Let me clear that up. I can fire the gas water heater fine, heats, etc. Thermostat shuts flame off, but sol stays energized? I can unplug ground wire, clicks and gas flow quits. Plug back in, and gas flows. Every once in a while the gas switch will red light reset. Gas switch works fine mostly, but the gas leak after flame goes out has been consistant. This sol. stays energized with all switches on electric.SW10DE. Maybe original, '99 Arctic Fox.

don,t fool with gas stuff replace the assembly.

Find out if there is indeed voltage on the gas valve circuit. If there is, find where it's coming from- has to be a short somewhere.If there is not, removing the wire simply jars the stuck valve, in which case it should be replaced.

Thanks Chris. I can actually "operate" the sol. by removing/installing the ground, so it has voltage. Just not sure if the circuit board could somehow be keeping the sol. energized, or the switch somehow staying on? I am not finding a good schematic to figure it out. Yet.

wolfwatcher wrote:Thanks Chris. I can actually "operate" the sol. by removing/installing the ground, so it has voltage. Just not sure if the circuit board could somehow be keeping the sol. energized, or the switch somehow staying on? I am not finding a good schematic to figure it out. Yet.The wall switch has nothing to do with energizing the solenoid. The solenoid is controlled by the Ignition module. I would suspect the ignition module has water corrosion on it and this is bleeding the voltage to the solenoid wire. Doug

It really cannot be the circuit board, because it has no power to it when not operating. I would trace the brown wire back to the circuit board, and do a general inspection of all connections. I was also wondering about a weird backfeed from the 120 volt side- not sure about that though.There is a schematic in the service manual I have here.

Suburban W Heater sol. leaking gas | Good Sam Community

midnightsadie
Explorer II
Jun 01, 2015
don,t fool with gas stuff replace the assembly.
Chris_Bryant
Explorer II
Jun 01, 2015
Find out if there is indeed voltage on the gas valve circuit. If there is, find where it's coming from- has to be a short somewhere.If there is not, removing the wire simply jars the stuck valve, in which case it should be replaced.
wolfwatcher
Explorer
Jun 01, 2015
Thanks Chris. I can actually "operate" the sol. by removing/installing the ground, so it has voltage. Just not sure if the circuit board could somehow be keeping the sol. energized, or the switch somehow staying on? I am not finding a good schematic to figure it out. Yet.
dougrainer
Nomad
Jun 01, 2015
wolfwatcher wrote:
Thanks Chris. I can actually "operate" the sol. by removing/installing the ground, so it has voltage. Just not sure if the circuit board could somehow be keeping the sol. energized, or the switch somehow staying on? I am not finding a good schematic to figure it out. Yet.

The wall switch has nothing to do with energizing the solenoid. The solenoid is controlled by the Ignition module. I would suspect the ignition module has water corrosion on it and this is bleeding the voltage to the solenoid wire. Doug
Chris_Bryant
Explorer II
Jun 01, 2015
It really cannot be the circuit board, because it has no power to it when not operating. I would trace the brown wire back to the circuit board, and do a general inspection of all connections.
I was also wondering about a weird backfeed from the 120 volt side- not sure about that though.

There is a schematic in the service manual I have here.
wolfwatcher
Explorer
Jun 01, 2015
The service manual helps a lot. Of course, my vom and test light are 40 miles away, but that will be fixed tonight. I also noticed in the manual it mentioned the t-stat governs the voltage to the switch? Once I can track the flow I might be in luck. I will post findings tomorrow.
Old-Biscuit
Explorer III
Jun 01, 2015
IF thermostat functions/shuts off propane then there would be NO Voltage to circuit board cause when t-stat OPENS it cuts DC (+)

Only way for DC power to get to circuit board would be wiring issue/cross wire/short inside junction box on side of WH

Have you measured the voltage?
Measure coming from t-stat (red wire) and measure oing to gas solenoids (brown wire)

Can't see how 120 AC would be suspect....separte junction box, separate wiring runs etc.
wolfwatcher
Explorer
Jun 01, 2015
Thanks Old Biscuit. More good info to go on. Will retrieve nec tools tonight and be back at it tomorrow. For now the electric side works great.
Chris_Bryant
Explorer II
Jun 01, 2015
Old-Biscuit wrote:

Can't see how 120 AC would be suspect....separte junction box, separate wiring runs etc.

I have to admit some convoluted reasoning there- simply because I have seen weirder things happen. My (flawed) thinking involves a bad ground, with enough leakage from the element to raise the water heater ground enough to backfeed through the gas valve to a ground through the module.

Theoretically, it could happen- in the real world, the water heater is grounded through the copper LP line, at least.
Old-Biscuit
Explorer III
Jun 02, 2015
Chris Bryant wrote:
Old-Biscuit wrote:

Can't see how 120 AC would be suspect....separate junction box, separate wiring runs etc.

I have to admit some convoluted reasoning there- simply because I have seen weirder things happen. My (flawed) thinking involves a bad ground, with enough leakage from the element to raise the water heater ground enough to backfeed through the gas valve to a ground through the module.

Theoretically, it could happen- in the real world, the water heater is grounded through the copper LP line, at least.

Wouldn't element need to be energized for that to even remotely happen :H

IF you need to replace solenoids..........HERE

AND how does Dougrainer's posts show up when not originally there and then poof there they are :H