Atwood water heater problem

As I sit here in the rain at a KOA outside of Baton Rouge, we have had the same problem. After reading these posts, I went outside and disconnected the 2 brown wires and connected them together (shorted) and the gas fired right up. Will let run for 20-30 minutes and remove jumper. Now I can take a shower. Appears to me to be a poor connection on the spades. Looks to be all carbonized, not corroded. Water heater worked just fine before we arrived here 2 days ago. It may be thermostat, but will check later when rain stops. Have to get the volt meter out of car to check.

StirCrazy wrote:
did you try to push the black rubber reset button on the water heater itself, before you started ripping everything apart.

Steve

?? re-set button? The only button I have on the water heater is the shore power on/off switch.

did you try to push the black rubber reset button on the water heater itself, before you started ripping everything apart.

Steve

Looks like all is fixed! Installed the limit switches last night, and water heater fired right up. Stayed on for about 40 mins, then shut down. I left it on overnight, and I still have nice hot water this morning, and the vent is warm, so it must have kicked in overnight. I will check it again when I get home from work. Thanks for all your help everybody. This forum is a great source of info for RV enthusiasts and I will certainly be spreading the word. Happy camping all!

It is a 5 min job, just make sure you keep the 2 of them straight.

I stopped by the dealership I bought my trailer from today and talked to my sales guy, who in turn talked to his manager, and they feel it could be the limit switches too. They want me to call the parts guys on Monday (closed on week ends) :( and see if they have the switches in stock. No cost to us, we just have to install them.

niksagkram wrote:
Just checked to see if the heater fired up when I shorted out the wires as suggested. Heater started when I shorted out the brown wires, but nothing when I tried the red. Checked red wires with the tester, no power there. Also, I pulled off the wiring harness on the circuit board and checked them with the tester, no power at all. Should there be? (remote switch is ON)

OK chances are the temp sensor on the brown wires is the issue, go buy the kit (about $20) and replace them, I don't think you will see power on those wires, they are all in series, one of those disks I believe are normally open and the other normally closed. The furnace only comes on when both are in the closed state. Here is how I believe it works: The red pair are normally closed and will open up when the water reaches max temp. The brown pair are normally open. They close when the temp drops below a certain amount to bring it on. So if it is stuck open then the furnace will never start. You shorted it out completing the circuit through the red ones and the heater fired on. if you had left it shorted it should have heated the water to operating temp then the red ones would have opened the circuit and shut it off. Leaving the brown ones shorted would have triggered it to restart almost immediately, which normally would not happen until the water had cooled somewhat. The reason for the 2 is because say the red pair stayed shorted, you woudl keep heating. That does not happen because the brown pair in series is sitting in an open state, until the temperature drops to a certain level. You woudl have to have both disks in a closed state to get an overheating failure. pretty unlikely. That is also why you should always replace both even if one is still OK.

On my schematic of the Atwood WH, the limit switches under the foam are as follows. The 2 red wires are from the high limit switch. One of the red wires goes to the gas valves and the other goes to the control bd. The other limit switch is the fixed temp control thermostat and has 2 brown wires, where one brown wire goes to the remote switch and is +12VDC when remote switch is in the on position. The other brown wire goes to the control bd.
On the remote switch there should be 2 white wires attached to terminal 6 and is 12VDC ground. Terminal 4 should have a yellow wire, terminal 2 should have a brown wire, terminal 3 should have a blue wire and is +12VDC.
On the remote switch terminals 2 & 3 are the actual switch.
On the remote switch terminals 4 & 6 are the indicator light built into the switch.
On the remote switch the color of wires on terminals 2 & 3 may be reversed but it doesn't matter as its just a switch.
If you remove the wires from the limit switches and the WH is cool they should read 0 ohms with an ohm meter as they are a normally closed switch and open only when they reach a set temp.
The high limit switch is an emergency cut of switch in case the fixed temp limit switch fails to operate.
Good luck
Happy camping nm1oqrz

Just checked to see if the heater fired up when I shorted out the wires as suggested. Heater started when I shorted out the brown wires, but nothing when I tried the red. Checked red wires with the tester, no power there. Also, I pulled off the wiring harness on the circuit board and checked them with the tester, no power at all. Should there be? (remote switch is ON)

OK... me again.:) I had a few minutes when I got home so I checked the wires on the hot water tank. I put a test light on them, with the remote switch on, and I had power to the brown wire, but no power to the red. And it seems like no power to the circuit board. I looked at the remote switch too, and there is power there.
I know this because when I pulled it away from it's mount, the white wires slipped of the connection and touched another wire, blowing a fuse. oops. :) Anyway, I'm not sure which wire is which on the switch. White is obviously live, but what are the rest? I looked at the wiring diagram in my manual, but it mentions a green wire from the switch, and there is no green wire on the switch. I have attached a pic(I hope). Maybe someone can explain what each wire is?

EDIT... Tried to attach pic, but won't let me :( I guess I should read Forum rules before I try to attach a pic.!

I'll describe the wires then..... There is a dark blue, next to a doubled white, then below these are a red and a black wire. Clear as mud?

EDIT... I made the pic of the switch my Rig pic so you should be able to see it....maybe.