Suburban furnace operating

[sm350bl]

Good morning all. I have been feeling quite inadequate in the fact that I have most things figured out on my concourse. Have a couple stragglers though. Hope somebody can point me in the right direction. I can run the roof mounted A/C it gets cold and it gets hot and I operate that from the duo-therm thermostat on the left side front cabinet. BUT. I have a furnace, I have the owners manual to the furnace, ( suburban) I have floor ducting for the furnace and exterior intake and exhaust for the furnace. but how in the heck do i operate the furnace????????? I have looked everywhere for a stand alone thermostat?? What am I missing here? the duo-therm doesn't control the floor furnace does it?

Rich

[Blue~Go]

Although those furnaces CAN be operated by just a normal thermostat, Chinook has it integrated into the four- (or five, in later years) button "Comfort Control" that is on the cabinet face over the couch. Same one that runs the air-conditioner. So there is no other thermostat.

[sm350bl]

Although those furnaces CAN be operated by just a normal thermostat, Chinook has it integrated into the four- (or five, in later years) button "Comfort Control" that is on the cabinet face over the couch. Same one that runs the air-conditioner. So there is no other thermostat.

How does one operate the furnace with that controller? I was trying to learn that thing last night, I was able to get the roof AC to come and and the roof heat to come on with that. but is there a secret handshake to get that thing to switch the floor furnace on? I don't think it has power when the gen isn't running or at least i couldn't get it to come on. is there a battery inside the controller?

[caconcourse]

Although those furnaces CAN be operated by just a normal thermostat, Chinook has it integrated into the four- (or five, in later years) button "Comfort Control" that is on the cabinet face over the couch. Same one that runs the air-conditioner. So there is no other thermostat.

How does one operate the furnace with that controller? I was trying to learn that thing last night, I was able to get the roof AC to come and and the roof heat to come on with that. but is there a secret handshake to get that thing to switch the floor furnace on? I don't think it has power when the gen isn't running or at least i couldn't get it to come on. is there a battery inside the controller?

Turn on the A/C controller and press the "mode" button several times until "Furnace" appears on the display. then the temperature settings will refer to the furnace and it will turn on if the requested temp is higher than the ambient temp. Note that the controller works for the furnace even when shore power is not present.

[sm350bl]

Although those furnaces CAN be operated by just a normal thermostat, Chinook has it integrated into the four- (or five, in later years) button "Comfort Control" that is on the cabinet face over the couch. Same one that runs the air-conditioner. So there is no other thermostat.

How does one operate the furnace with that controller? I was trying to learn that thing last night, I was able to get the roof AC to come and and the roof heat to come on with that. but is there a secret handshake to get that thing to switch the floor furnace on? I don't think it has power when the gen isn't running or at least i couldn't get it to come on. is there a battery inside the controller?

Turn on the A/C controller and press the "mode" button several times until "Furnace" appears on the display. then the temperature settings will refer to the furnace and it will turn on if the requested temp is higher than the ambient temp. Note that the controller works for the furnace even when shore power is not present.

Thank You! that is exactly what I needed to know. Will try that out when I get home...

[sm350bl]

update, I tried using the comfort control panel to get the furnace checked out. I scrolled through MODE many times and never gave me a furnace option. I pulled the seat cushion and wood panel underneath to put eyes on the furnace, it is indeed there. I went through the owners manual for the comfort control and it appears to be pre-set with the coach's equipped options from the factory. I did do a reset on the panel via the instructions on the page hoping it would pick up the furnace with no luck. I wonder if the panel glitched and no longer has the memory of the furnace or if it was never pre-set from the factory? Would a rv dealer be able to re-program to have the furnace function???? Kinda at a loss at this point.

[BobW9]

Just a thought, but when I had to get a new roof A/C, they also had to install a new thermostat controller because of new wiring on the current model Dometic A/C units. When they did, they initially wired it wrong and left off the furnace (the thermostat did not give Furnace as an option). If I hadn't tested that before leaving their facility, it could have been a while before I realized I no longer had a working furnace. If the previous owners didn't use the furnace after some A/C work, that might be the problem.

Bob

[Chinnin-about]

My recent 1997 Side entry Concourse came without a thermostat, so I ordered one online. The 5 button is all that is available, as they do not make the 4 button thermostat anymore. Well, subsequently, I found out that the 5 button thermostat can't talk to the control panel in the air conditioner, and therefore the control panel needs to be changed out too.

In lieu of this, I sourced a guy in Nebraska who rebuilds the older 4 button thermostats, mailed it to him, and he replaced the buttons, and the switch. These buttons are usually what fails in these thermostats. My furnace works great now.

If you are not getting the "furnace" option when hitting the mode button, you may need to just reset the thermostat. You can call Frerich's electronics and he will walk you through and troubleshoot your problem, and fix it. May just need a button replaced. http://www.frerichselectronics.com/

[sm350bl]

Just a thought, but when I had to get a new roof A/C, they also had to install a new thermostat controller because of new wiring on the current model Dometic A/C units. When they did, they initially wired it wrong and left off the furnace (the thermostat did not give Furnace as an option). If I hadn't tested that before leaving their facility, it could have been a while before I realized I no longer had a working furnace. If the previous owners didn't use the furnace after some A/C work, that might be the problem.

Bob

Thats great input Bob thank you! I wonder where this wiring junctions at? I had pulled the cover off the comfort control and it has a phone style plug on the circuit board and the harness goes back into the cabinet. I could trace them out. I really have no idea of they had work done to the a/c or not. It appears to be the correct dual-therm penguin unit that corresponds the all the original paperwork in the rvs folder I got with it. If its a matter of a wire being unhooked,Im wondering if the control panel can auto-detect? After they fixed your wiring did the control panel offer the furnace option?

[sm350bl]

My recent 1997 Side entry Concourse came without a thermostat, so I ordered one online. The 5 button is all that is available, as they do not make the 4 button thermostat anymore. Well, subsequently, I found out that the 5 button thermostat can't talk to the control panel in the air conditioner, and therefore the control panel needs to be changed out too.

In lieu of this, I sourced a guy in Nebraska who rebuilds the older 4 button thermostats, mailed it to him, and he replaced the buttons, and the switch. These buttons are usually what fails in these thermostats. My furnace works great now.

If you are not getting the "furnace" option when hitting the mode button, you may need to just reset the thermostat. You can call Frerich's electronics and he will walk you through and troubleshoot your problem, and fix it. May just need a button replaced. http://www.frerichselectronics.com/

That's interesting, Thanks for the thought. Mine has the 5 button control panel and im assuming its original? Have all the paperwork on it. I did try resetting it per the instruction tag in the owners manual, but it did not cure the problem. The mode function seems to cycle through everything else just fine, just never gives me a furnace option. wondering if its unplugged somewhere or the controller programming is skewed somehow. But I will def check out the link, thanks!