Recent content by Fatgnat

The furnace has been running cleanly now for some time. The final fix, after cleaning it out and installing that relay to get the blower voltage up, was to reduce the manifold pressure. I was watching it smoke as I did it and as I lowered it the smoking stopped and it's been clean ever since...

Final report -- the furnace blew out more soot I hadn't been able to get out and is now burning cleanly. All fixed! 

Well, if anyone is still following this saga here's the latest: It was suggested that mud daubers might have built a nest inside the combustion chamber which hardened like concrete. So I removed and disassembled the furnace and tapped the combustion chamber all over with a wooden mallet hard...

Worse than ever last night. That's after cleaning up around that copper tube and filling around it with silicon rubber. So that didn't help and last night the door (which is right next to the furnace) was opened briefly to let the dog in while the furnace was running -- and now there are tiny...

No sign of soot anywhere but out of the exhaust and no smell inside so long as the cover plate is on and the windows on that side closed. I removed the jet and it's clean as is the tube inside.

I hadn't thought about that gasket, Gary. I just removed the squirrel cage so I could look at it and it doesn't look damaged -- but there maybe a little leakage around it because years ago when the motor started squealing and I got tired of taking it apart to re-lube the bearings I took two...

Well, the saga continues. Got extended blowgun and another to which I could attach a fairly stiff tube I could push pretty far back in and blew out a lot more soot, some if it in fairly big chunks. Still smoking big time -- watched it in the dark with a flashlight and it was impressively yucky...

But that still didn't do it. Took it apart again today and really worked at getting the soot build-up out of the combustion chamber suing various makeshift tools plus air compressor. Got a whole lot out and re-assembled it. Now it sounds better but it's smoking big time! Smells better, the...

Today I removed the burner and found the perforated flame spreader to be partially plugged with soot and many of the holes slightly constricted by rust. Cleaned it up, ran a drill bit through all the holes, blew it out and put it back together. I'm betting that the slight constrictions added up...

Well, now I have to report that raising the pressure didn't fix the problem. Sooted up again last night. There's no blockage visible but there must be something restricting the airflow. I'm not sure what to do next. I don't know if there's butane in the propane here in Quartzsite but I doubt...

My wife and I are both long time RVers -- she for maybe 25 years or so, me for 16. We have lived in our 32 ft. class A motorhome since 2007 in the winters, staying near Quartzsite, AZ for about six months every year. Summers in Southern Humboldt County, CA, up in the hills. I have an engineering...

I have just encountered the same problem. It was suggested to me by a local RV business that the gas pressure might be low especially because it's been cold (24? F) and that this would cause the burner to be inefficient, causing the soot buildup. So I got a manometer and t'd it into the system...