fused link popped in Atwood hot water heater

[rvrat]

Last week will operating the 10 gal Atwood hot water heater in our MH on gas and of course during my shower the fused link popped (unfused ?). after checking all of the connections and replacing the link the heater seems to work just fine on both gas and electric. Anyone have any ideas as to what caused this, is this a sign of larger problems to come or will it be OK.
Thanks, Bob

[rvrat]

Last week will operating the 10 gal Atwood hot water heater in our MH on gas and of course during my shower the fused link popped (unfused ?). after checking all of the connections and replacing the link the heater seems to work just fine on both gas and electric. Anyone have any ideas as to what caused this, is this a sign of larger problems to come or will it be OK.
Thanks, Bob

[Logthumper]

Hi Bob:
I'll take a shot at it. When I popped one some time back I thought it was an electrical problem. Then I discovered that the fused link is very heat sensitive item. It is placed so that if there is a flame flashback, the link will melt very quickly and shut everything down. Inbetween use a spider/insect can crawl in the tube and then when the flame starts up a small flashback can occur which will pop the fused link. The link must be placed close to the burner but not to close.

[RV Wizard]

Bob, Logthumper is correct. If the thermal fuse is blown it is because it got too hot. I would recommend you clean out the venturi and burner and inspect if not also clean out the "fire box" U tube.

[rvrat]

Thanks for the help, I intend to clean the burner tube even though it has a nice clean blue flame just like it had from new. I believe that the fuse blew during the time that the burner was on for say ten to fifteen minutes. I think I will also take the board off and check for burned tracks as suggested on the sticker. the connector on the fused link farthest from the t-stat shows signs of being hot also. It has worked fine for about a week since I replaced the fused link and checked the connections.
Thanks again, Bob