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The Cooked Suburban Water Heater Control Board.

Ralph_Cramden
Explorer II
Explorer II
These are pictures of the PCB removed from the Suburban SW6DE water heater I removed from our 2017 Rockwood. It started only firing on LPG when it felt like doing so earlier in the season, and eventually stopped firing at all. I knew what the culprit was. Between last fall and this year I have now changed out 5 of these boards for other people so this makes 6. All fried in the same spot and all were the same Suburban catalog number and revision number 35-525900-113. But according to Suburban, there are no widespread problems with these boards. They seem to make it past Suburbans 2 year warranty fine as all the ones I have changed have been in rigs owned for around 3 years or so. Our 17 Rockwood was built and purchased in April 2016.

If you have the SW6DE and it has this board, you may want to get a spare to have on hand, Like a Dinosaur UIB-S.





Too many geezers, self appointed moderators, experts, and disappearing posts for me. Enjoy. How many times can the same thing be rehashed over and over?
12 REPLIES 12

Dutch_12078
Explorer II
Explorer II
I've installed four Dinosaur UIB's so far this year, but just one in a Suburban water heater. The other three went in an Atwood water heater (my own) and two Hydroflame furnaces. The Suburban board didn't burn though, it went missing while the RV was in storage.
Dutch
2001 GBM Landau 34' Class A
F53 chassis, Triton V10, TST TPMS
Bigfoot Automatic Leveling System
2011 Toyota RAV4 4WD/Remco pump
ReadyBrute Elite tow bar/Blue Ox baseplate

RJsfishin
Explorer
Explorer
Hey Duggie,.....sure you ain't been workin too long ?? Give it a break !!
Rich

'01 31' Rexall Vision, Generac 5.5k, 1000 watt Honda, PD 9245 conv, 300 watts Solar, 150 watt inv, 2 Cos 6v batts, ammeters, led voltmeters all over the place, KD/sat, 2 Oly Cat heaters w/ ox, and towing a 2012 Liberty, Lowe bass boat, or a Kawi Mule.

dougrainer
Nomad
Nomad
Lynnmor wrote:
dougrainer wrote:
Lynnmor wrote:
Since some defend China Bomb tires, perhaps they could come to the defense of this kind of Bomb as well. Maybe the board was overloaded or the user took a shower too fast.


This takes the cake. "TOOK A SHOWER TOO FAST"? Are you serious??????. The board cannot get "overloaded". Doug

PS, There have been Asian built electronic parts for 60 years. The parts are built to the OEM specs, by USA engineers.


No I was not serious, it was sarcasm. :R

There are those that always blame the victim.

Sorry, don't see the humor or called for sarcasm on this type post. Doug

PS, after 39 years I have seen too many IDIOTIC posts that believers actually believe.

Lynnmor
Explorer
Explorer
dougrainer wrote:
Lynnmor wrote:
Since some defend China Bomb tires, perhaps they could come to the defense of this kind of Bomb as well. Maybe the board was overloaded or the user took a shower too fast.


This takes the cake. "TOOK A SHOWER TOO FAST"? Are you serious??????. The board cannot get "overloaded". Doug

PS, There have been Asian built electronic parts for 60 years. The parts are built to the OEM specs, by USA engineers.


No I was not serious, it was sarcasm. :R

There are those that always blame the victim.

Boomerweps
Explorer
Explorer
DutchmenSport wrote:
larry cad wrote:
Note: "MADE IN CHINA"

...


Take a good look at EVERYTHING in your camper. I don't care what brand or model it is. Look at the label on the windows, the label under the chairs, the label in the refrigerator, the label on the stove, the label on the water faucet. Just look and see where all this stuff is "made". About the only thing that is truly "American" on your camper are the Amish people who assemble it, and don't they hail from Holland (Pennsylvania Dutch)?


No. The PA Dutch are actually GERMAN, as in Dueschland (SP?). Germans do not call themselves German in their native language. The Amish call everyone else English.
2019 Wolf Pup 16 BHS Limited, axle flipped
2019 F150 4x4 SCrew SB STX 5.0 3.55 factory tow package, 7000#GVWR, 1990 CC Tow mirrors, ITBC, SumoSprings,

Ralph_Cramden
Explorer II
Explorer II
dougrainer wrote:
What do you do that makes you available to replace 6 boards? I work at a medium size RV dealership(39 years) and I cannot remember the last time I replaced a Suburban control board. Are you positive the area WHERE the board is mounted is not the cause of your numerous problems you have found? Possible wet area or area where water intrusion can get on the board? Doug


I do repairs on an extremely part time basis, more or less as a hobby more than anything. Probably not as part time as I would like because I get a lot of calls. Even though I turn most down I find myself letting my stuff go because I am working on other peoples rigs. It can pay pretty good.

Mine and two others were mounted to the sidewall next to the water heater in the dead space, not anywhere near the tank or floor. Two were mounted to a 1X wood brace they had below the heater tank, and one on a Heartland 5er was just laying loose on the vinyl floor in the dead space of the compartment. Every single one burnt the PCB in the exact same location. Inside the plastic suburban box beneath the foam spacer they stick to it on the back side of the board. I find it hard to believe it's just coincidence. No evidence of water on any of them.

And as far as China, Fenwal Controls is a division of Kidde. Chances are you have a Fenwal board in your sticks and brick furnace or other HVAC equipment.
Too many geezers, self appointed moderators, experts, and disappearing posts for me. Enjoy. How many times can the same thing be rehashed over and over?

dougrainer
Nomad
Nomad
Lynnmor wrote:
Since some defend China Bomb tires, perhaps they could come to the defense of this kind of Bomb as well. Maybe the board was overloaded or the user took a shower too fast.


This takes the cake. "TOOK A SHOWER TOO FAST"? Are you serious??????. The board cannot get "overloaded". Doug

PS, There have been Asian built electronic parts for 60 years. The parts are built to the OEM specs, by USA engineers.

dougrainer
Nomad
Nomad
What do you do that makes you available to replace 6 boards? I work at a medium size RV dealership(39 years) and I cannot remember the last time I replaced a Suburban control board. Are you positive the area WHERE the board is mounted is not the cause of your numerous problems you have found? Possible wet area or area where water intrusion can get on the board? Doug

DutchmenSport
Explorer
Explorer
larry cad wrote:
Note: "MADE IN CHINA"

...


Take a good look at EVERYTHING in your camper. I don't care what brand or model it is. Look at the label on the windows, the label under the chairs, the label in the refrigerator, the label on the stove, the label on the water faucet. Just look and see where all this stuff is "made". About the only thing that is truly "American" on your camper are the Amish people who assemble it, and don't they hail from Holland (Pennsylvania Dutch)?

Lynnmor
Explorer
Explorer
Since some defend China Bomb tires, perhaps they could come to the defense of this kind of Bomb as well. Maybe the board was overloaded or the user took a shower too fast.

larry_cad
Explorer II
Explorer II
Note: "MADE IN CHINA"

Amazing what some manufacturers will do to save a nickel
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