I have a 87 FWC Blazer camper.
The furnace motor had been squealing like a banshee, so I took it apart and lubricated the bearings. That quieted the squeal. Also while I had the furnace apart, I thoroughly cleaned it out.
Last weekend we went camping in the mountains. The temperature was in single digits, so I fired up the furnace when we went to bed around 10 pm that night. Ran the furnace all night and about 5am it had drained the battery to the point that the burner would not light, and the motor was running really slow. Fired up the Blazer's engine and the furnace roared to life.
By my calculations the battery should have had more than enough capacity to run the furnace all night. The auxiliary battery is an 65AH Optima and had a full charge.
The furnace is a Hydro Flame 7916, according to the manual the furnace should draw 2.9A at 12V.
Yesterday I measured the current that the furnace draws and it seems excessive.
4.25A at 13.6V burner on
3.48A at 13.6V burner off.
Also the furnace seemed to be operating in "thermal limit" that is as if the thermal limit switch was kicking in before the thermostat set point had been reached. This resulted in the motor running continuously.
I am wondering if the motor is shot (excessive current draw and not running fast enough to keep the limit switch from tripping).
Any thoughts?
The furnace motor had been squealing like a banshee, so I took it apart and lubricated the bearings. That quieted the squeal. Also while I had the furnace apart, I thoroughly cleaned it out.
Last weekend we went camping in the mountains. The temperature was in single digits, so I fired up the furnace when we went to bed around 10 pm that night. Ran the furnace all night and about 5am it had drained the battery to the point that the burner would not light, and the motor was running really slow. Fired up the Blazer's engine and the furnace roared to life.
By my calculations the battery should have had more than enough capacity to run the furnace all night. The auxiliary battery is an 65AH Optima and had a full charge.
The furnace is a Hydro Flame 7916, according to the manual the furnace should draw 2.9A at 12V.
Yesterday I measured the current that the furnace draws and it seems excessive.
4.25A at 13.6V burner on
3.48A at 13.6V burner off.
Also the furnace seemed to be operating in "thermal limit" that is as if the thermal limit switch was kicking in before the thermostat set point had been reached. This resulted in the motor running continuously.
I am wondering if the motor is shot (excessive current draw and not running fast enough to keep the limit switch from tripping).
Any thoughts?