Heater help ASAP

[slowngreen]

My parents home heater runs off of propane and is lit electronically....The power went off yesterday and every since it came back on, it doesn't work.
It has two thermostats, one electronic (three wires)one next to the heater that was installed last year and then an old style mercury one (two wire). No matter what either of those are set on, it wont ever click the heater on.
If we turn the on/off switch off and then back on on the heater unit itself, the fan will come on and run for about 10 minutes but it never ignites.
We went and bought a new mercury thermostat but still nothing.
can't afford to have a guy come out so please any info will be appreciated, its COLD AS FRENCH!

 

[frickenjoey]

Lloyd, is the pilot light lit? I know there are a few that the pilot lit will not even work unless you heat the little thermocouple in there with a lighter. then the pilot lights then it might work or you might just say duh I checked that already.

 

[slowngreen]

Yeah its not lit. I'll try to find a lighter and give that a try.

heres the heater and electronic thermostat...

Edit...I realized theres a led flashing a code. It flashes 4 times. On a sticker it says "4 flashes -limit switch open"

 

[h8z2luze]

I donno whats wrong but that OBAMA poster is hilarious...

 

[MotoGod]

A lot of times propane appliances have a reset switch or code for when the power goes out. The pilot light won't light until the system is reset. I finally had the propane guy show me how to do it since we lost power like 3 times in 2 weeks and at $100 a pop for him to reset it....it was getting pricey as hell!

I had 2 small boxes on top of my propane water heater with wires going to them. One side would trip as a safety when the power went out.

 

[Rolex]

If it's anything like natural gas, you'll need to set it to the pilot position, depress the knob or button, light the pilot and hold the button down for 30 seconds to heat the thermocouple.
Once the pilot stays lit after releasing the button, you set the control to the run position and the temp you want.

 

[digger]

Did ya get it?
I have a vent-less wall heater with electronic light. Has an igniter button on it and a reset.

With it saying "limit switch open" probably a safety switch kicked out?
Could ya find an on-line manual?

Good luck with it. Mine went out 2 weeks ago and had to call the man.

 

[slowngreen]

Did ya get it?
I have a vent-less wall heater with electronic light. Has an igniter button on it and a reset.

With it saying "limit switch open" probably a safety switch kicked out?
Could ya find an on-line manual?

Good luck with it. Mine went out 2 weeks ago and had to call the man.

No not yet. It was getting dark so we didnt want to turn the power off to get into the wiring. Luckily they also use a would stove though.
We'll turn the power off in the morning though and check that switch.

 

[digger]

Couldn't find any manuals. Found ya a couple of links.
http://www.ehow.com/how_7488479_reset-coleman-furnace.html
http://www.justanswer.com/sip/Colem...SIPtoSIP_SIP&gclid=CL6WyNH1s6YCFc9w5Qod9UA2Ig

Hope one of them helps. Man it's 22 here. Good thing they have a wood stove.
Hope it's something simple bro.

 

[slowngreen]

It was the upper limit switch, replaced it and it lites and comes on just fine now but when it goes off, it starts going back through the liting process again....Thermostat not working?

 

[Rolex]

Does it have a pilot light with a thermocouple or is it electronic ignition?

 

[slowngreen]

Electronic..

 

[Rolex]

Again, referring to my knowledge of natural gas appliances, the ignition coil heats up, a photocell detects the amount of light it gives off, and when it's bright enough it will open the jets.
Do you have a probe that looks like a large Weller soldering gun tip, or do you have a quartz ignition that makes a ticking noise?

It might look like this, or close to it.

 

[ImBroken]

It was the upper limit switch, replaced it and it lites and comes on just fine now but when it goes off, it starts going back through the liting process again....Thermostat not working?

If it's an electronic spark ignition, one that sparks and lights on it's own, then it WILL go back to the lighting process once there is a call for heat again. The pilot does not stay lit all the time. Most companies have done away with "standing pilots"...

 

[slowngreen]

Again, referring to my knowledge of natural gas appliances, the ignition coil heats up, a photocell detects the amount of light it gives off, and when it's bright enough it will open the jets.
Do you have a probe that looks like a large Weller soldering gun tip, or do you have a quartz ignition that makes a ticking noise?

No ticking noise and I dont see anything that looks like that...hmmmmm. I was thinking it might be the thermostat because it doesn't click at all when you turn it passed the tempature. Maybe I got the two wires backwards? We'll wait till tomorrow to turn the power off and mess with it again. Can turn it on manually at the furnace and let it run fora while though so thats good.

If it's an electronic spark ignition, one that sparks and lights on it's own, then it WILL go back to the lighting process once there is a call for heat again. The pilot does not stay lit all the time. Most companies have done away with "standing pilots"...

Its not flashing a code about anythign now though since we replaced the upper limit switch. .... .... .hmmm

 

[ImBroken]

You can jump out the thermostat by jumping RH & W on the thermostat. That should bring on the heat..

 

[slowngreen]

The mercury style one has two wires, ones on R and one on W, but no RH, is that the same? Could doing this, eleminate the need for that thermostat so they can just use the programable one?

 

[Rolex]

They don't all look like that anymore. Some look like a ceramic Pez dispenser with slots for the heating elements.
Like ImBroken said, they relight for each cycle.

 

[ImBroken]

The mercury style one has two wires, ones on R and one on W, but no RH, is that the same? Could doing this, eleminate the need for that thermostat so they can just use the programable one?

Are both thermostats hooked up right now? If they are, then there must be 2 zones. Yes RH is the same as R on the mercury type. Leave them connected to the thermostat, and just run a jumper from R to W. this will bypass the thermostat and make the unit run. This will tell you if you have a bad thermostat..

 

[Rolex]

I'm wondering the same thing, 2 zones or is the digital an upgrade. Has the mercury one been disabled? They might be conflicting, if not.