3 cycles of clicking and no heat, then that is good info too. A technician can test if the sail switch ever made, but lets see if you can hear anything going on with clicks first. If you turn the T stat off, and then back on, it will try to light 3 more times. You then get another chance to see if you can hear it.

And, did the stove burners light on gas? That helps tell us the LP tanks and main tank regulator is providing some gas at least.

Next is, your new battery and how big a one to get. You supplying the info of your wants to run and to be off grid, is a almost an entire topic by itself.

I'm going to split your post into two topics, the gas appliances how to get them going, and the battery size needs to support off grid as this topic is going to be a good long one. I let this post be on the gas appliances.

Go to this post, to get info on your battery sizing and power needs. https://www.sunlineclub.com/forums/f...tml#post156702

On the fridge, if you have an RV tech coming, then yes he can test if the AC heating element is not working. They do go bad from time to time. I have had to replace them due to they seem to break down inside and then short out to ground tripping any GFIC one is plugged into. He can also look to see if the cooling coil has failed. If it has, that becomes a costly fix. And it can be fixed. A cost comparison will need to be done on new RV fridge or new cooling coil in the old one.

I have to look up your water heater. Will be back on that one.

John