question about Hydro Flame Furnace

[sp]

Hi All,

Friends of ours just bought an 89 Wilderness TT and I was going thru it with them and found an issue with the furnace. It looks like an older version of Atwoods, Hydro Flame Everest Star II. This one just says Hydro Flame Corp Everest Star 79/80 series. It has a manual pilot start but I can't tell if it lit or not. It doesn't seem to have a peek window to check so I can't see the spark from the ignitor or the pilot itself. The blower is running well, as well is the duo therm I rebuilt awhile back, so the valve should be opening ok. I guess I could take off the outer plate that has the ignitor attached to the back of it and then pull the pilot assembly but I thought I'd ask first for any tricks of the trade.

Thanks for any help you can give,
Steve

 

[Krazeehorse]

question about Hydro Flame Furnace

So you turned the thermostat all the way up and didn't get any heat?

 

[sp]

question about Hydro Flame Furnace

I turned on the thermostat and slid it up to 80 degrees to start the blower motor. I then tried to light the pilot with the blower still running, per the furnaces instructions. I couldn't tell if the pilot lit because you can't see it (pilot assymbly).

Steve

 

[sp]

question about Hydro Flame Furnace

Just pushing this one back to the top.

What, no takers, other than Gary B?? The rig is about an hour away so I'm waiting for it to come to me. I've got from now till the fourth to get my ducks in a row.

Thanks,
sp

 

[Kirk]

question about Hydro Flame Furnace

Are you saying that this furnace has an electric ignitor and a pilot? If so it is a new one on me. It sounds to me as though you have a direct ignition model (DSI). These do not have any pilot. The furnaces or water heaters that use a pilot, have a position ofn the control valve for the lighting of the pilot, where you press the knob in and hold it while the pilot is being lighted. It sounds to me as though this one has no pilot. But I have not seen all of the different furnaces around, so I'm not sure.

Tell me more about this process of lighting the pilot? What does the owner's manual say about it? Also, have you visited the Atwood site on the net? They have some tech. help there that might be useful.

 

[sp]

question about Hydro Flame Furnace

Kirk,

No, the ignitor i was speaking about is the push button,piezzo(sp) style. It is about 2 1/2" long and a rectangular shape. The wire part goes through the "fire wall" next to the pilot assembly. It is not a DSI, it has the turn and push knob like you described.

The manual states as I described in my first post, leave the blower on while lighting, which makes no sence to me or Gary B because you would think it would blow it out before it had a chance to light. The big problem is, I can't see anything. At least with the Duo Therm or the Atwood water heater you can see what is gong on in front of you but not this baby.

I'm not sure if it is an Atwood, it just looks like one of their old models. I'll check. Do you have the web address??

Thanks for checking out my post.
sp

 

[mtwallet]

question about Hydro Flame Furnace

Hi SP
I hope this will help. I had the same problem with my furnace in
my mh. The blower has to be running prior to the gas valve opening.
In the blower there is what they call a sails switch, it's a safety device. With the blower running the sails switch makes contact, which
in turn tells the valve it's ok to open. It has to do with venting of
the gas fumes. I had to install a new switch.
I'm not sure this is your problem, but it's something to check out.
GOOD LUCK.

 

[sp]

question about Hydro Flame Furnace

MTW,
Thanks for the info. I'll have to check it out next week. How did you know when the pilot was lit or not? Did you replace the switch yourself?

Steve

 

[Ed H.]

question about Hydro Flame Furnace

Just a quick addition to mtwallet's suggestion, if the fan motor isn't reaching full speed or the vent passages are blocked (even partially), the sail switch will not make contact. Sometimes when electric motors sit for long periods, the bearings get kind of stiff and need to be excercised and/or lubricated. Just something to check before buying parts.