Water heater issues

[Lorinmc3]

Hi. I have a 6 gallon Atwood water heater. it is electric/propane. When I switch it to electric it works fine but when I switch it to gas, it lights then goes out. Below, I have attached a link to a video showing it trying to light. Any suggestions would be appreciated.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KID3MPBc_P8&feature=youtube_gdata_player

[Hamops]

mchero wrote:
From the looks of the video I could tell that the gas\air mixture did not seem right. I was going to suggest a complete teardown & reassembly of the burner tube. Adjusting the spark/flame sensor as well.

I'd replace the little tube you slide back & fourth to adjust the air mixture, it's looking quite rusty.



RM

I have to agree about air/gas mixture. It appears to be too lean. As a quick check, adjust the slide air tube to close off the air. Move the slide a slight increment, and start the fridge on gas. If the flame does not maintain itself, repeat the step until it does. This may take several tries before it will work. If it works, you can leave it for the time being but you will need to do a little maintenance on the gear as suggested.

[Itisme]

Doesn't the water heater have a thermo cuplupler or something to detect the flame lite, and thus when it does not. If so, and it is bad, it may turn off the gas since it did not detect the flame. I'm sure someone can jump in and explain it better, or correct me.

[Lorinmc3]

My water heater works fine on the electric side. I was just Having issues with the gas side. I like using it on gas cause the Water heats up faster.

[mchero]

From the looks of the video I could tell that the gas\air mixture did not seem right. I was going to suggest a complete teardown & reassembly of the burner tube. Adjusting the spark/flame sensor as well.

I'd replace the little tube you slide back & fourth to adjust the air mixture, it's looking quite rusty.

Down the road you might want to think about installing a hotrod so you can run your heater off of electric when you have full hookups.

I just added a hotrod to my Atwood HWH. Wish I had done it 5 years ago!

Oh, You might want to check your fridge burner as well.

RM

[Gjac]

Glad it was something simple.

[Lorinmc3]

Thanks for the information. I went out to follow your steps for testing the circuit board. Before I started, I decided to clean out the burner assembly. Come to find out, there was a spider web in the burner tub. I cleaned it out and put it back together. Now it works like a charm. Thanks for your help!

[Lorinmc3]

That's true! Actually I was thinking the same thing and I checked them. They are now full. But just my luck, that didn't do it.. So it poly is the circuit board.

[schlep1967]

Check your gas supply. Try switching bottles. After switching bottles go in and light the stove burners for a few minutes to ensure the gas is fully through the lines. Then try the hotwater heater again. Might not be the gas but it is cheaper to try than buying the circut board.

[Gjac]

Atwood **potted circuit boards can be tested using a
multi-meter. This test must be performed with the
circuit board removed, and the meter set to the ohms
scale. This will check the continuity of all tracks on
the harness connection of the board.
The following steps should be used to test each track.
A. Cross leads of meter to ensure it is registering
continuity.
B. TO TEST POWER TRACK:
Place negative lead of the multi-meter to ground (green
wire) track of edge connection and positive lead of the
multi-meter to top power (brown wire) track of edge
connection. If no continuity, board is defective. *Atwood
does not warranty this installation related failure.
C. TO TEST LAMP TRACK:
Place negative lead of the multi-meter to ground (green
wire) track of edge connection and positive lead of the
multi-meter to lamp (blue wire) track of edge
connection. If no continuity, this indicates blown lamp
track. Circuit board will still fire unit but lamp light will
not come on. This is caused by a short in the blue wire
between the unit and the switch. Wiring must be
corrected before the board is replaced. *Atwood does
not warranty this installation related failure.
D. TO TEST VALVE TRACK:
Place negative lead of the multi-meter to ground (green
wire) track of edge connection and positive lead of the
multi-meter to valve (red wire) track of edge connection.
If no continuity, this indicates a blown valve track.
• If the valve wire is shorting under the flue box –
Atwood will warranty the board.
• If the E.C.O. terminals are contacting the drawn pan
– Atwood will warranty the board only if the inner
tank of the water heater was installed flush on the
floor of the coach.
• If the inner tank of the water heater does not rest
flush against the floor of the coach –*Atwood does
not warranty this installation related failure.
* Installation related failures on circuit boards are the
responsibility of the coach manufacturer.
** Non potted circuit boards can be checked by turning the
board over and visually inspecting each track for a burn
mark or break in the track itself. A burn mark or broken
track indicates the board is blown. Depending on which
track is blown determines whether it is covered under
Atwood’s warranty as stated in section B, C and D. Use this to test. But I would clean every electrical connection and would believe it is a corroded connector before a bad board. Hope this helps.

[Lorinmc3]

Yes the igniter is clicking and lighting the flame. But it only burns for a couple seconds and then goes out.

[Gjac]

Lorinmc3 wrote:
Thanks for that info. Is there a way to test the circuit board to make sure that's the problem?

Yes if you go on Atwood web site at the end of the manual it tells you how to test them using an ohm meter. Also if you have a newer non potted board you can look at the back to see if there is any arcing. As a little more incite there are about 3 grounding points to check and clean as well as all other connections. The igniter can be cleaned and adjusted. I could not tell if you igniter was clicking form the video?

[Lorinmc3]

Thanks for that info. Is there a way to test the circuit board to make sure that's the problem?

[jergeod]

When you open the door on the water heater on the right near the top there is a black potted unit called a circuit board it is the sparker to keep the unit firing and if you don't hear it spark snapping continually it has gone bad. I just talked with Atwood today about the same problem. Ordered one from American RV Company $123.95

[Lorinmc3]

Ok sorry. I had to go change my settings in YouTube. I don't know why it was set to private. it should work now.