Furnace access

[RVingMN214WSD]

We have a 2014 214 WSB and I'm not sure how to access the furnace to clean and address problems. Would anyone have information on the location and procedure to get into this area. I've seen posts on bugs and other things preventing the furnace from working and would appreciate help in this.

Thanks in advance.

[profdant139]

I am sure that access varies from one model to the next. For what it's worth, access to our furnace on our 139 is limited but not impossible. There is a metal panel across the front of the furnace, inside the trailer. It unscrews.

Once I have the panel off, I use a long crevice tool attached to my shop-vac to clean the insides of the furnace.

You may also be able to get to the furnace from the outside -- there is a metal grille that unscrews. I have never taken off the exterior panel because I don't want to have to re-caulk the seams. But I am sure it can be done by someone with more ambition than I have.

If you are feeling really ambitious, you could make a long extension for your shop vac out of a piece of garden hose, using a piece of PVC pipe as a reduction bushing. Duct tape is essential, too. I have made this type of an extension for other projects but have never used it on the furnace.

Good luck!!

[RipVan]

Two screws hold the panel that covers the "guts" of the heater. As profdant139 has suggested, vacuuming any debris that can be reached with a crevice tool (or longer home-made attachment) may be the best you can do without some serious disassembly. Again, as profdant139 mentioned, I too, am unlikely to remove things that would need recaulking. The exception to my level willingness for serious disassembly or recaulking might be overridden if the heater wasn't functioning properly AND vacuuming debris didn't improve things. I do suppose that it is possible for the area where the air:fuel mixing occurs to have become a home for various creatures (spiders come to mind) but in the 7 years that I've had my FF, that hasn't been the case. Anything that try's to set up in the area of the burner tube would be evicted "with extreme prejudice" the first time the heater is used. I'm pretty sure that's why there's usually a peculiar odor in the camper when the heater is used for the first time when camping in the Fall months!

[Gerald Miller]

All good suggestions which I use also. I learned from a camper years ago, was to take a sock you can part with, put mothballs in it, not too many, and hang in front of all openings on the outside. Since wasps are ubiquitous in our shed, it has helped me from having insect habitations between camping trips.

[mjpguy]

Gerald, I tried that once but really screwed up. I used meatballs instead of mothballs. Needless to say, it didn't work out very well.

[profdant139]

Another trick (probably obvious) -- use an air compressor to blow out the dust and dead bugs. The burner orifice is very small and is easily blocked, so a blast of air can reach places that a vacuum can't.

[APD]

Originally Posted by mjpguy

Gerald, I tried that once but really screwed up. I used meatballs instead of mothballs. Needless to say, it didn't work out very well.

You have to use the garlic ones.... the critters all get bad breath and leave.