Suburban On Demand Hot Water Heater Not Lighting on Basecamp 20X

[Tkotlarz]

Hi all,
I have a 2022 Basecamp 20X that I'm having issues getting any hot water. I wanted to float the problem out there to see if anyone else had a similar experience or knows of a fix. It has a Suburban tankless water heater.

With the pump on, a full water tank, gas on, and the water heater turned on, I can hear the water heater ignitor attempting to click repeatedly, but it only blows cold air out the exhaust outside and no hot water. I"ve randomly gotten it to get hot water maybe two times over the last 4 months with probably 30 tanks of water testing it. I even brought it to the dealer and they got it to work on the first time randomly without doing anything different than me. They told me that sometimes I need to run the water starting with the outdoor shower, then the low drains, then the kitchen sink, then the shower to rid the lines of any air. Then I shouldn't have a problem. But, still not working. The problem is the same when I hook up to city water as well.

My guess was a bad ignitor or it's not getting gas. My heat works though perfectly and ignites. It's my understanding that the furnance and the hot water heater are the same unit so this confuses me that one works and the other doesn't. I've also turned on the kitchen burners beforehand to help get the gas through the system more.

Hoping someone can chime in on this. Thanks!!

[MyronM]

We’re out on the road with our new ‘22 BC20X also. We camped at Brownwood (TX) State Park for one night. Hot water was great. Next night at Thousand Trails Lake Whitney, hot water worked fine. Now at KOA Port Lavaca, no hot water.
We have spoken with Service at AirstreamDFW and followed their suggestions. Still no hot water.
Thankfully, the water temp allows for a tolerable rinse off after a day’s activities. A hot shower would have been more enjoyable. A visit to the dealership is planned for next week.

[Tkotlarz]

Thanks for your experience, let me know what you end up finding out from the dealer!

[MyronM]

We just returned home from a 1000 miles trip along the Texas Gulf Coast. No hot water for the last couple days. We visited Airstream of DFW today. Of course, the hot water worked fine when we were in their service dept. We’re planning our next trip soon. Hopefully, we can enjoy a hot shower!

[RottenJohnny]

We just got our 2022 Basecamp 20x in early May from DFW Airstream and have had zero hot water from the jump. I’ve checked all of the regular issues on my end. Hooked up to city water we can get warmish water for a few seconds, but I think that is just what is baking in the hose in the sun.

No fuse problem. Do I need the fresh water tank heater on to get hot water? My understanding is no.

Several calls to the dealership with zero help.

[Tkotlarz]

Yes no need to have the tank heaters on for the hot water to heat. That’s more for winter camping to keep them from freezing.

I ended up going to the dealer a couple times and finally last time they were able to get the hot water to not work and were able to diag it. 99% of the time the hot water didn’t work, but for some reason the time I went to the dealer, it worked and therefore couldn’t diag it. Go figure right haha. Turns out it was a faulty computer board on the hot water heater. Warranty replaced it and getting the new board installed this coming week. I’ll be in touch on if that solves the problem for good.

They did show me that there’s a reset button on the hot water heater if you take the rear bench side panel off and open up the cover on the heater box. This seemed to reset it and let’s the hot water work again. But it kept going out every now and then and had to be reset again. This reset is worth a try for anyone else having problems and may point you in the right direction of a bad computer board or not.

[Dianainyuma]

Can you tell me where that reset switch is when you take off the hot water heater cover please? Is it pretty visible?

[ErickfromMI]

Originally Posted by Tkotlarz

Yes no need to have the tank heaters on for the hot water to heat. That’s more for winter camping to keep them from freezing.

I ended up going to the dealer a couple times and finally last time they were able to get the hot water to not work and were able to diag it. 99% of the time the hot water didn’t work, but for some reason the time I went to the dealer, it worked and therefore couldn’t diag it. Go figure right haha. Turns out it was a faulty computer board on the hot water heater. Warranty replaced it and getting the new board installed this coming week. I’ll be in touch on if that solves the problem for good.

They did show me that there’s a reset button on the hot water heater if you take the rear bench side panel off and open up the cover on the heater box. This seemed to reset it and let’s the hot water work again. But it kept going out every now and then and had to be reset again. This reset is worth a try for anyone else having problems and may point you in the right direction of a bad computer board or not.

Did you ever get it fixed? We are having the same problem with our brand new 2023 20x. I found that pulling the fuse and putting it back in fixed it immediately but every couple days it goes out and I have to repeat. I suspect a bad control board like others have suggested. Dealer tells me if they cannot duplicate it themselves, then I need to call Suburban directly. Wait, what? Frustrating.

[NimTheDog]

We have a 2021 Basecamp 20X and also have hot water issues. We took it in they said it was a faulty gas regulator. When we got it back it worked when I tested it out but has since stopped working.

@Tkotlarz would also love to know how to reset the water heater.

[CJDurb]

We just bought a 2023 Bascamp X and have taken it out twice. First time we didn't need hot water and didn't notice anything amiss. This past weekend - no hot water. It would purge the system of AIR as a safety check would do if it didn't ignite. Hope to read more of the posts to see if I am just not doing something right. I purged the propane lines and read the manual. The manual says it must have a constant flow rate for at least a Minute to ignite. So much for water conservation. We are used to cowboy showers, turning the water on and off. Doesn't sound like that will work for a hot shower.
Chris

[Tkotlarz]

Sounds like a common problem after having my 22 basecamp 20x for the second year. My local dealer has been awesome to deal with trying to find the problem. It was figured out that there was an electrical surge that would cause the hot water heater control board to short out. Problem could be fixed temporarily by resetting and pulling the red wire out behind the wooden hot water heater cover board and doing a hard reset. Would last for a few minutes to a day like that before needing another reset. The solution was a tiny metal piece that clips onto the wire to not allow the surge to hit the control board. This worked 80% better and only have to reset it every now and then generally getting a few trips before doing it again. The new fix that I’m hoping to have in the next week is to add a dc converter to the battery. Apparently those with the lithium ion battery upgrade still were having problems even after the clip was installed. The converter is said to fix the issue 100%. My local airstream dealer has seen many base camps like this so far and made me feel better that it wasn’t just me. Great that’s it’s been covered under warranty. Fingers crossed it ends up working!

[pfm41]

We have a 2023 BC16X with lithium battery which has the same type water heater and am having the same problem. Before we leave I usually check it and it works fine; at the campground and no hot water. I haven't recorded every scenario like I need to, but before we leave we are on battery and at the campground plugged in. I'm beginning to believe that the ac/dc convertor may be the source of the problem. Has anyone else noticed a difference between shore power and battery? When the dealer checks it and it works did they plug it in?

[Markj10]

2023 BC 16x REI/lithium with the same issue, it only seem to happen when plugged into shore power. So my solution is to hit the 30amp breaker to off and then turn on hot water heater. Not what I expect from Airstream, but it works for now.

[Hardydale]

Hi - 2023 BC 20x Lithium Was just at dealer yesterday, and have also had intermittent issues with hot water heater all year. Was not working when we brought it in, they did a hard reset and it works now. Gonna be out this weekend so we will see. The suggestion above for the "tiny little metal piece" that prevents surge, what is this piece?

[Tkotlarz]

Hi HardyDale,
The metal clip was the first "fix" Airstream dealerships came out with to protect the hot water heater from being power surged. It's a few dollar clip that clips onto the electrical wire that disrupts the surges to ensure the hot water heater stays running. This was a Airstream warranty item and the dealer should know about the clip. I have a lithium battery package as well and this fix made things better but I had to still do hard resets to get it to work and still it was intermittent. Airstream then came out with a warranty for the Basecamp lithium which was the installation of a DC adapter. Between the 2 fixes, I've had zero issues with my hot water heater running properly. Thanks!