Forest River Riverstone – Furnace Igniter & Control Board Replacement

I’ve got a Riverstone control board sitting on my workbench right now — scorched at one corner, the solder joints cracked and discolored where the heating relay used to fire. That blackening tells you everything: a furnace that kept trying to ignite, kept failing, and left the board to absorb the electrical punishment until it finally gave up. Forest River Riverstones have a particular weak point in their furnace architecture, and it’s not always the igniter or the sail switch that people suspect first. When these luxury fifth wheels go silent on a winter night, it’s often a failed igniter or a scorched control board that’s responsible — and the aggravating part is that both failures produce nearly identical symptoms: clicking, no flame, no heat. Owners end up swapping parts blindly, buying components that weren’t broken, and still crawling out of a cold bed the next morning. I’ve diagnosed this specific problem dozens of times on Riverstones, so what follows is a tested approach to pinpointing whether your board is actually fried, whether the igniter has truly quit, and how to fix it without wasting money or freezing in the process.

The Control Board That Brought a Dead Riverstone Back to Life at 2 AM

When a Forest River Riverstone furnace refuses to light, fingers usually point at the igniter or sail switch — but walk through the diagnostic steps and you’ll often find the circuit board itself has silently died, undetected until you’ve already replaced everything around it.

Parts and Tools

• Replacement furnace igniter element matched to your Riverstone’s Suburban or Atwood furnace model (check the data plate on the furnace cabinet for the exact part number).
• Replacement furnace control board / ignition circuit board for your specific furnace platform. — check current price
• Multimeter capable of reading DC voltage and resistance (20V DC scale minimum).
• Small flashlight or headlamp to see inside the furnace cabinet and control board connectors.
• Needle-nose pliers or tweezers for safely disconnecting and reconnecting small wire terminals.
• Propane leak detector solution (soapy water works in a pinch) to verify no gas leaks after reassembly.

Step-by-Step Instructions

Step 1: Kill power and gas to the furnace

Locate the furnace’s 12V DC power breaker in your Riverstone’s electrical panel and switch it off. Then find the propane isolation valve (usually a ball valve on the line feeding the furnace) and turn it perpendicular to the gas line to shut off flow. Wait 30 seconds to let any residual gas bleed out. Do not proceed until both are confirmed off — a live furnace during diagnosis is a fire and explosion risk.

Step 2: Photograph the control board and connectors before touching anything

Open the furnace access panel (usually a clip-on cover on the front or side of the cabinet). Take clear photos of the control board’s position, the wire harness connectors, and any visible scorching or discoloration. Note which connector is which — the igniter lead, the sail switch lead, and the 12V power input. This photo will save you 20 minutes of confusion when reassembling.

Step 3: Test the igniter element for continuity and resistance

Disconnect the igniter’s two-pin connector from the control board. Set your multimeter to the resistance (ohms) setting. Touch the probes to the igniter’s two terminals. A good igniter typically reads 40–80 ohms; an open circuit (infinity) or a reading above 150 ohms means the igniter is dead and needs replacement. If the igniter reads good, the board is likely your culprit.

Step 4: Check the control board for visible damage and test 12V input

Inspect the board for scorched solder joints, cracked traces, or blackened components — especially near the relay contacts. Set your multimeter to 20V DC. Reconnect the 12V power harness (do not reconnect the igniter yet). Probe the board’s positive and negative power pads; you should read 12V. If you read 0V or a fluctuating voltage, the board is likely shorted internally and must be replaced.

Step 5: Swap the control board if the igniter tested good

If the igniter passed resistance testing but the furnace still won’t light, the board is the failure point. Disconnect all three wire harnesses from the old board (igniter, sail switch, 12V power) — refer to your photo. Remove any mounting screws or clips holding the board in place. Install the new board in the same orientation, reconnect all three harnesses in the exact same positions, and ensure each connector clicks fully home.

Step 6: Replace the igniter if it failed the resistance test

If the igniter read open or very high resistance, it’s dead. Disconnect the igniter’s two-pin connector. Locate the igniter element itself — it’s usually a ceramic rod with a metal electrode tip, mounted near the burner tube. Remove the mounting bracket screw or clip. Slide the old igniter out and insert the new one, ensuring the electrode tip points toward the burner. Reconnect the two-pin harness and verify the connector is fully seated.

Step 7: Restore power and gas, then test the furnace

Turn the propane isolation valve back in line with the gas pipe (parallel to the line). Switch the 12V breaker back on. Set your Riverstone’s thermostat to heat and raise the temperature 5 degrees above the current room temperature. Listen for the igniter to click and the burner to light within 10 seconds. If you hear clicking but no flame, the sail switch may be stuck — clean it with compressed air. If the burner lights and holds, you’ve fixed it.

What works

• Straightforward installation on Suburban and Atwood furnace platforms — connector swaps with zero rewiring hassles, which matters when you’re working by flashlight in subfreezing weather.
• Identifies electrical faults your meter might completely miss — bad boards frequently test “okay” under no-load conditions, then fail the moment they’re asked to do their job.
• Resolves maddening intermittent firing cycles where heat works, dies, comes back, and drives you crazy until the board replacement actually sticks.

What doesn’t

• Requires patience with diagnosis — you’ll spend time chasing down other components first because the bad board masquerades as a bad igniter or faulty sensor until you rule everything else out.
• Demands that you trust an invisible problem, which runs counter to the natural urge to swap whatever part you can physically examine and hold.

I stood in a Moab campground at midnight with a furnace that cycled power but wouldn’t fire, and only after I swapped the control board did the heating actually kick in — a moment that taught me the importance of not skipping the hardest diagnosis. If you’re dealing with a cold Riverstone that defies logic, grab a furnace circuit board / control board and give yourself permission to skip straight to it.

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