Montana Furnace/Heat Pump

[VBraun]

We have a 2017 Montana High Country that has both a furnace and a heat pump. We are mountain camping, and can get the heat pump to work, but cannot get the furnace to light. Our service guy said that we needed to set the thermostat on Automatic, and page down until the furnace setting is lit,then increase the temp until the furnace kicks on. We have tried this over and over. No luck. No fan, no ignition. In fact, the heat pump comes on when the thermostat is set on Furnace and also when it is set on heat pump. Any ideas?

[Loneoak]

I cannot help you as we have only had ours since April. I have no idea how the heat pump works, we have used the a/c a couple of times. There was no manual with the a/c or heat pump. If anyone knows where I can get a manual, I would appreciate it. It's hard to look online if you don't know the model number.

[VBraun]

Know what you mean. Montana has manuals on line, but if you don't have good and fast wifi, they are useless. This is one time I wish for paper. Thanks for the reply. I'll keep trying and if I find an answer, will post.

[DQDick]

Are you sure you're getting gas to the furnace? Also do you only have one heat pump. We have heat pumps on both AC units so one thermostat has both a heat pump and furnace setting and the other has only a heat pump setting. There was no indication that this rig had two heat pumps until I turned the extra one on by accident.

[VBraun]

I was going to look to see if there was an extra valve on the gas line to the furnace. We only have heat pump on the thermostat in living room, but I think the a/c comes on in the bedroom when we turn the bedroom thermostat on on furnace. Since the fan never comes on when the living room thermostat is set on furnace, I think there must be a wiring problem.

[Peter1965]

That is the opposite of my HC. The thermostat in the bedroom has the heat pump and the one in the Kitchen/Living room does not. Fortunately I haven't come across the furnace issue. Yes, manuals would be very nice.

[VBraun]

Thank you for the reply. Looks like we will just have to take the rig into the dealer and let them work the problem until they get it fixed.

[MARK A]

Originally Posted by VBraun

Thank you for the reply. Looks like we will just have to take the rig into the dealer and let them work the problem until they get it fixed.

If you are dry camping with no shorepower or generator your heat pump is unavailable. Turn on your thermostat, turn off zone 1&2. Set fan to high, toggle through mode until the word furnace pops up. Then select your temp with the up down button. If the furnace won't light look in the fuse panel for a burned fuse. There will be an LED lit by the burned fuse.

Mark

[Jamesb]

VBraun ... We just got our HC, and played with the heat pump and furnace yesterday inside our rv building with shore power plugged in. It does exactly what yours did. I just gave up and thought I should go educate myself a little more. I’ll have to look online I guess, no manuals.

[gulfcoastbeachbum]

if you have 2 thermostats the rear one works the heat pump only ! try setting the front thermostat to auto fan the set it furnace then to the room temp you want around 74deg
the fan will come on first then the gas furnace!

you will hear it light, if it lights and shuts off you my have to clean the burner off even if your unit is new they get rusty ! this takes about a 1/2 hours time to do your self !

[tooth ferry]

You might try the thermostat or furnace mfg customer service. I have had good success getting help from most of the suppliers when I need info. They will usually stay on the phone and try to walk you through fixes.

[scottz]

Sounds like there are several different set ups. Mine has the heat pump option on the rear (living area) AC only. When I toggle through the modes this is what I see:

Rear (living) unit
Off
Fan control (Auto, High, Low)
Cool (set temperature)
Furnace (set temperature)
Heat Pump (set temperature)
Off

Front (bedroom) unit
Off
Fan control (Auto, High, Low)
Cool (set temperature)
Furnace (set temperature)
Off

Here is another question. If I select furnace on the front thermostat, how is the heated air directed to the bedroom and not to the living area? Are there zone controls in the ducting (somehow I doubt this)? I have not actually tested it; maybe if either thermostat calls for furnace heat, it comes out everywhere.

PS: I found out by accident how to get the thermostat to display room temperature. It must be in the "off" mode, hit both up and down arrow at the same time. Seems odd you have to turn the unit off to find out room temperature, but that is how mine works.

[joe direnzi]

Hey Scott,our3721rl forward t stat only controls the fwd a/c.The rear t stat controls the rear a/c,heat and heat pump. You cannot control the heat from the fwd t stat.

[joe direnzi]

Or should I say we cannot control the heat from our fwd t stat the ductwork for the furnace throughout the unit is controlled by the rear t stat.I hope this helps.

[scottz]

Originally Posted by joe direnzi

Hey Scott,our3721rl forward t stat only controls the fwd a/c.The rear t stat controls the rear a/c,heat and heat pump. You cannot control the heat from the fwd t stat.

Both of my thermostats have a "furnace" position. Probably just controls in parallel; either can turn the furnace on, but it heats the whole trailer. Just trying to figure out how it works. I'll do some testing.

[mtlakejim]

Originally Posted by scottz

Sounds like there are several different set ups. Mine has the heat pump option on the rear (living area) AC only. When I toggle through the modes this is what I see:

Rear (living) unit
Off
Fan control (Auto, High, Low)
Cool (set temperature)
Furnace (set temperature)
Heat Pump (set temperature)
Off

Front (bedroom) unit
Off
Fan control (Auto, High, Low)
Cool (set temperature)
Furnace (set temperature)
Off

Here is another question. If I select furnace on the front thermostat, how is the heated air directed to the bedroom and not to the living area? Are there zone controls in the ducting (somehow I doubt this)? I have not actually tested it; maybe if either thermostat calls for furnace heat, it comes out everywhere.

PS: I found out by accident how to get the thermostat to display room temperature. It must be in the "off" mode, hit both up and down arrow at the same time. Seems odd you have to turn the unit off to find out room temperature, but that is how mine works.

I think Scott has hit on the issue here. Some of us have the bedroom in the rear and some have the bedroom in the front. So perhaps it is better to identify the thermostats as living room or bedroom rather than front and back?

On a related note, isn't all the ducting connected? As in the thermostats control the roof units but the ducting is connected all the way thru? I know that when my living room unit is running most of the air flows thru those vents but I get some air flow thru the bedroom vents (I would say about a 1/4 of what I get thru the vents right at the unit). And related to that I have heard that those vents have a bad habit of collapsing so that might answer why there is such a significant difference in air volume?

[scottz]

Ok, I tested it. Even though the bedroom (front) thermostat has a "furnace" mode, it does nothing. I was thinking it might be programmed wrong, but found this in the "user guide"; so, perhaps not. Need a better manual.

[Peter1965]

Very Strange. It doesn't seem they consistently put the heat pump in the same place. Mine is in the bedroom, which is the rear of the trailer. I have still never tried using the heat pump but my furnace works just fine.

[BuilderBob]

It is in the bigger of the two A\C units witch the rear is the bigger of the two.

[Peter1965]

That makes some sense