# Attwood Water Heater In A 21Rs



## burgettw (Feb 18, 2013)

Hi everyone I just purchased my first camper 21rs and on our camping trip this past weekend I noticed a faint smell of propane coming from water heater vent, the water heater was on electric the whole time and it says you can turn gas to the off position but I do not see a valve for off, pilot or anything the instructions were talking about. Is there a way to turn the gas off before the soleinod valve or do I just need to replace the valve. I do not plan on using gas while I will have electric pretty much anywhere I go camping. Thanks for your help


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## CamperAndy (Aug 26, 2004)

There is no shut off valve for the water heater other then the automatic shut off. Did you confirm an active leak with a bubble test or just your nose? The chemical that is added to give the smell is very persistent.


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## burgettw (Feb 18, 2013)

CamperAndy said:


> There is no shut off valve for the water heater other then the automatic shut off. Did you confirm an active leak with a bubble test or just your nose? The chemical that is added to give the smell is very persistent.


I did a bubble test and got very little bubbles but once I got home yesterday I turned the gas back on and my propane sniffer said there was a leak. Very faint and took a lighter to light after the valve and it would burn for about 1 min and go away, I repeated the steps several times and kept happening.


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## egregg57 (Feb 13, 2006)

You will find that the water heater does not recover very fast on electric. Many use just propane or propane and electric.I would definitely find the source of the possible leak and get that fixed as soon as possible.

Eric


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## CamperAndy (Aug 26, 2004)

What year is the trailer? It should have DSI (Direct Spark Ignition) if that is not working then the control board may be shot. Pull the connections on the control board and clean the connections.

I know this does not address the leak but it is an issue that should be corrected.


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## burgettw (Feb 18, 2013)

CamperAndy said:


> What year is the trailer? It should have DSI (Direct Spark Ignition) if that is not working then the control board may be shot. Pull the connections on the control board and clean the connections.
> 
> I know this does not address the leak but it is an issue that should be corrected.


The trailer is a 2006 and DSI does work. But I had it on electric at the time.


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## CamperAndy (Aug 26, 2004)

burgettw said:


> What year is the trailer? It should have DSI (Direct Spark Ignition) if that is not working then the control board may be shot. Pull the connections on the control board and clean the connections.
> 
> I know this does not address the leak but it is an issue that should be corrected.


The trailer is a 2006 and DSI does work. But I had it on electric at the time.
[/quote]

Can you please clarify what you used the lighter for? Please don't tell me you did a leak test by tiring to light the leak with a lighter.


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## Leedek (Nov 28, 2010)

CamperAndy said:


> Can you please clarify what you used the lighter for? Please don't tell me you did a leak test by trying to light the leak with a lighter.


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## burgettw (Feb 18, 2013)

CamperAndy said:


> What year is the trailer? It should have DSI (Direct Spark Ignition) if that is not working then the control board may be shot. Pull the connections on the control board and clean the connections.
> 
> I know this does not address the leak but it is an issue that should be corrected.


The trailer is a 2006 and DSI does work. But I had it on electric at the time.
[/quote]

Can you please clarify what you used the lighter for? Please don't tell me you did a leak test by tiring to light the leak with a lighter.








[/quote]

I would not suggest anyone to try that, and no it is probably not the safest thing to do but I work the the local gas utility and was using my sniffer and the leak was very faint, barley showing up on the screen but I could still smell it so I used the lighter in place of the self igigtion, no diffrent from me lighting it with a lighter or turning the switch on in the panel. I just wanted to see if it would light and it did breifly and went away rather quickly.


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