Water Heater Problem - HELP

[moosetags]

We are camped in Lucy in Raton, New Mexico, and the water heater will not come on. Here are the details.

We were camped in Enid, Oklahoma, last night. We showered and the water heater was working as normal. This morning the water heater would not come on.

Lucy is a 2005 Safari 25FB. The water heater is an Atwood Gas, Model number G6A-8E.

When the switch in the bathroom is turned on, the red light comes on and I can hear the igniter firing, but the heater does not light. I went outside while SuEllyn tried it and I could see the igniter spark. I cleaned to gas supply orifice and the gas burner tube. I cleaned all of the electrical connections. I have checked every fuse that I can find. It still does not work.

What I think is happening is that the solenoid valve is not opening the gas valve, and therefore no gas is getting to the burner.

Here is a picture of Lucy's water heater. Any suggestions on repair?

Thanx, Brian

[arcamedies]

If the igniter is arcing then you have no gas getting to the tube, how is your gas supply on lighting the stove? good or no good? How is the 12 volt power? After 2 years on a recent coach I had I did find the red spade connectors on mine had white corrosion, once cleaned it fixed the no start.

WATER HEATER LOCK OUT - SPARK PRESENT BUT NO GAS

Gas pressure incorrect

------------------------------------------Set inlet pressure at a minimum 11˝ W.C. with two or more gas
appliances running
Low voltage--------------------------------------------------------Correct power supply - 10.5 VDC minimum
Blocked main burner tube --------------------------------------Clean burner tube
Blocked main burner orifice ------------------------------------Clean or replace orifice
Loose wires on E.C.O. --------------------------------------------Secure wire connections
Loose wire connections on solenoid valve --------------------Secure wire connections
Loose valve wire on wiring harness ----------------------------Repair wire on edge connector or replace wiring circuit board harness
Defective E.C.O. --------------------------------------------------Replace E.C.O.
Defective circuit board--------------------------------------------Replace circuit board
Defective solenoid valve------------------------------------------Replace coils or solenoid valve
No gas to solenoid valve ----------------------------------------Correct gas supply

Dirty connector on circuit board --------------------------------Clean edge connector

Good Luck let us know how you made out.

[ROBERTSUNRUS]

Hi, not sure if the symtems are the same, but bypass the thermal cut-off and try it. My trailer blew two of these. Remove the thermister and plug the brown w/white tracer wire in directly to see if it works. If it works replace the thermister/thermal cut-off.

[moosetags]

Thanx, guys. I've got plenty of LP on board. The furnace and refrigerator are working fine. Bob, I'll try the the thermal cut-off by pass tomorrow. my brown wire won't quite reach the the spade connector with out the cut-off in place. I'll need to pick up a couple of connectors tomorrow to make an extension wire tomorrow.

I'll let you know how it works out.

Further ideas would be appreciated.

Brian

[COUNTRYSONG]

Try the 'ol Hair dryer trick first on both the main connector (the one with the red wire) and also pull the one with the rubber cap ... a very small amount of moisture can cause what you are describing...Turn the hair dryer on all of the connections and also maybe use a pencil eraser to clean any corrosion from them...I've had the same problem from time to time and this seems to work... Good Luck

[overlander63]

I've had to replace several of the gas solenoids on the water heater when they did this. Try GENTLY tapping on the solenoids with a small hammer, wrench, etc, while the igniter is firing. Also, some, but not all Airstreams came with an independent shut off valve for the water heater, check to make sure it didn't get accidentally turned off. The valve, if it has one, will be under the trailer, between the belly pan wrap and main gas manifold.

[wasafari]

I second what Bob said, have had 2 of those things fail for whatever reason

[moosetags]

This morning, I have bypassed the TCO. I did not get any different results.

I double checked all wire connections. They all are clean.

I tried tapping on the black solenoid case with the switch on. Still nothing.

I put a meter on the lead to to the solenoid with the TCO in it. It's reading 13.2 volts DC.

I checked the gas feed lines under Lucy. All appears in order, and there is no separate shut-off valve for the water heater.

I'm guessing bad solenoid. What do you all think?

Can you replace the solenoid only or do you have to get a whole new solenoid valve.

Brian

[Gator113]

Brian,

I am new to all of this, take what I say with grain of salt.

I had something similar happen to our trailer right after we took delivery and got it home. Ours would ignite for about 1.5 seconds and fail. We went through all of the troubleshooting steps that you have completed.

I then called the dealer and was informed that the electrical board was bad. They sent me a new one, but screwed up and sent me the wrong one, but I should get the correct one this Tuesday.

In looking at your photos, it appears that I now have the one (new) that you might need. I'll be sending it back next week. It took 3 weeks for me to get this thing, so I would wonder if these boards are tough to get at the moment.

If....

-you conclude that the board is the problem,
-you determine there is an unacceptable delivery date,
-we confirm that what I have is indeed the board that you need....

I would be willing to ship this one to you and you could get it with "next day delivery". If you decide that you want it, I would check with my dealer and I am sure that you can work out settlement with them....

Given your board is different than the one that works in my unit, the price might be different. Mine was priced at $250, however, for me it's covered on warranty with $50 deductible.

Bottom-line... if the new one that I have is what you need and you want it, we can figure out the details as to how to make it happen for you.

In any case... good luck.

Dan

p.s. I know your pain. We had a part fail on the head in our boat during a 30 day water vacation. The part was tough to find in the islands, so we went for over a week having to use a bucket of salt water to flush. LOL

p.s.s The part that I have:

Circuit Board Replacement

Atwood P/N MPD 93307 2021-82
MCRO 50N-12-3-3-7-10-0-P23062
12VDC 1=1v=2A

My guess it this this is an updated part for what you have. Check your PM for my number if needed.

[halimer]

If you need a board get a Dinosaur Board. They have 3 year warranty.

Mark

[ticki2]

You should be able to hear the solenoid click open if it's working.

[arcamedies]

That's the little dickins that always gave me a problem, never knew what it was intended for but the spade part would corrode, dialectric grease fixed it for good, after cleaning of course.

Sounds like a possible selonoid/circuit board, I agree with ticki2 do you hear the selonoid click, pretty noticible.

The more I hear the more I like the manual unit the previous owner installed in my vintage trailer.

Originally Posted by ROBERTSUNRUS

Hi, not sure if the symtems are the same, but bypass the thermal cut-off and try it. My trailer blew two of these. Remove the thermister and plug the brown w/white tracer wire in directly to see if it works. If it works replace the thermister/thermal cut-off.

[Gator113]

Brian,

Are we back to taking showers? What was the fix?

Cheers,

Dan

[doorgunner]

squirt a little ether in there and let me know what happens, if you're able.

[moosetags]

Lucy has hot water again! You don't realize how important hot water is when Airstreaming.

Yesterday, we were in Colorado Springs. We went by the Camping World there. They were not very sympathetic to our plight. They said that they could take a look at it in about ten days. They did not have the solenoid valve that we thought that we needed.

This morning, we headed up to Denver, and visited Windish Airstream in Lakewood, Colorado. They told us that they could take a look at Lucy in About three weeks. The didn't seem real interested in helping a passing through Airrstreamer. They did refer us to another close by RV service facility.

We took Lucy over to Steve Casey's RV in Wheat Ridge. They put an RV tech right on Lucy's problem. The solenoids were working, but the valve itself was jammed in the closed position. The tech could make it work by removing the power wire to the solenoid valve and tapping it three or four times to the power connection with the water heater switch in the 'on' position. The water heater would fire off.

We decided that since we are in the middle of a month long trip, we had them replace the solenoid valve with a new one. They had the correct valve in stock. Lucy was out of there and on her way in less than two hours.

We headed on up to Cheyenne, Wyoming, where we are spending the night. We are looking forward to a nice hot shower.

Brian

[ROBERTSUNRUS]

Hi, what a hassle trying to get an RV repaired while on the road. Glad to hear that some-one was able to help you out and fix it.

[richinny]

nice to hear that the hot water is back. bravo to Steve Casey's RV in Wheat Ridge

[Kevin245]

Originally Posted by moosetags

Lucy has hot water again! You don't realize how important hot water is when Airstreaming.

Yesterday, we were in Colorado Springs. We went by the Camping World there. They were not very sympathetic to our plight. They said that they could take a look at it in about ten days. They did not have the solenoid valve that we thought that we needed.

This morning, we headed up to Denver, and visited Windish Airstream in Lakewood, Colorado. They told us that they could take a look at Lucy in About three weeks. The didn't seem real interested in helping a passing through Airrstreamer. They did refer us to another close by RV service facility.

We took Lucy over to Steve Casey's RV in Wheat Ridge. They put an RV tech right on Lucy's problem. The solenoids were working, but the valve itself was jammed in the closed position. The tech could make it work by removing the power wire to the solenoid valve and tapping it three or four times to the power connection with the water heater switch in the 'on' position. The water heater would fire off.

We decided that since we are in the middle of a month long trip, we had them replace the solenoid valve with a new one. They had the correct valve in stock. Lucy was out of there and on her way in less than two hours.

We headed on up to Cheyenne, Wyoming, where we are spending the night. We are looking forward to a nice hot shower.

Brian

Glad to hear you're back in hot water again!!! Oops...you know what I mean.

Thankfully you found someone to help you.

Regards,

Kevin

[arcamedies]

Glad to hear that you got some help from a service shop, although sad what you had to go through.

[Relentless]

Thanks for the update, Brian.
If it helps any, you have added to our knowledge base.

John