Water heater not operating & City water issues

1st the easy one....

Fresh water tank overfilled cause city valve was NOT in correct position and water leaked by thru Fill position

Water heater........
Well that could be many things and depends on which BRAND/Model it is.

Atwood uses 12 DC for controls on both electric and propane
Electric uses 12V DC to ON/OFF switch then to a relay that triggers the 120V AC to element. Could be tripped 120V Circuit breaker, could be a bad DC relay, could be a bad element.
Propane uses 12V DC to open gas valve and for spark ignition. Main flame has to prove it lit or circuit board will trip DC to gas valve. Could be dirty spark electrode, bad electrode/ceramic, bad ground
RED Fault light will come on
Atwood uses SAME set of t-stats for temp control on both electric and propane.
Propane lights but doesn't stay lit so the t-stats are good.
Also that circuit has a thermal fuse that shuts down ALL DC but it is good otherwise propane would not fire at all


Suburban uses separate sets of t-stats for electric or propane
120V AC set for the electric and 12V DC for propane
Electric not working could be tripped 1220V AC circuit breaker, bad on/off switch, bad t-stat/tripped t-stat (push to reset) or bad element
Propane not staying lit could be bad t-stat/tripped t-stat, bad spark electrode/ceramic, bad ground etc

Which brand/model is water heater?

When it lights on propane....is flame good/strong and blue?

IS spark electrode 'engulfed' in main flame...needs to be. And should glow red

More info on what it does, when it does it and what it doesn't do

I would guess that the fresh water tank did not fill up because the drain valve was open, and whatever water leaked in from the fill valve being in not quite the right spot just drained out more or less immediately. It sounds as though you took the proper corrective action, i.e. adjusting the fill valve.

Has the water heater worked previously? If you've used it in the past, one thing I would check to begin with is that the bypass valves are set properly for water heater operation and not (partly) bypassing it. Checking that there is water in the tank (by, say, operating the relief valve and seeing if water comes out) and whether it's getting hot would help. If the propane heating turned off after a few minutes, it could be because the water in the tank was hot but it just wasn't getting out. It could conceivably also behave similarly if there was no water in the tank, in which case the 120V element is probably now shot and needs replacement, and possibly some of the gas safety overheat gizmos also need replacement.

If it's not bypassed and has water, then it's a matter of troubleshooting the heater controls etc. as Old-Biscuit wrote about.

My daughter had multiple issues with her brand new TT and Atwood water heater. Short answer. Re-seat all electrical connections at the water heater. Remove, clean (including the area of the tank that they touch it) and re-install BOTH temperature sensors/switches.

After a few trips back to the dealer the above solved the issue.

Thanks for the replies. I will do some trouble shooting as suggested and see what results I get. I'll post more on Saturday.

Ok, did some troubleshooting. Here is what I have so far....

1. Atwood 6ga water heater
2. Strong blue flame under 12V - I'm assuming this is operating under propane?
3. Electrode engulfed in flame as it should be
4. Will NOT ignite when I use 120V switch.
5. Found that my pressure relief valve has a drip when it water heater is hot. I even jiggled the relief valve and let a little water out and it still leaks. It had this small leak before as well.

Questions:

How can I diagnose and repair the 120V issue?
How to replace the pressure relief valve. Is it a simple screw off and screw on a new one? Plumber's putty or teflon tape needed?

Thanks!

Regarding 4. above: Will not ignite... What won't ignite? The Gas Flame should not burn in Electric Mode. Or do you mean there's an Indicator Light and it doesn't glow in Electric Mode?

The only Atwood water heater I've had or worked on, was a simple Standing Pilot one, similar to the old home Gas Water Heater. It had an electric element that was a simple circuit. Power to Switch to Thermostat to Element.

OB's info above says there's a relay and he's The Man when it comes to looking this stuff up. I didn't see a Model Number so I haven't tried to look up a manual...

But, at the end of the day, the 12-VDC side has to have what the phone company used to call "battery and ground." And Drew would say 120-VAC has to have "hot and neutral." Always be sure that Both have Both. Sometimes we spent all out time on the hot/positive side and don't consider the neutral/ground side.

That just happened to me. Water heater, 120-VAC side out. I was sure I'd burned the element out. Installed a new one, thing still didn't work. Turned out it was a failed junction box connection on the Neutral side. See if your Element has continuity. Power off, connections off, 10-15 Ohms on your DVOM. Re-connect, then Power ON, see if you have 120-VAC at the Element. If you have continuity in the Element, and 120-VAC on ONE side of it, the thing should heat. If you have NONE, it's trouble in power source, from Breaker to Controls, Thermostat, Relay, Wiring, Termal Safety. If you have 120-VAC on BOTH element terminals, then you have what just happened to me: Open HEUTRAL, that White 120-VAC wire.

That failure-in-the-junction-box thing didn't occur to me. Chris Bryant had to bail me out. But thinking of it, Water Heater's a heavy, persistent, load on wiring and connections. A long steady draw, not like making toast or a pot of coffee. Makes sense it can burn out those cheesy punch-down terminals.

Like j-d, my hot water heater did not work on 120v. I replaced the 120v heating element, but unlike j-d the new element solved my problem. When operating on 120v, there is no flame. It works like a over-sized coffee maker. A heating element that looks like this heats up the water.

BTW: If you do an ohm check across the element terminals and determine it's bad and remove it, BE PREPARED for a rush of water by placing lots of bath towels around it. Even though you drain the tank, about 1/2 gallon of water remains inside to submerge the heating element to protect it just in-case the tank is empty but the switch is accidentally left on when the RV is plugged into 120v. According to the tank manufacture, freezing does no harm.

That dripping P/T Valve...

I'm told some folk test them periodically, and doing so keeps it from dripping.

I've found that they don't drip till somebody tests them.

So I don't test them, and when they drip, I don't expect that popping it open and letting it spring shut, will cure the dripping.

I go get a new one. They're inexpensive, the big box stores have them, and you don't need an "RV" part for an RV Water Heater. Just remove it, go match it up. Install the New One with Teflon Tape.

You can probably get an RV water heater element at a big box store, too. But remember most home water heaters run on 240-VAC, so you need a 120-VAC element.

Suburban uses a 1440-Watt 120-VAC element. I think Atwood chose more line 1000-Watt. Doesn't heat as fast, but it conserves a little of your precious 30-Amp total from the campground pedestal and your main coach breaker. I put a 1000 in our Suburban and based on my test at home, I think I'm good with a little slower recovery to save 4-Amps of current draw.

You need a 1-1/2" Socket for Water Heater Elements, Home or RV. I used an old (VERY) heavy duty mechanic's socket and could barely get it onto the hex for the sheet metal around it. The cheap sheet metal socket slips in better. Element seals with an O-Ring and comes with a new one.

OK.....feeling embarrassed!

I assumed that since 12V switch informed the burner to activate/ignite, so would the 120V switch. I was wondering why the 120V switch would not ignite the burner.....DUH!!!!

After reading the input on this thread, I realized it is a heating element that heats water on 120V, NOT propane!!

BTW....the PRV also stopped leaking on 120V!

Is is possible PRV would leak on 12V/Propane and not on 120V? If so, why?

Thanks for the input.