Camper/Fish House Heater ?

[Northland Sportsman]

I have an older pull behind camper that I am planning to convert ot a fish house. I am having truoble with the heater. the pilot lights and stys lit, but when I turn on the stove it kind of poofs and goes out. It almost seems like it blows itself out. I tried blowing some air in there to clean things out but it didn't help. Anybody have any suggestions? it is a vented heater with no blower. Anyone know where to get a used furnace from and RV salvage yard or somewhere like that? Thanks for any help!

[Northland Sportsman]

Anybody?

[TooBusy]

There are three possibilities. 1. The thermocouple is not allowing the gas valve to open up. It is a really easy fix and should not cost you more than $10-$15 for the part. 2. It is possible the gas valve is bad, but that is usually not the case. 3. The pressure regulator in the tank is not allowing sufficient gas pressure for the main burner to kick in. If it were me I would try a different regulator first if you have another one lying around or can borrow from someone. Then I would try the thermocouple. If it is the gas valve, the expense of replacing is probably too excessive.

[ishgood]

I had one years ago that did something like that. There should be some kind of orifice in the bottom of it which sprays a stream of gas into some kind of burner. There will be holes in the tube which the orifice is spraying into. The idea is to draw air in with the stream of gas. The mixture is what burns at the burner.

The problem with the old models is the piece that has the orifice in it is iron and the orifice will rust shut over time. If is not completely rusted shut you get gas just dribbling into the chamber instead of spraying into the burner. When enough builds up, poof, burns up all the air in the chamber and blows the pilot out.

The other malady that plagues those things is a spider web in the tube that leads to the burner, blocks most of the spray and you get the same effect.

I used to drill mine out when it rusted, but that could be risky if you dont drill it the right size, might run to hot, burn your shack down.

Fire bad.

[cold one sd]

I had one like that in an old camper and It would have cost more than it was worth to repair it. I went to an RV dealer and they wouldn't sell me one because of liability issues. I bought a used one from a propane dealer. Might be worth a try.

[Boar]

I converted a camper to an ice house an took out the furnace an replaced it with a wall mount vent free keeping good ventilation at all times, I just dont trust those older camper funaces, to many unhappy stories. Boar

[Northland Sportsman]

Thanks for the replies everybody. I am going to try to take it apart this weekend and see if it is plugged or something. If I can't fix it or find a similar replacement, I will have to bite the bullet and get a new furnace. Again, thanks for the tips and suggestions!