figures... that's how our luck goes

[marandjwr]

preface: we bought our 2012 36FL in Boise, ID last January... drove up there from CO and it was the coldest in Boise in 30 years for nearly a week... thankfully the dealer allowed us to hook up to their electric until the roads were safe for us to travel back.

Fast forward to this week: Scheduled our inspection at the service center... for today Jan 6th. traveled from PA on Saturday, between storms, to Topeka... haha coldest temps in 30 years and the service center is closed because of the weather! Thankfully we anticipated the snow/blizzard conditions and are staying in a motel. Just our luck

[mhs4771]

Is there some major work you're having done that required a return to the Service Center?? Annual inspection can be done any number of places.

[marandjwr]

yes, we know...sort of major, rear window leaks and other minor issues but since we live in it fulltime for work, we didn't want a dealer to have it for weeks or more waiting on parts... at the service center, they get the parts ahead of time and in a much shorter time frame and would only have it for days and we were close. If we were in TX or CO we would have the inspection done by a dealer.

[marandjwr]

have returned from the service center after checking on the FL... filled propane to have enough on hand, bled it off at the stove top but now the furnace won't ignite and blower starts but furnace won't fire, it's windchill -28. Slides are in, kitchen drawers are out, fierplace is on, ceiling fan on to aide circulation, one heater in the kitchen one in the bathroom... hope it works... we are in a motel.

[Dave&Ginny]

When it gets this cold the LP can freeze at the valve. I put a heating pad on the valve to help prevent this. Also after having you tanks filled, open the valves slowly. Otherwise, the safety valve will stop the flow of LP.

[Adamsvr]

Originally Posted by marandjwr

have returned from the service center after checking on the FL... filled propane to have enough on hand, bled it off at the stove top but now the furnace won't ignite and blower starts but furnace won't fire, it's windchill -28. Slides are in, kitchen drawers are out, fierplace is on, ceiling fan on to aide circulation, one heater in the kitchen one in the bathroom... hope it works... we are in a motel.

Agree with what Dave said. You also might want to turn down the fireplace as it sometimes fools the thermostat into recirculating the warm ambient air and not ignighting the furnace.

[marandjwr]

the fireplace wasn't on until after the furnace wouldn't fire... fireplace and heaters were placed to hopefully prevent freeze up.
so can we close the tank, warm it up and open slowly now that it has potentially frozen?

[Adamsvr]

Originally Posted by marandjwr

the fireplace wasn't on until after the furnace wouldn't fire... fireplace and heaters were placed to hopefully prevent freeze up.
so can we close the tank, warm it up and open slowly now that it has potentially frozen?

Something else to consider is you might have a bad pigtail to your tanks or a faulty regulator. One way to confirm this is to try lighting two burners on your stove.

[Dave&Ginny]

I would select the tank you want to draw LP from and warm up that valve. Like I said I used a heating pad on mine. You can buy large LP heating pads on the internet to be used in very cold conditions. You can also try taking that one tank inside and letting it warm up and then when you reconnect the tank, open the valve slowly. To check the tank after your reconection, fire up the stove top. This will also help bleed the air out of the line.

I realize that the government came up with this safety valve to help people but I've learn to hate working with them.

[Tobys Home]

We've found it takes longer to purge the heater and fridge lines even with the stove bleed. The heater however has a very short cycle and shuts the flow down until it cycles down, sits for an unspecified time and re-fires. Ours takes many tries before finally getting back to normal operation. We hope one of these many tips works. The SEVERE cold is not a RVers friend.

[KWire]

I'm not sure the furnace in your Redwood is the same, but some of the ones in RV's shut down after failing to light 3 times. To reset it you need to turn off the power, then try again....

Keith

[hoosierguy]

I had an issue back in December with on the master control regulator not allowing LP to pass through from one tank. Finally resolved the issue by the following process:
SET THERMOSTAT CONTROL FOR FURNACE TO OFF
1. Disconnected both tanks.
2. Opened the kitchen stove controls so that all pressure went to zero then close controls.
3. Turned the master regulator control back and forth several times.
4. Re-connected both tanks.
5. Slowly open the tank valves.
6. Go to stove and open and light one burner at a time until all three burners are on.
7. Turn off burners.
8. Try to operate the water heater on LP by igniting the burner.
9. Set thermostat control to furnace or heat on.
This procedure worked to resolve the issue that I had. I hope it helps for you.

I should also say that this was a procedure that was proposed by "Mr. Bankdude" on the other Redwood forum.

[Dave&Ginny]

I agree with Guy and you might also try priming the furnace. You do this by turning on the furnace and turning it off in a few seconds. Do this 3 or 4 times.

[atom ant]

Originally Posted by hoosierguy

I had an issue back in December with on the master control regulator not allowing LP to pass through from one tank. Finally resolved the issue by the following process:
SET THERMOSTAT CONTROL FOR FURNACE TO OFF
1. Disconnected both tanks.
2. Opened the kitchen stove controls so that all pressure went to zero then close controls.
3. Turned the master regulator control back and forth several times.
4. Re-connected both tanks.
5. Slowly open the tank valves.
6. Go to stove and open and light one burner at a time until all three burners are on.
7. Turn off burners.
8. Try to operate the water heater on LP by igniting the burner.
9. Set thermostat control to furnace or heat on.
This procedure worked to resolve the issue that I had. I hope it helps for you.

I should also say that this was a procedure that was proposed by "Mr. Bankdude" on the other Redwood forum.

Definitely something you want to try BEFORE the adult refreshments start . A couple of Wyoming Whiskeys sterilizing ice cubes and I could really mess that procedure up.

[marandjwr]

got it working yesterday... but lines were frozen with icicles hanging on the faucets. Service center is closed today also.... I am just sick sick sick!

[Dave&Ginny]

You still might be ok. Did you pump the antifreeze into the lines? if not at least remove the water filter because that's the first thing that going to break.

[marandjwr]

no, didn't antifreeze the lines BECAUSE we got here Sunday afternoon and it was SUPPOSED to be indoors at 7am Monday. We don't use the whole house water filter because it's a pain in the a$$ to change in the FL... didn't expect that the furnace would quite... my bad!

[Dave&Ginny]

There use to be a cell phone that one of the service techs carried home with them for emergencies. Have you tried calling that number? I'm not sure if they still use it.

[Adamsvr]

Originally Posted by marandjwr

no, didn't antifreeze the lines BECAUSE we got here Sunday afternoon and it was SUPPOSED to be indoors at 7am Monday. We don't use the whole house water filter because it's a pain in the a$$ to change in the FL... didn't expect that the furnace would quite... my bad!

To make it easier, disconnect your water hose, do not turn on the water pump, and then run your blue outside water hose to relieve the pressure, open the small door to the water filter and turn the blue canister. It should be realitively easy to turn then.

[marandjwr]

it's a pain to change because the access door is at the back of the basement, you have to take nearly everything out and such a small opening to be changing monthly... we are living in it in PA, the well water is high in sulfur.