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khopew's avatar
khopew
Explorer
Jun 03, 2013

Chronic problem with Atwood water heater

Hello everyone, I'm hoping someone can help us with a issue on our 2011 Jayco travel trailer with a standard gas/electric Atwood water heater.

Last November we had a problem with our water heater not turning off at the campsite, it would run for hours until the release valve would would spew and it smoked up the outside of the camper. After some tinkering by my husband and brother-in-laws they determined that the high limit thermostat had gone bad, they bought a new panel and it worked great. Problem solved. Now here we are getting ready for our second trip since it was replaced and the same thing is happening again. They have checked to make sure it has good contact with the tank already (they checked last time too) and nothing is corroded. I'm picking up a new thermostat on my way home from work tomorrow to be installed, but I have been on here tonight searching trying to figure out if we are missing something else that could be causing this issue. I know its entirely possible that it just happened to go out again but it seems strange that after about a total of four days use and 8 months later it the same thing happened.

Thanks for any help or input in advance!
Seeking Advice

8 Replies

  • khopew's avatar
    khopew
    Explorer
    Jun 06, 2013
    Thanks westend! That very well could be it, we have high humidity in southwestern VA and I'd say the spot we park in at home is pretty humid too. I'll tell my husband about the spray, there was a delay with our dealer getting the part so we haven't put it on yet.
  • westend's avatar
    westend
    Explorer
    Jun 04, 2013
    Is your TT parked in a spot where there is high humidity? It may be that the mechanism of the thermostat is oxidizing and then becomes stuck. If it was my problem, I'd replace with a new thermostat, forcing some anti-oxidant into the thermostat. One of the best anti-oxidants for this purpose is Caig Deoxit Gold. It cleans up any oxidation and provides a barrier to future oxidation. Available at Radio Shack in a spray can. It works wonders for truck/trailer umbilical, too!
  • khopew's avatar
    khopew
    Explorer
    Jun 04, 2013
    Thanks for the tips! I noticed that Dinosaur was mentioned in some of my searches, if needed we will use them. We called Atwood last time this happened and they recommended the thermostat, I will give them a call tomorrow to see if they can shed any light on why it happened again. The part (thermostat) will be here tomorrow so we wil see what happens. The parts manager at our dealer said he had never heard of this happening either. Hopefully we just ran into two bad thermostats but I feel like that's not going to be the case.

    Thanks!
  • Alpenliter's avatar
    Alpenliter
    Explorer
    Jun 04, 2013
    If you do narrow it to the circuit board, I would recommend replacing it with a Dinosaur Board. Made in the USA and is a quality, robust product.
  • khopew's avatar
    khopew
    Explorer
    Jun 04, 2013
    It is a DSI and I know last night replacing a control board was brought up, could that be it? It would be nice if it was still under warranty but we bought it in 2010 so it's been out of warranty for well over a year. We never had a issue with our old Atwood on our first camper, so we were surprised this one is giving us so many issues! Thanks everyone!
  • JEBar's avatar
    JEBar
    Explorer
    Jun 04, 2013
    depending on the purchase date, your 2011 Jayco could still be under the OEM factory warranty .... if so, with this being the second time, it might be worth taking it in for a repair .... if replacing the thermostat solved the problem the first time, it could be that you simply got a weak replacement .... our Atwood water heater has been going strong since '05 so I can't offer any assistance from personal experience

    Jim

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