# Fault Light On Control Panel



## spidey (Aug 8, 2012)

We just got our Outback last June, and I winterized is myself. So today was the day to de-winterize it. Ive been doing it for trailers for a few years, so no issues up until the water heater.

Not sure if its an issue, or just something I may have missed.

I flushed all the lines of antifreeze, making sure the bypass was still off from the fall so none got into the water heater.

Flushed all the lines, then turned on the bypass so the hot water tank filled (which it did)

I always test everything in the spring so we know it all works, hot water tank, fridge, stove, etc, etc

So anyway, I tested the electrical first for the water heater after it was filled up. After about 1/2 an hour I tested the water, and sure enough it was warm/hot.

So I turned off the electrical to test the propane portion, I heard the click click click like normal and went to go see if it fired. Nothing, Then it did it again, nothing, and a third time and stopped.

The propane was on, as I tested the stove burned first and they lit fine.

I did forget to turn the switch to on that is on the hot water tank itself (it on the bottom left of the tank outside)

Now when I go to the control panel inside, the fault light turns on whenever I turn on the gas switch for the hot water tank

What am I missing, I cant seem to make this fault light go off, or get the furnace to fire on the gas option.

I has the same setup on my Rockwood roo, with the switches inside on a control panel, and it always worked.

Whats a way to reset this, or did I screw something up


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## Insomniak (Jul 7, 2006)

The fault light simply means the heater is unable to light on propane. It will try a few times, then lock out and turn the light on. Turning the toggle switch off at the panel will reset the light and you can try again. You may be low on propane and there isn't enough pressure to fire the water heater, or you may have an obstruction in the gas nozzle from spider webs. Take a look and blow/brush the gas jet if you see any junk. The last thing to check is the igniter. Before I tossed my 301BQ's Suburban water heater in the dumpster, I often times had trouble getting it to light and stay lit. I fiddled with the igniter, bending the mount until it was centered in the gas stream. Finally got it where it lit most of the time, but was still a bit unpredictable. Eventually solved the problem by replacing the Suburban with an Atwood 10 gallon water heater and life is once again good!


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## W.E.BGood (Jan 15, 2011)

+1 on what insomniak says, plus, I find that it can take a bit for the propane to get back to the heater if the propane's been shut-off for some time, so I open the stove burners and run them unlit for 15-20 seconds until I get propane smell. Then I'll try the water heater. Helps getting the air out of the lines.


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## spidey (Aug 8, 2012)

W.E.BGood said:


> +1 on what insomniak says, plus, I find that it can take a bit for the propane to get back to the heater if the propane's been shut-off for some time, so I open the stove burners and run them unlit for 15-20 seconds until I get propane smell. Then I'll try the water heater. Helps getting the air out of the lines.


Ill try that first. I did use by burners to test, but only for a few secnds really. Ill let them run for awhile then try again. I did take my tanks off this spring to put the batteries back on.

Hope that's it


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## spidey (Aug 8, 2012)

So this must be something else, as I disconnected power from the entire trailer, as well as did the battery disconnect, in case there was some sort of memory kept. That fault light still stays on, no mater what. So what did I break, all I did was try to fire it on Propane. It wont do a thing now


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## spidey (Aug 8, 2012)

Well got it working, and I think it was because I wasn't patient enough. So I went and made sure everything was clear, used compressed air, and made sure the on/off switch was set to on.

Is this switch used for power or gas? Is there an advantage to turning it off ever. I did for the winter, but should a person just leave it to On all the time

Anyway, I went to the control panel, turned the switch on, and the fault light came on again. Frustrated, I screamed at it WHY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

So I stood there, thinking, then suddently it went out, I heard the tick tick tick and it fired up.

Turned it off after a minute, then turned it on again, Fault light again. Waitied a few seconds, fault light went off, and fired fine.

Is the fault light just always on, until the unit fires? I think yesterday I just wasn't patient enough after the first time it didn't work, because I turned the switch off as soon as the fauly light showed


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## Insomniak (Jul 7, 2006)

The outside switch is for the electric heating element and has no effect on the propane burner. The fault light will be on until the burner fires, then it should go out. If the burner doesn't light, the heater will lock out and the little fault light will stay lit. That's how I finally noticed something was up when we started running out of hot water - the fault light was always on. Several members including myself have noticed problems with Suburban water heaters in the newer Outbacks. Like I mentioned before, I fiddle-farted around with the gas line, the wiring and the igniter until I got the heater to light and stay lit MOST of the time. It seemed like the problem was mainly with the igniter. I cleaned the contacts, but everything looked good and the heater was only 1 year old. Thought I had the problem licked when I bent the igniter bracket a bit and the tip was further in the gas jet. The problem came back and we even had some backfiring and "booms" coming from the heater. Not something I like to hear from a propane device. After several trips with a bunch of kids and constantly running out of hot water, I threw in the towel and replaced it with a larger Atwood. I had good experience with that brand from our second Outback, and it has performed flawlessly so far. No more cold showers for us!


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## Leedek (Nov 28, 2010)

Glad you found your problem. A note on the switch that turns electric element on / off. When I drain my water heater I turn off the element. It is solely to protect myself from accidentally turning on the heater element when the water heater is empty. I have heard that it takes just a short time for the element to burn out if it is not immersed in water. I have caught myself a couple of times switching on the "electric water heater" switch when I really wanted a different switch. Just food for thought.


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