Visit our Popular Forums

Msherw · 06-09-2018, 07:41 AM

The 20 second delay is normal for the Dino boards. If the flame blows out or fails to light on a six second try, the 20second wait let’s accumulated gas dissipate before trying again.

I believe the HW temperature is set by a non adjustable thermo on the tank. If you want hotter or colder you need to purchase a new thermo from an Atwood dealer.

keweenawbee · 06-09-2018, 11:07 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Msherw

The 20 second delay is normal for the Dino boards. If the flame blows out or fails to light on a six second try, the 20second wait let’s accumulated gas dissipate before trying again.

Ours has gone from never lighting with the Atwood board, to never failing to light with the Dinosaur board so we haven't experienced that 20 second delay.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Msherw

I believe the HW temperature is set by a non adjustable thermo on the tank. If you want hotter or colder you need to purchase a new thermo from an Atwood dealer.

Weird. Ours is using a heck of a lot of propane, firing all the time. Maybe that's for liability reasons agains Giardia virus? We just fire it up in the morning, repeating a few of times a day and then flush it out when we leave the camp.

cmonnette · 07-02-2018, 05:27 AM

4 months with my 23FB and I have the third bad controller now! Thanks everyone for the tip on the Dinosaur board.

SilverHouseDreams · 07-02-2018, 09:51 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by keweenawbee

Weird. Ours is using a heck of a lot of propane, firing all the time. Maybe that's for liability reasons agains Giardia virus? We just fire it up in the morning, repeating a few of times a day and then flush it out when we leave the camp.

I doubt this has anything to do with concern for Giardia, why would AS assume people are filling their potable water systems with non-potable water? RV/TTs are not designed to filter or purify water, they are not setup to accept water collected from streams/rivers/ponds/lakes where Giardia would be encountered. It is highly unlikely that any TT/RV maker is shipping a water heater that has a target temperature of >158F to kill Giardia, many residential water heaters won't even heat that hot due to the very real risk of scalding.

Paprika · 07-02-2018, 11:37 AM

For what it's worth, you can get an adjustable thermostat for your Atwood water heater. Installation is a fairly easy ten-minute do-it-yourself job.

keweenawbee · 07-03-2018, 02:26 AM

Thank you Paprika I will check that out!

Haulin8or · 07-03-2018, 06:25 AM

Chock up another (first for us) 'no-light' situation on a brand new 25FB. Started happening on our trip to OBX last week. Electric works just fine. Probably will go straight to the Dinosaur board. Frustrating to read that AS keeps replacing with the same defective board instead of re-resourcing from a more reliable vendor. I am posting this for posterity sake so AS can hopefully get a grip on the failure rate of these things.
I also have to say, I am a bit frustrated too at all the small things that have gone wrong or have broken on our unit so far. Just picked up in April this year. I thank the good Lord that I am handy and can take care of most things, including the replacement of a circuit board. I don't know how folks that aren't handy can keep up with running back and forth to their dealer or AS. We paid over $70k for ours for quality and durability. So far, we have had more problems than we ever had with our 2005 Sierra 35', which we owned for 13 years (and only paid $23k) Please don't get me wrong, even with these little things, we love our AS and don't regret purchasing. However, still disappointed in the lack of QC on a unit that costs this much.

keweenawbee · 07-03-2018, 10:05 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Haulin8or

Chock up another (first for us) 'no-light' situation on a brand new 25FB. Started happening on our trip to OBX last week. Electric works just fine. Probably will go straight to the Dinosaur board. Frustrating to read that AS keeps replacing with the same defective board instead of re-resourcing from a more reliable vendor. I am posting this for posterity sake so AS can hopefully get a grip on the failure rate of these things.
I also have to say, I am a bit frustrated too at all the small things that have gone wrong or have broken on our unit so far. Just picked up in April this year. I thank the good Lord that I am handy and can take care of most things, including the replacement of a circuit board. I don't know how folks that aren't handy can keep up with running back and forth to their dealer or AS. We paid over $70k for ours for quality and durability. So far, we have had more problems than we ever had with our 2005 Sierra 35', which we owned for 13 years (and only paid $23k) Please don't get me wrong, even with these little things, we love our AS and don't regret purchasing. However, still disappointed in the lack of QC on a unit that costs this much.

I have to admit my failing here. Something like seeing the forest for the the trees. I was so confident reading here on the forums before I took delivery thinking that I could properly vet my trailer before pulling away from the dealer. I think your really have to be a former Airstream owner to know what to look for. I did get scammed by the Atwood situation but that was not the thick of it. I have an outside door that will not close. To make it worse it pulls the inside screen door away (when closed) from it's normal solo seated position in the frame. When I try to close the door from the inside I see daylight over 1/3 of the door frame. If I go outside and press firmly with the palm of my hand in the middle I can get it to mostly close and engage the deadbolt. but I have never been able to get the deadbolt fully extended from the inside. And I have never heard that great closure sound that we see on youtube that all of us look for.

So after a few email prods by Airstream I finally filled out the owner survey. I answered the question about the dealer following up and my overall satisfaction with the trailer and the dealer, the trailer was a hard one, the dealer was not. I love the trailer in concept, it's just that I am facing a long haul to the factory, probably at my own expense, to get a door that closes properly, keeps the bugs out and insulate from the temperatures high or low the way it should.

I got sucked in by all the videos stating that every door takes an 8 hour day to properly construct and fit to each Airstream. This one obviously did not get properly checked out by it's builder, or was deemed good enough on the line.

So now that I have filled out the survey and a week or so has gone by have I heard from the factory to take care of this?....................crickets.

Msherw · 07-04-2018, 06:34 AM

I’m going to make one last effort to tell everyone that Atwood will NOT inform AS as to the numbers of warranty claims made on faulty striker boards. YOU must do that. I emailed AS customer support with my story. I asked why they only put a single source LP in my 2018 instead of an LP/AC version.

AS asked for the old boards to do some testing. I obliged them. I also reported my dealer wanting 2 months to get my new 6 month old trailer in for repair. Only got crickets on that one. Dealers are sacrosanct to AS.

Folks, the RV and especially the new AS market is badly oversold. Boomers are buying RVs like they bought Harley-Davidson MC. RV dealers can sell every unit with little effort. And Boomers remember the good old days seeing Airstreams on the road as children. Now they (we) are buying them again but the only thing...they are made by a different company than back then. Caveat Emptor.

AirstreamInc · 07-04-2018, 08:12 AM

Hi Msherw,

We're very sorry to learn about the issues you have had. Please send us a direct message with your contact information and the last 6 digits of your VIN so we can share it with our Customer Service and Technical Support team.

Thank you.

AirstreamInc · 07-04-2018, 08:14 AM

Hi keweenawbee,

We're very sorry to learn about the issue with your door. Please send us a direct message with your contact information and the last 6 digits of your VIN so we can share it with our Customer Service and Technical Support team.

You can also reach Airstream Customer Service and Technical Support at customer_support@airstream.com

Thank you.

cmonnette · 07-04-2018, 08:46 AM

Totally agree. Besides the water heater issues I have been screwing screws, fixing latches, rechaulking the shower for theee months. This is my first AS. I wonder from the long time owners if this has always been a trait of AS or are we seeing a downward turn in quality? I would hate to see that happen with such a well respected brand.

Msherw · 07-04-2018, 12:45 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by AirstreamInc

Hi Msherw,

We're very sorry to learn about the issues you have had. Please send us a direct message with your contact information and the last 6 digits of your VIN so we can share it with our Customer Service and Technical Support team.

Thank you.

I have already contacted AS customer service directly and been taken care of. Thanks for the offer.

keweenawbee · 07-04-2018, 03:31 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by cmonnette

Totally agree. Besides the water heater issues I have been screwing screws, fixing latches, rechaulking the shower for theee months. This is my first AS. I wonder from the long time owners if this has always been a trait of AS or are we seeing a downward turn in quality? I would hate to see that happen with such a well respected brand.

Not sure if I read it here but somewhere I read that the AS emphasis is to get the product out. Maybe that is why they increased the warranty to three years as it will take them that long to get you in and taken care of.

Acheron2010 · 07-10-2018, 08:55 PM

I just joined the hot water heater does not light club. Is there an Atwood patch or secret handshake? A Dinosaur eating a circuit board? Will troubleshoot tomorrow.

Msherw · 07-11-2018, 05:04 AM

Yes. Assuming you have LP and the water heater is an Atwood, the best thing to do is get a Dino board on order now. Otherwise you lose 1-2 years off your life in anxiety, marital distress, and anger installing replacement OEM boards.

http://www.dinosaurelectronics.com/Ignitor_boards.htm

Secret password is HELP

Acheron2010 · 07-12-2018, 11:51 AM

Let me give an attaboy to CoachNet. They found me a mobile RV tech certified to work on Atwood, came to the campground, properly diagnosed and replaced a bad HW heater circuit board, and it was all covered.
Sweet.

Msherw · 07-13-2018, 12:27 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Acheron2010

Let me give an attaboy to CoachNet. They found me a mobile RV tech certified to work on Atwood, came to the campground, properly diagnosed and replaced a bad HW heater circuit board, and it was all covered.
Sweet.

Be advised. I lost 4 boards under warranty before I gave up and bought the Dino. We had two delivered to our campsites as well. Here’s hoping your single failure is your last one. Even warranty repair gets to be a pain after #3 failure.

AS has a huge problem with the Atwood. The WH failure is mentioned in other forums and threads. Are you listening Airstream?

Acheron2010 · 07-14-2018, 05:02 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Msherw

Be advised. I lost 4 boards under warranty before I gave up and bought the Dino. We had two delivered to our campsites as well. Here’s hoping your single failure is your last one. Even warranty repair gets to be a pain after #3 failure.

AS has a huge problem with the Atwood. The WH failure is mentioned in other forums and threads. Are you listening Airstream?

I can neither confirm nor deny that on the day the mobile RV tech arrived, so di UPS with a spare Dino board, "just in case." Two is one and one is none.

keweenawbee · 07-15-2018, 09:33 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Acheron2010

I can neither confirm nor deny that on the day the mobile RV tech arrived, so di UPS with a spare Dino board, "just in case." Two is one and one is none.

Something kind of weird happened the other day. This package arrived and the tracking said it came from Adventure RV in Iowa who are affiliated with Naperville Airstream. I had assumed that they felt guilty and Fedexed me a replacement board. Remember they are the ones that asked me to film a video of the board not working before they would allow me to send my faulty board back to them for a replacement. They also said that techs never come to you in the field and that you had to get the trailer to them for a repair.

But it was just the trailer's title anyway that came in that package. I have not got one followup call from my selling dealer in Chicago. They know they sent me away with a faulty board as it never worked once for me after delivery.

Fortunately I have gotten a few calls/messages from Airstream directly.