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SMarquez's avatar
SMarquez
Explorer
Sep 25, 2019

Water Heater Problems

I have an Atwood water heater that has been acting up for a while now and I hope you can help. It is a pilotless unit if that makes a difference. When I first turn the WH on it takes a couple attempts to light and everything is fine. After 6-7 hours it shuts off and I get the red light at the switch and it won't relight. Once in a while it will try but it seems to struggle and will back fire with a nice POOF that is a little alarming bit doesn't ignite. If I shut it down for a couple hours it will light up like normal. I have taken to just shutting it off when we're not using it but I hate when my stuff doesn't work as designed. I took an air hose to it and got some dust and fine dirt out of it but I lit it up left it on evernite and it shut itself off again. I'm thinking it may be the igniter, maybe it is intermittent or are they a good or bad function only?
Thanks.
Toy Haulers

17 Replies

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  • nayther's avatar
    nayther
    Explorer
    Sep 25, 2019
    can you hear the spark igniter "clicking" when it tries to light?

    I'm with Old-Biscuit, seen quite a few boards being replaced.

    Year of TH would be helpful
  • Old-Biscuit's avatar
    Old-Biscuit
    Explorer III
    Sep 25, 2019
    Flame not relighting when t-stat calls for heat (over 6-8 hours it would cycle SEVERAL times) is #1 reason RED Fault Light comes on

    If thermostat was going bad it would either NOT heat at all or would overheat
    ECO would then trip and lockout water heater (trigger the RED Fault Light)

    What year is this water heater?

    Sounds like the circuit board is causing problems.....which Atwood boards have an issue with
  • Rover_Bill's avatar
    Rover_Bill
    Explorer II
    Sep 25, 2019
    Sounds like the thermostat may be going bad and the ECO may be shutting down the gas flow. See this for a nice visual troubleshooting/replacement guide.
  • SMarquez's avatar
    SMarquez
    Explorer
    Sep 25, 2019
    SDcampowneroperator wrote:
    Whats your altidude? Altitude makes a difference in % of air to gas mix, so a lean or rich mix will cause mis fire. When it does light what does it sound like look like?
    A roaring flame is lean, lazy lean, quiet, yellowish. Clean blue with slight rumble is proper.
    We have had to adjust the air intake (with tape over a bit of the intake) at low altitude to stop flame out from low mixture.

    I'm at about 1500'. Everything looks good. Just seems like it won't cycle back on when the water temp drops after the initial start up.
  • SDcampowneroper's avatar
    SDcampowneroper
    Explorer
    Sep 25, 2019
    Whats your altidude? Altitude makes a difference in % of air to gas mix, so a lean or rich mix will cause mis fire. When it does light what does it sound like look like?
    A roaring flame is lean, lazy lean, quiet, yellowish. Clean blue with slight rumble is proper.
    We have had to adjust the air intake (with tape over a bit of the intake) at low altitude to stop flame out from low mixture.

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