My 6 gal Atwood G6A-8E HW would not stay lit,it would light and stay clicking then shut off. I replaced the flame sensor last year so I decided to clean the electrical contacts orifice and flame sensor tips but still could not get it to stay lit. I then started to clean the grounds and noticed the ground wire for the two green wires on the gas valve was rusted so stared to remove nut to clean terminals and pulled one of the green wires out. Has anyone done this before and have re-soldered the wire back or do I need a complete new gas valve? Hopefully the picture comes attached.

I am guessing that the connector is a spade type. If it is, go and purchase a new one and reconnect all the wire to it and take sand paper to the male end of the connection to clean it up and then reconnect the female end. Trying to clean rust out of a female connector is next to impossible and the connectors are dirt cheap. Take the connector with you to the auto parts store to get the correct size and you will be in business in short order.

The problem is not wiring, it's the actual ground bond between the thermocouple/ starter, burner assy.. Any even slight corrosion under those brackets will cause it to do exactly what you see. This happened to me several years ago and I ended up buying a replacement control board before figuring this out. I cleaned everything and added star washers to all screws just to make sure the ground return was solid.(edit iPhone spelling)

Grandpere wrote:I am guessing that the connector is a spade type. If it is, go and purchase a new one and reconnect all the wire to it and take sand paper to the male end of the connection to clean it up and then reconnect the female end. Trying to clean rust out of a female connector is next to impossible and the connectors are dirt cheap. Take the connector with you to the auto parts store to get the correct size and you will be in business in short order. Hpefully a picture will come this time. It is a wire that just broke no spade connection. I figured I would solder back together to continue to trouble shoot system If this doesn't work the only thing left is the control board which I will test next. The ground is the left hand nut when I went to take it off it pulled the wire out. The terminals and nut were rusty. Lesson learned is remove the gas valve first if nut and terminals are rusted together.

Yep, I'd say you need a new valve,......and then hope the control board is ok.Or dig into it, see if it will solder back on,....nothing to loose.

Water heater problem made worse | Good Sam Community

Gjac
Explorer III
Jul 18, 2014
westend wrote:
Gjac wrote:
Chris Bryant wrote:
You can buy replacement coils for Suburban or Hydroflame, which work fine for the Atwood- it is Hydroflame p/n 3475 - the difference is it has quick disconnect terminals, not wires. It may be possible to repair the coil you have- it's just very fine wire you have to deal with.
Thanks for this info. It would be better than replacing the whole assy for $132. What I did was remove about 3/16 of the black plastic surrounding the broken wire. I then drilled into the copper wire that looked like a terminal embedded in the plastic I stripped and tinned the broken wire and inserted it into the terminal and solder it back together. I put some Goop around the soldered wire, re installed and it fired right up which I was very thankful. Has anyone else had a problem with that ground on the gas valve?
No, never had that issue but have pulled a wire or twenty out of a fixed terminal.
It appears, from the picture, that the two ground wires are part of the circuits that energize the magnetic coils. As long as the coils are functioning, I'd say--nice fix!
Having said that, there is a lot of elegance to just replacing the valve, it is a device designed for safety.
I posted this because I have been playing with this WH since I bought it. I think the water dripping from the PRV on the electrical contacts did not help either( replaceed PRV). Even after the new ingnighter was installed it worked for awhile then it needed multiple tries to get it to run. The board can be tested easily from the Atwood web site but that ground is hard to see. Hopefully this helps someone else with a similar problem. I try it every day just to hear it light on the first try, sounds nice.
westend
Explorer
Jul 17, 2014
Gjac wrote:
Chris Bryant wrote:
You can buy replacement coils for Suburban or Hydroflame, which work fine for the Atwood- it is Hydroflame p/n 3475 - the difference is it has quick disconnect terminals, not wires. It may be possible to repair the coil you have- it's just very fine wire you have to deal with.
Thanks for this info. It would be better than replacing the whole assy for $132. What I did was remove about 3/16 of the black plastic surrounding the broken wire. I then drilled into the copper wire that looked like a terminal embedded in the plastic I stripped and tinned the broken wire and inserted it into the terminal and solder it back together. I put some Goop around the soldered wire, re installed and it fired right up which I was very thankful. Has anyone else had a problem with that ground on the gas valve?
No, never had that issue but have pulled a wire or twenty out of a fixed terminal.
It appears, from the picture, that the two ground wires are part of the circuits that energize the magnetic coils. As long as the coils are functioning, I'd say--nice fix!
Having said that, there is a lot of elegance to just replacing the valve, it is a device designed for safety.
DaHose
Explorer
Jul 17, 2014
It's just a ground so you can certainly try re-attaching. In my case, the wire was actually corroded and pulled away from the coil. Soldering might stay put, but I would just replace.

The price you listed is quite high. Look on Ebay or Amazon. You can find a new valve for around $80, delivered.

I just replaced the board on my old American Appliance (pre-Suburban buyout) 6 gal. DS water heater with a DinosaurElectronics.com board. I can't speak highly enough about them.

Jose
wa8yxm
Explorer III
Jul 17, 2014
IF there is wire to solder to you should be able to do it.

The control board is actually Suspect #1. I recommend Dinosaur boards, You may need both the control board and an "AC/PROPANE" adapter but feed their web site your make and model, they will tell you.. About the same price, WAY better built, oh and a cover too.
Gjac
Explorer III
Jul 17, 2014
I posted the picture because it is very hard to see the green ground point for the two wires on the gas valve. I have cleaned all the other grounds over the years but this one is hard to get at and see, but this one fixed the problem. My control board is original and is the potted version. Now to get my refer working again.
D_E_Bishop
Explorer
Jul 17, 2014
Slightly off topic but, years ago when I was greenhorn in RVing, our frige wouldn't light, took it to a RV dealer service center. Got a call in the afternoon and a very big lecture about performing routine cleaning of everything electrical. Turns out it was just a badly corroded faston connector. Cost me five bucks for the repair and $0.26 for the faston.
RJsfishin
Explorer
Jul 17, 2014
At first sign of misfire, I have always cleaned all the terminals, grounds included, but more times than not, it ends up to be a control board problem.
SCVJeff
Explorer
Jul 16, 2014
Gjac wrote:
SCVJeff wrote:
The problem is not waiting, it's the actual ground bond between the thermocouple/ starter, burner assy.. Any even slight corrosion under those brackets will cause it to do exactly what you see. This happened to me several years ago and I ended up buying a replacement control board before figuring this out. I cleaned everything and added star washers to all screws just to make sure the ground return was solid.
Are you talking about the steel bracket that holds flame sensor and where it mounts to the burner assy?
yes. The return for the sensor is through the bracket itself. At least it is on mine
Gjac
Explorer III
Jul 16, 2014
Chris Bryant wrote:
You can buy replacement coils for Suburban or Hydroflame, which work fine for the Atwood- it is Hydroflame p/n 3475 - the difference is it has quick disconnect terminals, not wires. It may be possible to repair the coil you have- it's just very fine wire you have to deal with.
Thanks for this info. It would be better than replacing the whole assy for $132. What I did was remove about 3/16 of the black plastic surrounding the broken wire. I then drilled into the copper wire that looked like a terminal embedded in the plastic I stripped and tinned the broken wire and inserted it into the terminal and solder it back together. I put some Goop around the soldered wire, re installed and it fired right up which I was very thankful. Has anyone else had a problem with that ground on the gas valve?
Gjac
Explorer III
Jul 16, 2014
SCVJeff wrote:
The problem is not waiting, it's the actual ground bond between the thermocouple/ starter, burner assy.. Any even slight corrosion under those brackets will cause it to do exactly what you see. This happened to me several years ago and I ended up buying a replacement control board before figuring this out. I cleaned everything and added star washers to all screws just to make sure the ground return was solid.
Are you talking about the steel bracket that holds flame sensor and where it mounts to the burner assy?

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