Furnace wont ignite

[Flastro]

Hi All , our 2004 3295 furnace has been acting up, flip the thermostat to furnace, and nothing happens, push it one level lower (its not marked there) The furnace fan comes on and blows air, but it wont ignite and heat, Gas lines have been purged of air, all of the other gas appliances work.
My brother in law is using the unit and has decribed what the issues have been, He has pulled all fuses and checked, fliped all breakers. so far, the same results.
The strange thing is the thermostat issue , Its marked OFF, Cool,Furnace and then one other position blank, and he tells me nothing happens in the furnace position (no matter where temp is set) but the one position below the blower fan runs....? Its all standard Montana issue, factory hard wired thermostat...any suggestions? Thanks!

[SlickWillie]

You might try switching propane tanks. We had a issue with ours, and the other things on propane worked good. Apparently the furnace is a gas guzzler. I finally thought about the fact the tanks had just switched. I refilled the empty bottle, switched back to it, and everything is fine. We can tell a difference in the heat the furnace puts out also. It would occasionally fire up on the secondary bottle, but would not stay on for a complete cycle. I intend to check the regulator on the secondary bottle as soon as our weather gets better. BTW, the furnace has a built in delay also, so it is not going to come on as soon as you switch the thermostat.

[racerjoe]

for some reason, these furnaces do not like low propane tanks. ours did the same thing,when tank gets close to empty it will not run the furnace but all other things work. make sure your tank is at least 1/3 full, the auto switch over system does not help,because your tank is not empty,so when you think it is getting low at night,before turning in switch over to your full tank. It's a pain,but I have not heard of a cure yet.

[Ozz]

Friends here in the park called one morning; no heat, changed the bottle, still 'nuttin.
I had them unhook the full propane bottle they switched to, turn all propane usage off, then light one burner on the stove, then the rest. Then I had them turn on the furnace.... It came on. All is cozy now.
Keep this in your bag of tricks.

[syplace]

Hi, Our 2005 3295 RK went out on us 3 days ago. Blew cold air, but no heat. So called local RV Service. To get at get it the instructions say remove 2 screws to remove the front. But it didn't say anything about the 30 staples! To make a long story short, he cleaned the furnace and put in a new circut breaker (of course made in China) 4 hrs later and $300 the unit works fine. Still as noisey as ever.

[OntMont]

There are safety devices built into the propane system that can cause difficulty by restricting the flow. Ozz's procedure should correct that, but always open the tank valves very slowly, so as not to activate the excess flow valves that are built in to the system.

If you have an '04 model, it probably has the analog thermostat. If it is acting up, they are easily replaced, either with the same (not very good) RV one, or a (much better) household digital thermostat.

[richfaa]

As John says...tOpen the valves slowly seems to be something we need to etch into our memory of write in large letters in the propane compartment.

[Flastro]

I will try all of your suggestions....I really appreciate the help!!! Ill call my brother in law and attempt to walk him through it, he has the Montana down in Punta Gorda right now, fortuantly its not as cold there as it is here in St Augustine

[markwick]

Sometimes it is something as simple as a bit of a restriction or a kink in the hose coming out of the tank. I had this happen to me, everything else worked except the furnace. The furnace requires more flow than any of the other appliances.