Furnace issue Challenger

Double R · 10-01-2016, 10:38 PM

Possible design flaw in the placement of the circuit board for the furnace. Camping this week we have needed the furnace and it worked fine. Then it rained and the furnace would not work, it would start up but wouldn't fire then shutoff. Taking the outside panel off I notice the circuit board was all wet. I took out the curcuit board and dried it and put it back in. Furnace then worked fine. 4 days later another rain and again furnace would not work. Same problem same solution.

Has anyone else had this problem and come up with an easy solution to prevent this from happening. Any suggestion would be helpful

**EA37TS** · 10-01-2016, 11:11 PM

Some folks with other model coaches found that the door for the furnace is the issue if it has the louvered cutouts. Supposedly Thor is aware of the issue and will replace the door.

Since you do not specify the model or year of your Challenger I can't say whether or not you have that particular door. My 2015 37ND has the louvered door but it has not yet been a problem. It has been raining quite a bit the past few days so I may go out tomorrow and pull the door and look around.

**fhenn** · 10-01-2016, 11:14 PM

There is a thread here on that problem, Thor has a new door design to keep the water out, and several others have come up with their own fixes. I would call THor Customer Service Monday morning, and be nice to them. Hopefully you will get to the right person tho handle that problem

Double R · 10-01-2016, 11:26 PM

Mine is a 2015 Thor Challenger and it does have the louvere door

fivejackie · 10-03-2016, 05:18 AM

Last week I also had a problem with that circuit board. After we hook up at our camp site, I notice a little water dripping under the coach by the heater panel. I tighten the hose connection for the city water to the coach and the drip stopped. About an hour later with the A/C running I notice the heater was trying to lite and the blower motor running. I turn off all power for the coach and the heater was still trying to lite with the blower running. I had to disconnect two red on the board to get it to stop running.

erikdjensen · 03-14-2017, 06:30 PM

Just read all of the postings. We have a 2017 ACE 30.1. Up to this fall the furnace worked fine. But then one very rainy night the furnace would start up and sound like it had ignited, but then would should down after a few moments. The fan would keep going and in about 45 seconds the furnace would re-ignite and then go out again. Took it to the dealer, they replaced the sail switch and told me it was working fine. Got it home, tried it out, and it wasn't working. Same issue. Took it to a different dealer (both Camping World dealers) and they said they had to "build baffles" because the furnace was getting too much air. After this it worked fine for three or four nights - until one night it rained hard again. Now I am having the same issue. After reading the posts I am wondering if it is rain related. I have an appointment on 1 April to take it back to the second Camping World. Any suggestions on what I should tell them to inspect or consider?

JamieGeek · 03-14-2017, 07:06 PM

What does the outside vents look like on your furnace?
http://www.thorforums.com/forums/f17...egas-4200.html

erikdjensen · 03-14-2017, 08:08 PM

JamieGeek,
I was aware of this design flaw and this was the first thing I checked. My cover has the vents in the right direction - not open to the sky. We get so much rain and wind on the north Oregon coast I think it is a control panel issue. But what do I know? I am a nurse.

HighMobious · 03-14-2017, 08:33 PM

Erik click on Jamiegeek's reply to see the way not to have the vents installed. Those vents will allow the rain to come inside. My furnace went out (not the vent issue) and is in for repairs now. 2016 Hurricane 31S. I should get it this weekend. I will let you know what they tell me.

dsheets · 03-15-2017, 01:22 PM

Had the same problem with water getting in to the circuit board area. I installed additional gasket from Home Depot on top of the factory gasket around the door and problem solved. The gasket I used was the 1/4 " weather seal.

Romsey2016 · 04-29-2017, 12:08 PM

I think I just experienced the same issue as your post this morning. I have a 2016 Challenger kt and after a very heavy rain last night I went to the coach and the furnace blower was running and I was unable to shut it down. The thermostat was on Off position as well, when I put it on Heat it would click on and off. I opened the panel to the Furnace outside and there was a lot of water sitting in the area where the exhaust comes out. I think that the angle of the rain and wind forced water in. My louvers are inverted so I can see how the water came in. I will try to dry it out and see what happens.

HighMobious · 04-29-2017, 04:54 PM

Ditto here, vents were wrong. New panel is on order from Thor.

erikdjensen · 04-29-2017, 07:01 PM

I was set to take my rig back to the shop after waiting for a month for an appointment and it suddenly started working correctly again. I called the tech and told him I didn't want to bring it back and have him try to fix something that is now working. Sort of waiting for my warranty to expire and then I can take it to a local RV mechanic and have him figure it out. Really can't trust Camping World anymore.

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