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Hurricane Heater Electrical Question - Almost There....

Yahoo Message Number: 110030
We purchased 2003 Country Coach Lexa last month and are working through some typical things one would expect when buying a 14 year old high end coach (which by the way we REALLY like).

I've been working on the hurricane heater over the past 2 weeks as I was getting flame outs and or no flame at all in the burnet. Replaced a bad fuel pump as well as installed a new diaphragm in the fuel regulator. However, was still getting flameout. After validating that the hurricane would run fine if I used a external 5 gallon gas can, it was apparent I had bad fuel lines which was letting air in the line. Sure enough when I opened up the roof panels of the bay compartments I could see where the fuel lines enter into the top of the main gas tank. Over time, the fuel lines/hoses (which were bent at a 90 degree angle) were cracked and air was entering the fuel line as well as fuel was literally spraying out of the cracked areas when I was attempting to operate the heater. Hence getting a flame out condition. (thankful that ITR developed the hurricane heater to shut down when air is detected in the line)

Once I corrected the bad fuel line sections that required repair, the hurricane heater fired and cycled as it was designed. This led me to the next issue... First, the Furnace mode was not showing up on my 5 button interior thermostat controller. I read some posts and determined I needed to go up on the roof to validate that the Furnace dip switch was indeed set to 'on' within the dip-switch board located on my middle roof air conditioner unit. It was actually set to 'off'. Once I flipped the dip switch to 'on' for the Furnace, the Furnace display mode successfully appeared on the thermostat digital display on the controller.

I thought I was in the home stretch.... However, at the present, the hurricane heater is not sensing a call for heat even though I set the internal thermostat to 99 degrees in the Furnace mode. I'm thinking either the thermostat needs to be reprogrammed now that the Furnace dip switch was activated, OR, the wiring running between the hurricane heater and the roof air unit and/or the interior thermostat control unit is hosed up.....

Any thoughts? I feel like I am so close.. I used a small wire jumper to connect Tc with T2 and then T3 on the hurricane heater circuit board and low and behold I got heat out the the corresponding heat registers. Does it seem like a simple thermostat programming issue, or do you think it's a wiring issue between the three sources I mentioned? (Hurricane heater, roof air conditioner, thermostat) I believe they are all connected with a telephone like cord...

Thanks for any help or insight you can share.

David

2003 Lexa # 6254

Re: Hurricane Heater Electrical Question - Almost There....

Reply #1 –
Yahoo Message Number: 110032
Hi David,

You certainly have been aggressive on your troubleshooting, and methodical. You may know this, and are doing this, but all heating zones need to be on "furnace." I found if any zone is on any other mode, this system will not heat.

Fred

Re: Hurricane Heater Electrical Question - Almost There....

Reply #2 –
Yahoo Message Number: 110033
Don't know if this helps or not, but I recently had work done on my roof a/c. One of them went out and the main thermostat for them was old and causing problems. Because my coach was so old when I replaced one a/c all of the controllers on each a/c had to be replaced with the thermostat. Once installed heat pump and a/c functions were fine.
When I went to use my diesel heater I couldn't see it on the thermostat anymore. The dip switches on the new control boards wasn't setup right as part of the install. The location for control had changed as well from my rear and fwd position to just my forward control board on my roof a/c. Reflected on the thermostat as well, as zone 1. I only found this issue (diesel heater inop) after the technician left when I tested everything out to make sure it all worked right.
Moving the dip switches on the right control board got it all working right again.

Hope this helps (I have 3 Zones for a/c).

Alex Ritchey 2000 CC Affinity B&B 42" 5773.

Re: Hurricane Heater Electrical Question - Almost There....

Reply #3 –
Yahoo Message Number: 110035
Very interesting, Alex. When I initially went up onto the roof, I checked the front AC unit which didn't have a control board with dip switches on it. I then moved my way back to the middle roof AC and indeed found the control board with dip switches on it. However, the furnace dip switch was not in the 'On' position. Once I switched it on, I did see 'Furnace' appear on my interior thermostat controller. That said, I now remember the previous owner indicating that he recently replaced the rear roof AC. Maybe that rear AC unit also has a control board with dip switches where I need to validate if the installer set the Furnace dip switch to the 'ON' position. (Let's hope in fact the rear roof AC has a control board with dip switches) Fingers Crossed!!!

Thanks for the help guys!

David

Re: Hurricane Heater Electrical Question - Almost There....

Reply #4 –
Yahoo Message Number: 110043
Hi again, Alex

Did you say that only 1 of your 3 roof air control boards have the dip switch for Furnace set to On? I went back on the roof tonight and the rear AC unit (the new one) didn't have the Furnace dip switch On. When I switched the dip switch to On, I heard the hurricane heater cycle and would you believe it fired up!, I went inside the coach and the bedroom heat exchanger as well as the bathroom exchanger/fan turned on..... Nothing as of yet from the galley or front of Coach heat exchanger/fans, which I believe are on the same circuit.

I'm wondering if I need to go back up on the roof and actually switch the Furnace dip switch on middle roof AC to off, and simply let the rear roof AC control board talk to the hurricane heater and the interior thermostat... As I stated previously, switching the Furnace dip switch to On had no effect with regards to activating the hurricane heater nor the heat exchanger fans...

Re: Hurricane Heater Electrical Question - Almost There....

Reply #5 –
Yahoo Message Number: 110048
Well, here is an update. There were no dip switches on the most forward roof AC unit. There were indeed dip switches on my central AC roof unit and on my rear AC roof unit. Initially, when I only had the dip switch for furnace switched on for the middle roof AC unit, I could see furnace on the temperature control pad within the coach, but putting the thermostat on Furnace with a high temperature setting it did not successfully call the hurricane heater for heat in either zone.

I then checked the most rearward roof AC unit for dip switches and found them. I went ahead and activated the furnace dip switch and immediately heard the hurricane heater come on. When I went into the coach, only the rear bedroom and bathroom heat exchanger fan were activated. Nothing was coming from the front or galley heat exchangers. I went back up onto the roof and turned off the furnace switch for the middle roof AC unit and experienced the same outcome.

At least I now have heat in the bedroom and bathroom of the coach.

Interestingly enough on the Lexa, I still haven't figured out how to control the fan speed as it is always on high. Seeing the finish line in front me, I now just need to figure out how to get the front heat exchanger and the galley heat exchanger working, which I believe are on the same zone. It does not seem like the middle roof air air-conditioning unit controlled that front zone, and there are no dip switches on my most forward roof AC unit. As such, I'm at bit of a loss at the moment. A number of you have indicated that I need to have all the dip switches (middle a rear AC units) switched to Furnace mode, but it did not seem to make a difference. My biggest impact was when I activated the furnace dip switch on my rear AC unit. You guys have been fantastic and a great help, I hope to have this project finished up in the very near future. Just in time for summer :-)

David

2003 Country Coach Lexa
6254

Re: Hurricane Heater Electrical Question - Almost There....

Reply #6 –
Yahoo Message Number: 110054
I think your system was upgraded, but never tested. I think the control should be on the front and rear a/c control boards. So you might be fighting a bad setup.

Alex Ritchey CC Affinity 2000

Re: Hurricane Heater Electrical Question - Almost There....

Reply #7 –
Yahoo Message Number: 110055
Right now mine is setup to work on Zone 1 only because of the upgraded thermostat and new a/c control boards. The new thermostat requires new boards on each a/c to work correctly. I would make sure this part was done whether it's an old or newer a/c.

Alex Ritchey

Re: Hurricane Heater Electrical Question - Almost There....

Reply #8 –
Yahoo Message Number: 110060
The guru at CC in the old days told me to always run the Hurricane fans on high and they will last a lot longer.

Rich 2002 Magna

Re: Hurricane Heater Electrical Question - Almost There....

Reply #10 –
Yahoo Message Number: 110066
Well, if that's the only option I have, I suppose I'm glad the Lexa only produces the fan speed mode in the high fan mode..