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Old 12-25-2022, 09:29 AM   #1
Mark W.
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Furnace Question

I have a 2020 Montana High Country 331 RL.
The thermostat for the central air on the wall has an Electric & Gas Selection when "Heat" is chosen. I wanted to let the heater run for the duration of this Arctic Blast, but I didn't want to run it on gas as the trailer is always plugged in. The thermostat would not let me just select "Electric", but it WOULD let me select "Gas" or Gas/Electric" which I didn't want. So, I left it with both Gas & Electric selected and turned both propane bottles off so as not to waste the gas. I could actually hear the gas burner burning when I turned the tanks off. All seemed fine and it was warm in the camper when I went to bed. Sometime during the night, we had a power outage for about an hour and a half. I have a Technology Research Corp 34951 Surge Guard 50A Portable Wireless Surge Guard with Automatic reset on power restoration, a 10 second countdown startup sequence, and a 128 second reset delay that protects A/C compressor plugged in at the wall. I did not check on the camper the next morning, but my wife did sometime that afternoon and it was 31 degrees in the camper and the fan was not running. My question is, how or why can't I just run electric or is there a problem maybe? I checked all of the breakers and they were good and none of the red lights on the fuses were on. I took out the black fuse for the furnace which caused the light to come on, so I put it back in. I also checked the battery as it was dead last month for some reason even though it is always plugged in when I am home. I put the battery charge on it for a full 24 hours. I checked the battery, and it shows good and when I put the load tester on it, it shows "Weak" Any ideas? Sorry this was so long, but I wanted to give as much information as I could. Thanks in advance.
 
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Old 12-25-2022, 10:55 AM   #2
Daryles
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I don't know about your heat electric/gas. I have a Dometic system. I know Keystone switched over to Coleman and I believe they can switch themselves from heat pump to furnace when temperatures get too low for the heat pump.
BTW, your heat pump (electric) will not work when temperatures get down to about 40⁰F.
That could be why its automatically kicking on the furnace. The furnace does put heat into your underbelly which helps prevent pipes and dump valves from freezing.

For the battery charging:
Carl wrote the perfect troubleshooting chart.
https://www.montanaowners.com/forums...ad.php?t=86323
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Old 12-25-2022, 11:29 AM   #3
DutchmenSport
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Daryles has it right. Unless you had something specially installed on your furnace that has an electric option, when on "heat" you have either your furnace running (gas) or your heat pump (electric) which runs via the air conditioner unit.

If you happen to have a mini-split system in your camper, then that throws you into a different quandary.

As stated above, the heat pump will stop producing heat at around 45 - 40 degrees. Mine stops blowing warm at 45. By the time outside temperature reaches 40, it blows nothing but cold.

Your furnace must run and blow air to heat your underbelly and basement to keep water lines and tanks from freezing up. The heat pump (air air conditioner) does not blow under the floor. If you are using electric only for heat, you do run a great risk of pipes and tanks freezing, unless you have completely winterized everything.

Based on your description, it sounds like your batteries are failing. The easiest way to detect if your batteries are not holding a charge is to simply unplug from shore power and turn on a couple house lights. If the lights dim down, your battery is low. Plug back into shore power, and if they brighten up again, they are actually running off the converter.

Another thing, unplug from shore power for a short while. Turn on your house lights, along with any other battery run device. Now, how long does it take for the lights to dim down. If it takes a very short while, your batteries are not holding a charge or charging fully any more. As soon as you plug back into shore power, everything should brighten back up.

This exercise also tell you if your converter is actually working ... without using any special testers, electronics, or anything. Simply put, if the batteries are showing fully charged and then a few minutes later there is a noticeable discharge, your batteries are simply failing.

One more test you can do, is to simply disconnect the battery terminals and use a volt meter and make sure the converter is actually charging. Check at the cables that actually connect to the battery. This will tell you immediately that the batteries are failing and the converter is actually charging.

As long as the converter is running, you'll be OK until you can get the batteries replaced, as long as you don't need to use the leveling system, or slides, which does require the battery as the load demand is too much for the converter alone.

One more thing you might try. Unplug from the EMS and plug directly into the shore power supply. See if all the electronics in the camper start working again properly. This way you can rule out if the EMS is failing for some reason too.
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Old 12-25-2022, 12:05 PM   #4
jsb5717
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Welcome aboard! You've received good input. You might get some satisfaction out of your fireplace while plugged in to shore power, but not enough to heat the whole rig when temps are that low. The gas furnace is likely your only viable option since the heat pump won't help you below the typical 40 deg threshold.

I also agree that it sounds like your batteries are failing. You could remove them and have them load tested just to be sure.
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Old 12-26-2022, 04:26 AM   #5
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Great advice above. I would add that it sounds like your batteries may not be charging on shore power. Make sure that the red key in the convenience center is turned such that it cannot be removed. You can also test voltage at the battery while plugged in. Voltage should be well above 13 vdc if the converter is charging the batteries.
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Old 12-26-2022, 10:12 AM   #6
Mark W.
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Hey guys, thank you so much!! That explains it. Temps were down into the teens and twenties so that explains why the electric heat was turning off. I didn't winterize, but i did open all of the drains and faucets and blew air through the lines until they ran clear. I've done that before and didn't have any problems..It's finally warming up so I will do the battery testing...Thanks again everybody and Merry Christmas!!
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