Hi Guys,
Fall is the time of year when I ask my furnace for a quick warm up on
cold mornings before lighting the catalytic heater. Because the
furnace worked normally last Spring, I thought it would be an easy
check-off before we head south. Right? Wrong! The air blower started
up immediately - but no heat. Our Airstream ('89 32') has a Suburban
furnace and I have the Airstream factory manual.
Even though I think of myself a quick study when it comes to figuring
out solutions to new problems, the diagnosing and repairing of a
furnace is one appliance where I "outsource" the job. Over the years,
I've learned which technicians at which RV Service Centers know less
than I know, more than I know and which ones know a whole lot more
than I know. For the furnace, I chose one of the latter.
Northway Travel Trailers (518.899.2526)in Malta, NY has been one of
my favorite Service Centers. They are an ex-Airstream dealership and
have two technicians (Reno & Pat) with extensive experience and
strong skills for diagnosing and repairing anything associated with
RVs. Their seasoned parts man (John) has saved my bacon more than
once. And, I've always felt the owner (Paul) was honest, fair and
reasonable.
Early this morning (10/05/07), I arrived for my appointment at
Northway with the Airstream in tow. Pat drew the short straw for
repairing my furnace and began by removing the furnace face plate. He
put me in charge of turning the thermostat on and off as he did the
testing.
The Electrode Igniter could be heard attempting to fire up the
furnace - but no flame. Pat removed the Igniter from the furnace
(with wires attached), laid it on the floor and had me turn on the
thermostat again. The igniter lit up with a strong spark - but the
spark was occurring between the ceramic posts - not out at the three
wire tips where it's supposed to light up (next to the burner). Pat
showed me the burn marks on the igniter where it had been shorting
out. Bingo!
Two minutes later, John found the exact part in stock (#0231168 for
NT 25, 30, 35 K) and Pat installed it. We tested the furnace twice
and it worked both times. I paid the bill ($28.49 Igniter + $24.00
labor), thanked Pat and chided Reno because he missed out on a simple
fix. I was good to go. Entire job took 18 minutes. Not too shabby.
Tonight (a few minutes ago), I checked the furnace again and it still
blows hot air. My Day Timer has a star on this day.
There's a happy camper at our house tonight,
Terry