Second striker board out on 22FB water heater

[Tim A.]

According to the 2107 Airstream International parts book PDF (found here https://www.airstream.com/wp-content...Parts-Book.pdf ), the water heater is Airstream part number 690602 and it is a 6 gallon gas/electric water heater. The Atwood PDF for electronic ignition water heaters is here: http://www.atwoodmobile.com/manuals/...S%204.9.09.pdf

I suspect that a phone call to Dinosaur would lead to the correct board for your water heater. As noted by others, consistent hot water might well outweigh getting reimbursed under warranty.

Tim

[OriginalMrT]

Wow thanks. I should have searched, feeling a little dumb now.

[VaTravelers]

Good luck with being reimbursed. I have a 2017 28’ Serenity. Dometic would only send out a mobile tech to troubleshoot. He confirmed it was a bad board. He ordered the OEM board from Dometic (which they would only send to him) but I had him install the Dino board while he was at my house. He later dropped off the replacement OEM board which I have as a spare. My guess is I’ll never need it. The only thing I paid for was the Dino board. Works as it should.

[Msherw]

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Board failure #3
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On the road right now. Water heater worked fine going to bed. Red light on this morning. I checked the LP gas supply and both tanks fine as the stove and furnace both work. When the water heater is fired up it goes through 3 tries and then the red light comes on for good.

As long as the AS sits stationary at home, WH works fine. After a trip, it fails and always on the outbound side of the trip meaning we have no hot water for the trip which makes the wife so very happy with her 6 month old Airstream.

Sooo I’m going to call Atwood and tell them I don’t want another board installed. I want a new water heater. Does this sound like a logical plan? I don’t even want to spend $100 for a Dinsaur board since it too could be destroyed. I think I’ll call Atwood while on the road so they can talk to my dealer and let them know another board will not fix the problem long term.

Any ideas or thoughts?

[mefly2]

We went through the same with the Dometic furnace ...very cold up north without a heater! I bought a new board at local RV facility and it is still holding up; thanks for the Dino tip, however.

[Msherw]

Atwood FedExing me board #4 to local campsite in BFE Big Bend, Tx. I will install. The say they have had bad lot of chicom-made boards. I seem to be dipping from that bad-board well.

I’ll update when I get the board installed. Btw the boards seem to work long enough to pass certification and QC. Then about 2-6 weeks later a component fails.

Airstream take note: Love the RV but hate the inconvenience of cold showers on the road. Get your stuff together and pressure any sub to produce 100% operational equipment.

[OriginalMrT]

Ok I am convinced. Warranty replacement would have been but nice hot showers are nicer. Putting http://www.dinosaurelectronics.com/UIB-64.html in my carry on to install before heading east.

[FarFetched]

I don't see any pricing on Dinosaur's website. How much are the replacement boards?

[OriginalMrT]

Originally Posted by FarFetched

I don't see any pricing on Dinosaur's website. How much are the replacement boards?

I paid 147.00 at Amazon. Probably would have been less on E-Bay.

[Msherw]

4th board was delivered last night by UPS to our campground. Installed it and as usual it lights and heats fine.

But...

I found the heater in red-light mode a couple of times with the new board. Re-cycled the switch and it comes back on. Got to do some mental and physical troubleshooting.

It could be the position of the ceramic flame tube striker/sensor that, in windy conditions fails to light the LP. If that is the case, I plan to retest the old “bad” boards when I get back home to make sure they indeed are bad.

[Al and Missy]

I had a similar problem in my furnace. I bought a dinosaur board on eBay and it didn't fix the problem. After some phone calls to Dinosaur they determined it was bad. They also determined that it was old stock. They had sold it, presumably to the e-Bay seller, over 6 months earlier. They sent me a new one but it didn't fix the problem. The problem was the igniter. It had developed high resistance leakage that would not let the voltage build up enough to spark. Are you actually getting a spark?

Al

[Msherw]

I get a spark for first 25 or so fire ups. Then the spark sounds weaker and weaker until no spark at all. I suspect resistive leakage in the AS wiring. But after 4 boards under warranty and only getting a few days to a few weeks use, I’m ready to spend money and fix the problem.

I sent you my phone number. I could use a fellow AS and ham radio thought on fixing this for good. I can’t manually light it with a bbq lighter. It comes on then the flame solenoid shuts off the LP.

Frustrated....

[rmkrum]

Check the condition of the ceramic insulator around the spark electrode where it is mounted. There may be dirt or grease on it that shunts voltage to ground. It can be very subtle. I have tried cleaning these insulators with isopropyl alcohol and that sometimes helps. If not, try replacing the electrode. I have a home gas range with a similar setup and a bit of cooking debris can screw the ignition up.

[Al and Missy]

Originally Posted by Msherw

I get a spark for first 25 or so fire ups. Then the spark sounds weaker and weaker until no spark at all. I suspect resistive leakage in the AS wiring. But after 4 boards under warranty and only getting a few days to a few weeks use, I’m ready to spend money and fix the problem.

I sent you my phone number. I could use a fellow AS and ham radio thought on fixing this for good. I can’t manually light it with a bbq lighter. It comes on then the flame solenoid shuts off the LP.

Frustrated....

Were you talking to me? I didn't get a phone number via e-mail or PM.

Al

[Msherw]

So we are back home from Big Bend. The Atwood shipped water heater control board worked for 4 showers and then gave up the ghost.

I have ordered the Dinosaur UIB-S ($90 from R&G Electronics), a new ceramic striker igniter ($18 from Amazon), and the 2-tab Dinosaur board mounting kit ($20 from R&G).

Have had it with Atwood/Dometic. The are long on warranty replacement but short on quality. I have four control boards to prove my point.

I will let you all know the final outcome. Thanks to Al for his phone call yesterday to tell me his experience and give me some tips. Thanks to everyone for sharing my plunge into cold showers.

This is an awesome board...

[Msherw]

Update:

Dinosaur board installed and I also put a new striker/sensor in to be sure.

Unit has run for a week with no problems. In fact, the Dino board uses a robust multi-strike sequence and it also has a voltage regulator built into the board in case the RV park has a problem. The folks who make the Dino used to build boards for JPL and NASA so they know how to quality control their products.

I think the problem is fixed no thanks to Atwood. Lesson learned.

Any ideas what I should do with the 4 dead Atwood boards...?

[rmkrum]

Use them for Skeet??

[Al and Missy]

Originally Posted by Msherw

Update:

Dinosaur board installed and I also put a new striker/sensor in to be sure.

Unit has run for a week with no problems. In fact, the Dino board uses a robust multi-strike sequence and it also has a voltage regulator built into the board in case the RV park has a problem. The folks who make the Dino used to build boards for JPL and NASA so they know how to quality control their products.

I think the problem is fixed no thanks to Atwood. Lesson learned.

Any ideas what I should do with the 4 dead Atwood boards...?

Before I threw them away I'd try them with the new igniter, or did you do that already?.

Al

[SilverHouseDreams]

Pretty amazing that you've had this many issues on a 2018 unit and that AS hasn't stepped up to solve the problem. I would contact AS warranty and fight with them over some form of reimbursement, otherwise what is the point of buying new at all? Honestly, stories like this is why we bought a used unit that was known to be functional...someone else dealt with the BS and ate the depreciation.

How does the RV park power come into play on a 100% 12VDC controlled gas water heater? The 12VDC is regulated by the battery and converter, regardless of what the RV park power is doing.

[Msherw]

Originally Posted by SilverHouseDreams

Pretty amazing that you've had this many issues on a 2018 unit and that AS hasn't stepped up to solve the problem. I would contact AS warranty and fight with them over some form of reimbursement, otherwise what is the point of buying new at all? Honestly, stories like this is why we bought a used unit that was known to be functional...someone else dealt with the BS and ate the depreciation.

How does the RV park power come into play on a 100% 12VDC controlled gas water heater? The 12VDC is regulated by the battery and converter, regardless of what the RV park power is doing.

I was equally surprised AS didn't care. I called their customer service and complained my local dealer put me on a 2 month delay to get my 2018 in for diagnosis and repair. AS said I just needed to work with the dealer...yada yada yada. That's when I went to Atwood direct but the results were naught. Good warranty but poor boards (and the engineers said the -8E boards were known problems!!!)

I have heard the 12dc regulators in trailers can and often do put upwards of 13.8-14.4 VDC into the rigs. The Atwood board is sensitive and they want 13.x and no more. So a Dino board with built in voltage regulation circuitry could not hurt.

I will keep the boards as testimony to the poor performance of Chinese-made junk.