Atwood Water heater won't work on gas
I have a Atwood gas/electric water heater with DSI and it works fine on electric but does not work on gas. The gas valve does not open, the ignitor does not fire, the red light on the switch panel doe...
Forum Discussion
Can you post the model number of the heater? and what year it is? The controls have changed over the years.
On the "newer" Atwood's, the "same" electric controls run both gas and the electric element.
On the "older" Atwood's, the electric had separate controls and the gas had it's own.
Somewhere in the 2002 to late 2003, the new style came into play. And even on the older ones, there was a few generations. We need to know what model you have to help better.
What it sounds like in your case, is the safety circuit is not being made. And it sounds like you have the older version where the electric element controls are on the inside of the camper side of the heater and not outside compartment with the gas valve.
Make sure 12 volts is actually going to the control board as a starting place. I have not seen Atwood put a fuse on main power to the system but your camper mfg might have.
Common causes have been regardless of version, corrosion on the circuit board plug so the connections do not work. Remove the plug, clean and put the wire connection back on. Sometimes just unplugging and re-plugging a few times gets it going.
Corrosion on the high temp limit CO thermal disk switch terminals. This looks just like the thermostat just at a higher set point. But this only affect the gas valve, not the igniter.
Corrosion on the thermal fuse wiring if your vintage has the thermal fuse. This is for a fire or excess heat in the outside compartment. This is a very small thermal fuse that has a clear plastic cover over it. The connections on the ends get cruded up and the circuit will not make.
You will not get a fault light until the system actually try's to fire the igniter and the gas valve. The fault light is only for an ignition failure once the system try's to light. Since you hear no, thunk of the gas valve opening and no click, click, click of the igniter, you never made it past the safeties to allow the gas valve and igniter to start.
Hope this helps
John
On the "newer" Atwood's, the "same" electric controls run both gas and the electric element.
On the "older" Atwood's, the electric had separate controls and the gas had it's own.
Somewhere in the 2002 to late 2003, the new style came into play. And even on the older ones, there was a few generations. We need to know what model you have to help better.
What it sounds like in your case, is the safety circuit is not being made. And it sounds like you have the older version where the electric element controls are on the inside of the camper side of the heater and not outside compartment with the gas valve.
Make sure 12 volts is actually going to the control board as a starting place. I have not seen Atwood put a fuse on main power to the system but your camper mfg might have.
Common causes have been regardless of version, corrosion on the circuit board plug so the connections do not work. Remove the plug, clean and put the wire connection back on. Sometimes just unplugging and re-plugging a few times gets it going.
Corrosion on the high temp limit CO thermal disk switch terminals. This looks just like the thermostat just at a higher set point. But this only affect the gas valve, not the igniter.
Corrosion on the thermal fuse wiring if your vintage has the thermal fuse. This is for a fire or excess heat in the outside compartment. This is a very small thermal fuse that has a clear plastic cover over it. The connections on the ends get cruded up and the circuit will not make.
You will not get a fault light until the system actually try's to fire the igniter and the gas valve. The fault light is only for an ignition failure once the system try's to light. Since you hear no, thunk of the gas valve opening and no click, click, click of the igniter, you never made it past the safeties to allow the gas valve and igniter to start.
Hope this helps
John
