Heaters...What Fun! Not!

Our RV is about 24 years old. So is the forced air propane heater in it. We noticed after we bought the RV about oh...I don't know...six (?) years or so ago...that the forced air heater works kind of funny. This is what it appears to do.

It heats up and works really well. However, once it reaches the right temperature, it starts blowing cooler air, apparently in an attempt to cool itself down. I am not sure why it would need to do that, but that is what it appears to do. Of course, even cool air through a hot furnace will come out hot at first. So, if you accidently turn it up too hot, you have to bear with it while it cools down. There is NO way to turn it off!

You can turn it down so that it switches to cool air, once the furnace is cool enough for the air to not heat up on the way through. You can even turn the on/off switch to off, but it will keep blowing. Typically, it blows cool air and then stops. Then it starts blowing cool air again. I presume that is because the heater is not really totally cooled down and so it kicks back on to cool it again. It will do that quite a few times and then it finally shuts off for good.

Well, it was a little chilly this morning and I wanted to warm things up fast, so I kicked the heater on. The long and short of it is that the fan won't shut off at all now. I turn it down. I turn it off, but the fan just keeps blowing. I think it is in cahoots with that pink bunny on TV. You know the one...he just keeps banging on his drum!

Dave thinks the sensor that tells it that the heater is cooled off is not working. So, it keeps thinking it is still hot. I have tried turning the heater back up and down a few times in the hopes that it would kick it...but nope. The heater runs on 12 volt, so, turning off the power won't kick it off, either. We can turn off the power and disconnect the 12 volt batteries...but, if it is the sensor...then as soon as we turn the power back on, the fan will come back on.

So, I have been sitting here for hours with the hum of the heater fan in the background. I even put a fan under the kitchen sink and aimed it at the heater in the hopes that it might help. The heater is turned down and it is turned off. But that fan just keeps on blowing!

I am just so thankful that it is not stuck on while heating! At least we aren't using propane and roasting! Well...what do you expect for a heater that is this old. To be honest, we are amazed it lasted this long. And actually, the heater works just fine. So does the fan. It is the sensor that is apparently not working. Or maybe a switch?