Water Heater, one and done

[Gene T]

We have an Attwood hot water heater, LP only. It worked great until this last outing. It ignites as it is suppose to once and not again. It will heat the water, not excessively, shut off and and not relight. It will then require turning off, waiting for awhile, then turning back on. ???

[AtomicNo13]

Try unplugging the electrical connector a few times. Those connections can oxidize resulting in poor performance. A little smear of light grease on all the connections helps. If not this check your high limit switches, then unfortunately the circuit board itself. If yours is old enough not to have a fuse on the board, then it's highly probable the board is shot..... The unfused design had a weak trace.
Best luck

[Gene T]

Thanks for the reply and advise. I have cleaned the clean appearing connections with a wire brush. Brush cleaned the igniter. The control board appears to have a fuse. It's a 2005 model. After more intensive experimentation, the water will heat but not a complete 6 gallons. In running the water after it has run and shut itself off, I'll get about 2-3 quarts of hot water, then all cold. Again, then I have to shut it off and wait a considerable amount of time and retry. If it has been off long enough, when I turn it back on it will relight. But it will not on it's own.

[AnnArborBob]

In my humble opinion, I would not mess around with a propane device unless you have a lot of experience with them. I would take it to Woodland RV just north of GR.

Best of luck!

1,

[AtomicNo13]

Ok sounds like the hi limit switches are bad. These are $11 at any rv dealer, it's a quarter turn replacement type deal! This is a normal user friendly repair.... The 2 quarter sized thingies under the black foam....

[Skater]

Yep, start with the thermostat and ECO. They're cheap and easy to replace, and do sometimes fail.

[Gene T]

Replaced the E.C.O. and Thermostat. Absolutely, no difference. I get one gallon of hot water and the rest luke warm. This after running about 45 minutes. The flame is robust and I would have thought I would get more hot hot water, but there was also cold water replacing at the same time. Which would ordinarly tell the heater to restart. It does not. Now what the Circuit Board?

[TG Twinkie]

Are you sure the water heater is not in bypass mode ?
Will it relight on it's own after you run out of hot water?
Is there a thermostat on your particular model? Big red knob on the gas valve.
Sounds to me like the high temp limit. But more like a thermostat. Since you have an electronic controller. It could also be the culprit.


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[AtomicNo13]

It does sound like it might be in bypass mode, then again could be the circuit board. It's free to check the bypass valve, $140 for the replacement board. They can fail quickly.

[Gene T]

I have been humbled and my ignorance/stupidity exposed. At the same time I'm very happy to say thanks everyone for staying with me on this and convincing me to check the position of the by-pass valves. It was in particial by-pass mode. That probably makes me sound even dumber. Right now I don't care. For the small price of the ECO and T-stat that I replaced, I'll consider it preventive maintenance.

Thanks again. Now, I can put it away till February.

[AtomicNo13]

Nah....
Just remember all this next spring!
Happy winter, it's 95 in Phoenix today, hot hot hot!

[TG Twinkie]

We have all been there in one way or another. Glad you were successful.


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