# Water Heater Won't Start



## Bob G (Aug 22, 2004)

The water heater won't ignite. No clicking, no nothing. what should I look for? Worked great when we were in Florida last week but no start on the way back. Thanks for any help.
Bob


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## jim00592 (Feb 19, 2006)

check the temp senser on side of tank had that problem


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## CamperAndy (Aug 26, 2004)

Not sure what trailer you have but guessing from your join date it is an older trailer. The water heaters in 07 and earlier have a control board that is exposed to the weather. Open the outside hatch and in the top right corner is the control board. Pull the two connectors off and clean them then reconnect. This resolves most of the operational issues with the water heater.


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## Scoutr2 (Aug 21, 2006)

I believe there is a 12V fuse in your fuse/breaker panel, also. If Andy's suggestion doesn't help, try the fuse. No 12V - no ignite!

Mike


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## hyewalt34 (May 9, 2004)

I had some trouble getting mine to light last weekend. The trailer stays at home and I like to check the water heater, refrigerator and heater operation from time to time. I did all the usual things.... clean and reseat all the connectors but the unit was dead except for a little red light on the circuit board. I finally excercised the on-off switch several times and gas flowed and the heater lit! Perhaps it was the switch??? I've checked it 2x more this weed and all is OK.

Walter


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## Bob G (Aug 22, 2004)

Well it got warm enough in Michigan to check the water heater. I tried all the suggestions but still no click, no nothing. All the fuses are good. Checked the wiring on the switch, no issues. Cleaned the contacts on the board also. My best guess is the board. Anyone have any other ideas?
Thanks for the help, Bob


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## aantolik (Apr 8, 2005)

Had a problem with my w/h which turned out to be a bad control board. Would work ok with gas, but on electric it was hit & miss. Had the repairman confused until he talked it over with the manufacturer and best they could figure was to replace the board. After doing that it works fine.


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## CamperAndy (Aug 26, 2004)

Bob G said:


> Well it got warm enough in Michigan to check the water heater. I tried all the suggestions but still no click, no nothing. All the fuses are good. Checked the wiring on the switch, no issues. Cleaned the contacts on the board also. My best guess is the board. Anyone have any other ideas?
> Thanks for the help, Bob


I would suspect the board but to be safe you need to verify the over temperature circuit is working. Try it on 110 vac, ac uses the same protection circuit.


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## Bob G (Aug 22, 2004)

CamperAndy said:


> Well it got warm enough in Michigan to check the water heater. I tried all the suggestions but still no click, no nothing. All the fuses are good. Checked the wiring on the switch, no issues. Cleaned the contacts on the board also. My best guess is the board. Anyone have any other ideas?
> Thanks for the help, Bob


I would suspect the board but to be safe you need to verify the over temperature circuit is working. Try it on 110 vac, ac uses the same protection circuit.
[/quote]

Works on 110.
Bob


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## CamperAndy (Aug 26, 2004)

Bob G said:


> Well it got warm enough in Michigan to check the water heater. I tried all the suggestions but still no click, no nothing. All the fuses are good. Checked the wiring on the switch, no issues. Cleaned the contacts on the board also. My best guess is the board. Anyone have any other ideas?
> Thanks for the help, Bob


I would suspect the board but to be safe you need to verify the over temperature circuit is working. Try it on 110 vac, ac uses the same protection circuit.
[/quote]

Works on 110.
Bob
[/quote]

If cleaning the contacts did not help then you are looking at a failed ignitor control board. About $60 to $80 from Dinosaur Electronics.

Dinosaur Electronics

You may have to call them to get the exact match you need but they are better then OEM ignitor boards.


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## Bob G (Aug 22, 2004)

CamperAndy said:


> Well it got warm enough in Michigan to check the water heater. I tried all the suggestions but still no click, no nothing. All the fuses are good. Checked the wiring on the switch, no issues. Cleaned the contacts on the board also. My best guess is the board. Anyone have any other ideas?
> Thanks for the help, Bob


I would suspect the board but to be safe you need to verify the over temperature circuit is working. Try it on 110 vac, ac uses the same protection circuit.
[/quote]

Works on 110.
Bob
[/quote]

If cleaning the contacts did not help then you are looking at a failed ignitor control board. About $60 to $80 from Dinosaur Electronics.

Dinosaur Electronics

You may have to call them to get the exact match you need but they are better then OEM ignitor boards.
[/quote]

The new board and the kit to go with it for the Atwood WH is $134.48 shipped from ASAP. I'll let you know if this is the fix.
Bob


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## samvalaw (Feb 17, 2005)

My heater won't work on the electric side, but works fine on the gas side. How do I determine whether it is a control board? What else can I do to diagnose?


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## CamperAndy (Aug 26, 2004)

samvalaw said:


> My heater won't work on the electric side, but works fine on the gas side. How do I determine whether it is a control board? What else can I do to diagnose?


When was the last time you know it worked?? With your older trailer there are several option depending on which water heater you have.

I have to assume you checked the breaker and you can also have a trip on the box on the back of the water heater. You will also need to check the heating element for resistance. Do you have a volt meter?? Let us know what you find.


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## ronmhagen (Jul 9, 2007)

samvalaw said:


> My heater won't work on the electric side, but works fine on the gas side. How do I determine whether it is a control board? What else can I do to diagnose?


Difficult to answer with this amount of information. Beyond the usual tripped breaker or common household fix, you will need a multimeter.

With camper plugged in to shore power. Remove cover from electrical heating element. Check voltage at the two screws where the wires connect to the heating element. Should have approx. 120 volts.

Do not have voltage: You must now backtrack to the source, meaning the wiring, switch, or circuit breaker.

OR

Do have approx. 120 volts: Different options available here.

If you have a clamp on amp meter you can measure the amperage draw to the heating element. Your current element will list how many watts it is. I'm going to take a guess that it is 1440 watts. 1440 watts divided by 120 volts = 12 amps (You should be drawing about 12 amps if your element is good.)

If you do not have a clamp on amp meter: Turn off or Remove power from circuit!!! Drain tank. Remove/unscrew electrical element from tank. Set your multimeter on ohms/resistance/continuity whatever term you are familiar with there. Using our numbers previously listed above. 120 volts divided by 12 amps= about 10 ohms of resistance. Place your leads on the terminal screws, the simple check here is to see if you have continuity or if there is a short. If there is no reading or infinity, it is bad. If that reads out okay or not, then leave one test lead on a terminal and then proceed to take the other test lead and place it on the body of the element. This will determine if there is a short to the case, you do not want continuity here.

Warning: If you have voltage on not only may you get shocked, but you will burn out your multimeter when in the ohms setting.

If you have 120 volts to the element, you can pretty much bet the element is bad. Turn it on for a very short period without water in the tank and it is a goner.

You mentioned that it works fine on gas so I can assume that the eco, thermostat, and circuit board are most likely fine.

Ron


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## samvalaw (Feb 17, 2005)

Thank you for the responses. I will borrow a volt meter and see what is going on.


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## Bob G (Aug 22, 2004)

Well I installed the new board today and the WH worked 1 time. I ran the hot water out and the WH clicked 2 or 3 times then nothing. I either have a bad board (again) or somthing is causing the board to go out. The voltage is 12.4V to 13.4V so I don't thnk there is a high voltage issue. I'm out of ideas.
Bob


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## CamperAndy (Aug 26, 2004)

You do not want to throw parts at it but did you cycle the power to see if it would reset and try again? Are you hearing gas flow?

We can look at other things but your voltage is good.


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## CamperAndy (Aug 26, 2004)

Bob G said:


> Well I installed the new board today and the WH worked 1 time. I ran the hot water out and the WH clicked 2 or 3 times then nothing. I either have a bad board (again) or somthing is causing the board to go out. The voltage is 12.4V to 13.4V so I don't thnk there is a high voltage issue. I'm out of ideas.
> Bob


I just thought of something, the symptoms are indications of low voltage. The 12 vdc, are you getting it to the control board? Try disconnecting all the wire nut connected wires at the back of the water heater, checking them and re connect them.


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## Bob G (Aug 22, 2004)

CamperAndy said:


> You do not want to throw parts at it but did you cycle the power to see if it would reset and try again? Are you hearing gas flow?
> 
> We can look at other things but your voltage is good.


The voltage is at the board. I can not hear gas at all. I shut it off and tried it several times and nothing. 
Bob


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## CamperAndy (Aug 26, 2004)

Bob G said:


> You do not want to throw parts at it but did you cycle the power to see if it would reset and try again? Are you hearing gas flow?
> 
> We can look at other things but your voltage is good.


The voltage is at the board. I can not hear gas at all. I shut it off and tried it several times and nothing. 
Bob
[/quote]

I wish I were close by to help on this. These systems are not that fragile and if the control board is fine it has to be one of the connections.

We need to check for continuity through the over heat detector and the thermostat.


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## Bob G (Aug 22, 2004)

CamperAndy said:


> You do not want to throw parts at it but did you cycle the power to see if it would reset and try again? Are you hearing gas flow?
> 
> We can look at other things but your voltage is good.


The voltage is at the board. I can not hear gas at all. I shut it off and tried it several times and nothing. 
Bob
[/quote]

I wish I were close by to help on this. These systems are not that fragile and if the control board is fine it has to be one of the connections.

We need to check for continuity through the over heat detector and the thermostat.
[/quote]

The control board is shot. I did a check per Atwoods instructions and the new board is fried. Something is shorting the board out. I checked the switch and the wiring by the WH and all is good. At $100 per hour labor at the dealer, I might as well by a new WH. (2 new boards fried)
Bob


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## CamperAndy (Aug 26, 2004)

Bob G said:


> You do not want to throw parts at it but did you cycle the power to see if it would reset and try again? Are you hearing gas flow?
> 
> We can look at other things but your voltage is good.


The voltage is at the board. I can not hear gas at all. I shut it off and tried it several times and nothing. 
Bob
[/quote]

I wish I were close by to help on this. These systems are not that fragile and if the control board is fine it has to be one of the connections.

We need to check for continuity through the over heat detector and the thermostat.
[/quote]

The control board is shot. I did a check per Atwoods instructions and the new board is fried. Something is shorting the board out. I checked the switch and the wiring by the WH and all is good. At $100 per hour labor at the dealer, I might as well by a new WH. (2 new boards fried)
Bob
[/quote]

Can you post the instructions Atwood gave you to test the board? I can not see what would short the board out, there is power loop, a safety loop and the ignitor circuit.


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## tdvffjohn (Mar 10, 2005)

An opportunity to learn


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## Bob G (Aug 22, 2004)

CamperAndy said:


> You do not want to throw parts at it but did you cycle the power to see if it would reset and try again? Are you hearing gas flow?
> 
> We can look at other things but your voltage is good.


The voltage is at the board. I can not hear gas at all. I shut it off and tried it several times and nothing. 
Bob
[/quote]

I wish I were close by to help on this. These systems are not that fragile and if the control board is fine it has to be one of the connections.

We need to check for continuity through the over heat detector and the thermostat.
[/quote]

The control board is shot. I did a check per Atwoods instructions and the new board is fried. Something is shorting the board out. I checked the switch and the wiring by the WH and all is good. At $100 per hour labor at the dealer, I might as well by a new WH. (2 new boards fried)
Bob
[/quote]

Can you post the instructions Atwood gave you to test the board? I can not see what would short the board out, there is power loop, a safety loop and the ignitor circuit.
[/quote]

Page 23
http://bryantrv.com/docs2/docs/atwoodwaterheater.pdf


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## CamperAndy (Aug 26, 2004)

Bob G said:


> Page 23
> http://bryantrv.com/docs2/docs/atwoodwaterheater.pdf


Which step on 23 showed the fault?


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## Bob G (Aug 22, 2004)

CamperAndy said:


> Page 23
> http://bryantrv.com/docs2/docs/atwoodwaterheater.pdf


Which step on 23 showed the fault?
[/quote]

B. To test Power track


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## CamperAndy (Aug 26, 2004)

Bob G said:


> Page 23
> http://bryantrv.com/docs2/docs/atwoodwaterheater.pdf


Which step on 23 showed the fault?
[/quote]

B. To test Power track
[/quote]

I would like you to do the power test a little differently. Can you do the following, place the system in gas mode. Measure the voltage at the orange wire at pin 1 to ground. Then measure voltage from the top brown wire at pin 3 to ground. If you get voltage at pin 1 but none at pin 3 you have a fault on the card, possible due to over voltage or reverse power. Are your batteries hooked up with the correct polarity?

If there is an internal fault detected (no voltage at pin 3) and the power is correct and the voltage is normal. I would like you to try a test, place a jumper from pin 1 to pin 3 and see if the water heater will start.

Just curious was the replacement board direct from Atwood or the dealer and did you get the OEM board or the Dinosaur board?


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## Bob G (Aug 22, 2004)

Took the 5th wheel to an Atwood service center. The tech tested everything he could think of and came up with no reason the boards should have blown. He replaced the board and the WH is working as of now. I hope this works because the cost is getting up there ($411.00) If the board blows again, I will replace the WH with a pilot/electric model. I can get one for $348.00. Oh well, it's just money......................


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## CamperAndy (Aug 26, 2004)

Well if it fails again try the suggestions in post 27.

Also Dinosaur boards are reputed to be better then OEM but I do not blame you for going to a less sophisticated water heater..


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## Bob G (Aug 22, 2004)

CamperAndy said:


> Well if it fails again try the suggestions in post 27.
> 
> Also Dinosaur boards are reputed to be better then OEM but I do not blame you for going to a less sophisticated water heater..


The first replacement board was a Dinosaur. Did not even make a try at firing the burner, no click no nothing. The second board was an Atwood. The batteries are hooked up right. I'll let you know if this one fails.


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