Atwood DSI not working

[erock53]

I read a bunch of posts, but I just can't seem to find a solution to my problem. The water heater is a year old. Here's my problem. When I hit the switch to turn on the water heater, I get nothing. The red light comes on, but I do not get any the sounds of the gas valve or the electronic lighter. I know that I have power on the brown wire all the way to the circuit board. I have tested the solenoid valve by applying 12v and it works. I tested the thermal cutoff wire for continuity and the thermostat and the ECO. All have continuity. What I am not getting is any power coming out of the red wire that controls the gas valve. Is this to mean that the computer board is bad? Am I missing anything? What else can I check? I am kicking myself for not getting the manual water heater. I have one in my popup and I have never had a problem with it, I just thought it would be nice to flip a switch.

Eric

[lewster]

Eric,

You are doing all the right things. Sounds like the board has failed. Is your new unit under warranty? If so, I would take it to any qualified RV repair facility that is factory authorized to do Atwood warranty work and have them (probably) change the igniter board under warranty.

If you are out of warranty, get yourself as Dinosaur UIB-S igniter board and weatherproof cover. They have a 3 year warranty and from my experience, it will be the last igniter board that you will probably ever need.

[Silver Goose]

Originally Posted by erock53

... I am kicking myself for not getting the manual water heater. I have one in my popup and I have never had a problem with it, I just thought it would be nice to flip a switch. Eric

I have to agree with lewster. You might also try replugging all the connections. Sometimes a contact surface will develop an oxide coat and the act of removing and replugging the connector will mechanically renew the contact.

Anything with added whistles and bells has more opportunities to fail, but they can be reliable also. I had a DSI water heater on my previous trailer with no failures for 12 years before trading up to an Airstream. On rare occasions, it would try to ignite several times before turning the red light on. Turning it off and on with the switch always was successful. It sure beat going out in the wind or rain to light it. My current one is 3 years old and so far not even a hiccup.

[erock53]

Thanks for your help. I figured that I was on the right path, but I didn't want to hear that I needed a new electronic board. I bought a Dinosaur board for the fridge last year and it has worked flawless. It sucks that I spent the extra money to have the DSI water heater and the extra money that I spent is now wasted and I have to pay even more. Next time, I will purchase the simple water heater with a pilot. It has never taken me more than a minute to start the water heater in our pop-up and I can never recall it ever losing its pilot light.

Eric