NT16-SE Furnace

[Javw618]

I have this furnace in my camper and the power surges & browns out when trying to ignite. It's a 2004 & original to the camper. No I do not have it hooked to a battery. Why is it doing this when worked fine last fall

 

[ntsqd]

Sounds like you now have a resistance somewhere in the wiring. If that is the case, corrosion is the likely cause of the problem.

 

[craig333]

Not hooked up to a battery? Can you elaborate on that?

 

[Javw618]

Craig. I was at a camp ground & hooked into their power

 

[Wandering Sagebrush]

First, welcome to WTW!

Was your battery switch on, so the battery was being charged while you were on “shore power”? I wonder if your battery is dead/dying, and taking most of the power coming out of your converter.

BTW, what kind of a camper, year?

 

[Javw618]

Thank you. I have not had a battery hooked up in 3 years. But have used the furnace numerous times without a problem. I'll buy a new furnace if needed but was hoping it would be an easy fix. It's out of a 2004 Jayco 10x

 

[Wandering Sagebrush]

I’m thinking that NTSQD, identified the issue.

 

[craig333]

Start here. http://www.bdub.net/manuals/Suburban_Service_Manual.pdf

 

[ardvark]

Don't buy a new furnace. This one is fixable. Since you are describing a surge you know you have a power issue so your first step is to determine whether you have a power converter issue or a furnace issue. Since a furnace is the power pig in most campers of all persuasions, you most often will not see a failing converter issue in other systems as it starts to evolve.

So if I were doing a service call on this furnace the first thing I would do is verify the voltage since that is simple. If you don't have multimeter, hook up a battery or booster box. if it runs on a battery, the problem is your power converter is failing so your focus it there. If you power supply is stable I would suspect your blower motor is failing and drawing too much power. All of the troubleshooting is in the manual, but the first steps are really basic and if you have to get into the furnace, the actual repair is not hard and much much cheaper than buying new. Diagnose rather than try to throw parts at it.

Ardvark

 

[DanoT]

One thing to consider is that a 16 year old furnace could be nearing the end of its useful life. So the combustion chamber could be near rusting or burning out, or the fan bearing ready to go, etc.

 

[ntsqd]

Something in our old camper's first furnace went bad. I don't recall the cost of part (or what it was), but since we were putting in a new fridge and a new stove I just bought a new furnace too. The '16' is the smaller furnace, there is a '19' that is the same physical size. The '16' and '19' refer to how many BTU's they can produce. I went with a 19. If they'd have made a '21' in the same size I'd have gone with it instead.

 

[ardvark]

Fan blade mounts on motor shaft. It could be motor, however hooking power to it may indicate there is nothing the matter with the furnace. If it is a converter going south putting in a new furnace will not fix the problem.

Steve