Furnace won’t spark

[patrkbukly]

Living here my heart sank as well when I was told that they would not work at altitude.

I did nothing more than remove the ignitor which has two prongs on it with a tiny gap (like 1mm).
I expanded the gap a few times till I finally ended up I think at about 4mm and it now fires up and runs around here where I live between 10 and 11,500 with no problem and still works fine at sea level.

It's quite simple to remove it and I remember I had to try several gap sizes before it consistently worked.

I even called several Atwood Service Centers around the US and they all said the same thing, won't work at altitude.
Nothing against them but I think it's too small a percentage of people to look into the resolution to get them to work. For me it was absolutely imperative.

 

[heinphoto]

The altitude issue is perplexing. We have a new Grandby with the standard Dometic propane furnace. On our shake down trip a few weeks ago we camped for four nights at elevations ranging from 7000 to 9000 feet. I ran the heater for a little while every morning and had no problem with it starting. Of course, it will probably fail me when I really need it during a fall or winter trip!

 

[patrkbukly]

Yea mine did too.
Imagine my joy arriving home from picking it up brand new and first night out my furnace won't work.It wasn't till I continued to travel that it WOULD work and then WOULD NOT.
It took time to correlate the cause.

But I did get it resolved and it has been a fantastic camper. A couple of bugs I had to work out and since then it has been really awesome.

 

[BigRanchInSky]

Living here my heart sank as well when I was told that they would not work at altitude.

I did nothing more than remove the ignitor which has two prongs on it with a tiny gap (like 1mm).
I expanded the gap a few times till I finally ended up I think at about 4mm and it now fires up and runs around here where I live between 10 and 11,500 with no problem and still works fine at sea level.

It's quite simple to remove it and I remember I had to try several gap sizes before it consistently worked.

I even called several Atwood Service Centers around the US and they all said the same thing, won't work at altitude.
Nothing against them but I think it's too small a percentage of people to look into the resolution to get them to work. For me it was absolutely imperative.

Thank you all for responding! Love this forum and it's awesome, helpful members.

I took rig up to Alta ski resort, base 8500 ft. Zero problems getting furnace to light and stay on. Oh well, I'll keep on trucking'.

 

[Geologist]

Brand new Hawk (three days old). Furnace works fine at 1,000 feet elevation. Camped at 6,200 feet, furnace doesn't work. The fan turns on, it lights for about 1 second, and then turns off. Plenty of power, even started the truck, bled all the lines, stove works fine, and hot water heater works fine. Heater no worky.

Besides a couple chilly mornings, which is the main reason we bought the Hawk, we love it.

John

 

[JWL]

Brand new Hawk (three days old). Furnace works fine at 1,000 feet elevation. Camped at 6,200 feet, furnace doesn't work. The fan turns on, it lights for about 1 second, and then turns off. Plenty of power, even started the truck, bled all the lines, stove works fine, and hot water heater works fine. Heater no worky.

Besides a couple chilly mornings, which is the main reason we bought the Hawk, we love it.

John

I found that the flexible vent hose on my new Hawk was going from the right side of the cabinet to the center where the vent was. When I was camping I just took the whole cover off and it worked! When I got home I stuffed all the vent hose I could to the back on the furnace to open the exit up. That seems to have done the trick. BUT, I have not tried it at altitude again yet.

 

[Idahojolson]

Hi all, first night in the camper. Winter camping at about 6500 feet. Heater stopped being hot. We heard the clicking and started the truck up and the heat turned on.. we’d eventually turn off the truck and eventually the heater would blow cooler air again and we’d hear the clicking again. Based on the fact that this is literally brand new, is it a charging issue? Or propane issue. We think we have enough propane since we just filled it. Volts said 12.7 on voltage reader.... insight or help please?

 

[Wyo4Life]

I don't currently have a FWC but am doing a lot of research on them because I want to get one. I have a 2017 Northern Lite and love it, just want to be more mobile going further off road than I can now.

I have also heard the same thing about these furnaces, in all campers, not working at altitude but 99% of my camping is at 9000 ft plus and I have not had a problem. If FWC knows this is an issue, are they doing anything about it to fix it? With what they are charging for these little pop-ups, I would expect more that what I am reading about.

 

[Idahojolson]

I don't currently have a FWC but am doing a lot of research on them because I want to get one. I have a 2017 Northern Lite and love it, just want to be more mobile going further off road than I can now.

I have also heard the same thing about these furnaces, in all campers, not working at altitude but 99% of my camping is at 9000 ft plus and I have not had a problem. If FWC knows this is an issue, are they doing anything about it to fix it? With what they are charging for these little pop-ups, I would expect more that what I am reading about.

I contacted fwc and they said it is an option to pull the corrugated foil house and it will help. I did, and it did work so far. Going out again next weekend and I’ll let you all know what happens. Four wheel campers offered to upgrade the parts and they are doing that. I’ll let you know on that too. I liked their response, and am very glad the quick fix may have worked too. I do a lot of high altitude cold camping. I’d need it to work well and regularly or else I made a huge mistake with my fwc purchase. Update coming.........

 

[patrkbukly]

I contacted fwc and they said it is an option to pull the corrugated foil house and it will help.

what or where is that exactly?

 

[Idahojolson]

Sorry, hose not house. Taking the plastic cover off the heater and removing the corrugated foil hose worked because of an airflow issue kept the furnace from lighting.

 

[Stan@FourWheel]

what or where is that exactly?

Sample picture attached.

 

[patrkbukly]

Sample picture attached.

Thanks Stan.

So that said I have a question;
My furnace now starts and runs reliably at all elevations (remember I live at 10,082 feet and we camp higher than here often).
Is there any benefit to me removing that foil hose as well? Or should I leave it be?

 

[Idahojolson]

Thanks Stan!

 

[Idahojolson]

Spent the weekend in cold temps and snow and at 7000 feet. Took foil hose off and heater worked great the whole time. Two full days and a whole night of use. Used an entire 10 gallons of propane. Experiment a success. Just FYI.

 

[eav]

Yep we took the foil hose off too and the heater works fine after a few cold trips when it wouldn't ignite. We also stuck a silicon jar cover over the heater vent on the outside to prevent debris and dust from getting inside. We take it off before we fire up the heater. We also light the stove first before the heater to ensure an adequate propane flow. We also make the sign of the cross over the thermostat, just to cover all contingencies.

 

[PaulT]

Look at these, https://www.etrailer.com/Accessories-and-Parts/Camco/CAM42140.html
I have one on my furnace exhaust and another water heater exhaust. Keeps insects and spider webs at bay.

Be patient installing the springs. They are a bit of a pain to get hooked up. A tarp on the ground helps finding a spring if you’re not patient.
Not that I was impatient or fumble fingered when I did mine, you understand.
Paul

 

[BigRanchInSky]

I'm back to 100% reliability. (I hope)

Stan (or someone @FWPC) sent me a new furnace faceplate (I had reached out to them last fall re: heater not working). It moves the round venting part over just a bit (so the round part of the faceplate is slightly more aligned with inner round part where hot air exits heater), but it's not exact at all.

I took off the old furnace faceplate, along with the foil tubing and put back on only the new face plate, no foil tubing. Went camping 3 days...furnace ran like a charm and it was in the 30's at night (no water in the camper yet). My belief is that the foil tubing hampers the furnace.

Is there any reason to use the foil tubing? Am I missing something? Since the inside of my camper is about the size a large phone booth I don't think directing the air mean much...and I'd rather have the heater work than not! I don't think the new faceplate did much, I DO think taking the foil tubing off helped tremendously though.

My motto: nix the tubing, live in heat!

 

[JimBow]

I recently had a problem with the furnace not lighting in my 2017 Fleet.. This was in snowy below zero temp weather at 6500 feet. It randomly started working. I thought maybe some snow blew into the exhaust vent and caused the furnace not to light. I have no idea.

One thing I learned is to always carry a sleeping bag rated for the outside temps you'll be in and not to depend on that furnace. I want to look into a wood burning stove to use inside the camper. I don't know if it's possible.

 

[ri-f]

I recently had a problem with the furnace not lighting in my 2017 Fleet.. This was in snowy below zero temp weather at 6500 feet. It randomly started working. I thought maybe some snow blew into the exhaust vent and caused the furnace not to light. I have no idea.

One thing I learned is to always carry a sleeping bag rated for the outside temps you'll be in and not to depend on that furnace. I want to look into a wood burning stove to use inside the camper. I don't know if it's possible.

Would suggest a Wave 3 or Wave 6 propane heater as a supplement and/or redundant backup to your existing furnace, hooked up to a seperate tank with its own hose and fittings. It's a relatively simple install. I installed a Wave 3 in my Hawk (along sid the furnace) and found it reliable, clean, silent and efficient. I used it as my primary heater now, with the furnace for a quick warm up and then shut it off and let the Wave maintain an even heat once the cabin is warmed up and the furnace is shut off. And if you crack both a turnbuckle vent and roof vent or upper window a bit, it won't generate any more condensation than the furnace, at least that's been true for me. I think you could install a small wood stove or pellet stove but it will generate plenty of soot and ash and require a lot of vigilence and careful maintenance in a pop-up camper. You'd also have to cut a large hole through a sde wall and run a long pipe up the exterior to get decent air flow. I don't think on a pop-up this makes a lot of sense. If it were a hard-sided camper that didn't pop up it would be a viable idea, especially if you typically camped in forests with plenty of fuel waiting to be picked up off the ground.

Rich