Atwood Hydro Flame Furnace Won’t Light: Here is why!

Atwood Hydro Flame Furnace Won’t Light: Causes And Solutions

It’s nighttime and the interior of your RV start to get a bit chilly so you decide to fire up the vehicle Atwood furnace. However, after waiting for a while, it seems that no heat come from the outlets. You are camping in a relatively secluded spot far away from civilization and your Atwood hydro flame furnace won’t light, what should you do? While you could reach out to RV repair services, it’s highly unlikely that someone is able to get to you before the next morning. That means if you fail to get the RV furnace back to work, it would get very cold later tonight.

What You Have To Know About Atwood Hydro Flame Furnace

In the case you don’t want to get sick due to low temperatures, this troubleshooting guide is for you. Everything you need to know Atwood hydro flame furnace including working principles, problem symptoms and more are presented downs below. Keep the provided information in mind while you deal with the issue of “Atwood hydro flame furnace won’t light

To understand what has gone wrong with the furnace and carry out appropriate repairs, you need to have to a firm grasp on its operation. For most of the time, once you set the thermostat, the blower motor and the control circuit board of the furnace would kick into action. While the blower motor and fans produce an air stream, the control circuit board would open the gas valve and make the igniter generate sparks. After that, the burner ignites and heat would steadily accumulate in the furnace combustion chamber. The air stream that circulates through the outlets would be warmed by the heat until the set temperature is reached.

Base on the furnace working principle, there are some places you have to check while tackling the “Atwood hydro flame furnace won’t light” issue.

  • The vehicle battery
  • The control circuit board
  • The propane gas valve
  • The igniter
  • The connections

Atwood Hydro Flame Furnace Won’t Light

Troubleshooting Atwood Hydro Flame Furnace: A Guide For Novice RVers

Tools And Gears You Need To Have  

Generally speaking, there is no need for you to gather high-level stuff in order to tackle “Atwood hydro flame furnace won’t light” issue. That being said, it’s quite difficult to troubleshoot the furnace of recreational vehicles without having suitable tools and gears. In most of the case, it’s essential that you have a multimeter on hand to see if specific components receive adequate power or not. As you have to work around sharp corners, hot surfaces and alike, protect yourself with gloves, goggles and a facemask. The rule of thumb is “Safety is number one priority”.

1. Depleted Battery

If the battery is depleted, the control circuit board would not be able to transmit orders to the control circuit board due to energy shortage. As a result, the valve and the igniter remain inactive. For most of the time, you could determine whether the RV battery is consistently providing juice to the furnace or not by using the multimeter. If the battery of the recreational vehicle is indeed depleted, all you have to do is to perform a recharge.  

2. Malfunction/Defective Control Circuit Board

After you are certain that the battery is not at fault, the next thing to check is the control circuit board of the Atwood furnace. In the case the board is falling, the operation of the gas valve and the igniter would be severely disrupted. As the control circuit board is regularly subjected to electric currents, its performance tends to drop as time goes by.  

3. Bad Gas Valve

The purpose of the gas valve is to regulate the gas flow that goes to the burner of the furnace. Needless to say, no gas would reach the burner if the valve fails to open. Take a look at the valve and assess its quality. In most of the case, you should be able to replace the gas valve at moment notice without much difficulty.

4.  Flawed Igniter  

After you activate the furnace, the igniter would generate sparks and ignite the propane gas. So it goes without saying that if the igniter refuses to work, your Atwood hydro flame furnace won’t light. In many cases, igniter failure is caused by the gap at the ends of the device electrodes exceeding design specification.  

5. Loosed/Corroded Connections

Once you finish checking everything above and unable to detect anything, the source of problem may lie with the connections. Unsecured connections would starve the furnace components out of energy and inevitably impair their operation. At that point, you have to exam and inspect at every connection relate to the furnace of your recreational vehicle. Use your multimeter in order to check each connection and carry out repair if needed.  

Last Updated on October 1, 2018

One Response

  1. David Mackinnon July 6, 2020

Leave a Reply