Thermocouple

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NFranzen

NFranzen

Well-known member
Joined
Apr 23, 2018
Posts
53
Location
Lexington, Ohio
New to the forum, first time posting, thanks in advance for all the help.  We recently bought a 2000 Dutchmen Voyager and I am having a bit of problems.  The pilot light will not stay lit, so everywhere I'm reading says to replace the thermocouple.  No problem I got the old one out and went to home depot and bought a new one.  Came home to install it and find out the threaded piece that screws in is a bigger end than the one that came out of it.  Looks like I can put a 5/16" wrench on mine that came out of it, but not the replacement.  Checked at Home Depot and Lowe's and both were the same too big.  I went to a local RV shop and showed them what I had and they had nothing in stock (story of my life lol) so they ordered something but said they were not 100% sure it would work until it came in and we looked at it.  Has anyone come across this before?  Any ideas what I am looking for if the one that comes tomorrow does not pan out?  Any help is appreciated.

Thanks,
Neal
 
Welcome to the site!
What appliance are you working on, and what is the make and model?
 
Are you talking about the oven pilot light? If you are, you may not be waiting long enough before you release the oven knob. We have to wait close to 45 seconds before releasing the knob.
 
Well it is a 3 way refrigerator and I'm sure the pilot needs to be lit for the furance to get hot too.  It is so old I don't see any models.  Also the thermocouple is bad, I put a meter on it to verify.
 
You guys rock, thanks for the help.

One final question.  It has a combo heat/ac unit in it as well, I have not messed with it too much, but would that thermocouple that is by the fridge, with it not working right would it also make the heater not blow hot air?  I'm sure it needs propane for the heat to work, or is that something totally different?
 
The only things in common between the refrigerator are the source of propane and the source of 12 volt electricity.  If there's a problem with either source (before it gets to the fridge or furnace) it would affect both units. 

The thermocouple in the fridge is after the propane splits between the refrigerator and the other appliances, so it has no effect on them.
 
Yes there is propane, and I bled the lines as well with the stove on the indoor and outdoor hookup.  The furnace comes on with the thermostat but never gets warm.  I feel stupid that I have been going about this all wrong thinking it had to do with the thermocouple under the fridge.  Arghh lol.  I'm not sure where to find a brand or model on this furnace/ac unit.  There is no info on the front, I may have to take the cover off, and the back all I see is a plastic grill on the outside of the camper that the air passes through.  Are they easy to service?  I was also told the AC needed refilled on it and didn't work, so who knows if that is even possible.
 
The furnace has a dual blower - one side blows air to feed the flame and send the hot gasses through the heat exchanger, the other side blows interior air past the other side of the exchanger.

Insects are attracted to the mercaptin odorant added to propane so you can smell a leak, make sure there isn't a mud dauber nest or spider web blocking the outside air intake or exhaust.
 
Ok, I am slammed the next 2 days but I will start digging into it this weekend and see if I can find a brand and model and go from there.  I'm sure I'll be back ;-)

Thanks for the help.
 
Ok I had a minute before I have to head out today, I put the thermocouple back in my camper.  I assume the whole time that the pilot for it had to be lit for the furnace to run, that is my mistake and being so new I had no other idea.  I read in the fridge manual that the selector has to be on GAS for the flame to light.  I had it on AC and was trying to light it cause the camper was hooked up to power.  So as I said I came home from work just now and installed the thermocouple and set it to GAS and turned it on and sure enough the pilot stayed lit, so the thermocouple was not bad after all.  I Need to take the furnace apart so I can start trying to figure out what is wrong, and as someone pointed out, the flame under the fridge has nothing to do with the furnace.  Ideas where I should start, or would it be wise to find the brand and model first?  Any ideas where that is located?  Nothing on the front where the air comes off, think I Need to take the front cover off?  Thanks again to everyone for helping guide this newbie.

Neal
 
Ok I attached pictures of what I found when I pulled the front cover off.  On the back side is the 2nd picture, that isn't a gas valve that needs turned on is it?  Again not sure what I need to do, the unit turns on and runs with the thermostat but does not get hot.
 

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Let me ask one more question, and this may seem dumb since I am such a newb, but I'm looking all over that thing and under it and I don't see a gas line that runs to it.  Would it heat electronically?  I'm really not sure how it works.
 
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