Water Heater - Atwood

[peliaspastia]

Pulled into a Corps campground near Texarkana two days ago with my 2007 Damon Tuscany. There were only a few camp spots available due to Spring break for Texas schools. The camp spot we got had 30 Amp service, and as usual I plugged in my 50 to 30 adapter into my Surge protector to check continuity before plugging into my MH. Everything checked out OK so I finished the connection and went inside. I noticed immediately that the power didn't seem right, so I plugged my Kill-a-Watt meter into a wall plug, and got a reading of 110 volts. As soon as I turned on my coffee maker the voltage dropped to 92 volts. Sensing a serious problem I went around turning off all circuits that draw large amounts of voltage. When I went to switch the Hot Water heater to propane I notice that the Electric switch was on but no red light!! When I switched to propane it worked fine. I am now at a campground with good 50 amp service but the Electric side of the heater still doesn't work. It had been working fine up till this.
Does anyone know if low voltage could damage the 120 volt side of the heater or is this just coincidence?? Is there a reset switch for the electric. My heater is an Atwood Model GE16 EXT 5/18/2006 and the the electric is on the back side of the unit.
Any Ideas or suggestions?

[heavyequipt]

Quote:

Originally Posted by peliaspastia Pulled into a Corps campground near Texarkana two days ago with my 2007 Damon Tuscany. There were only a few camp spots available due to Spring break for Texas schools. The camp spot we got had 30 Amp service, and as usual I plugged in my 50 to 30 adapter into my Surge protector to check continuity before plugging into my MH. Everything checked out OK so I finished the connection and went inside. I noticed immediately that the power didn't seem right, so I plugged my Kill-a-Watt meter into a wall plug, and got a reading of 110 volts. As soon as I turned on my coffee maker the voltage dropped to 92 volts. Sensing a serious problem I went around turning off all circuits that draw large amounts of voltage. When I went to switch the Hot Water heater to propane I notice that the Electric switch was on but no red light!! When I switched to propane it worked fine. I am now at a campground with good 50 amp service but the Electric side of the heater still doesn't work. It had been working fine up till this. Does anyone know if low voltage could damage the 120 volt side of the heater or is this just coincidence?? Is there a reset switch for the electric. My heater is an Atwood Model GE16 EXT 5/18/2006 and the the electric is on the back side of the unit. Any Ideas or suggestions?

Have you checked the Circuit Breaker on your AC distribution panel?

[peliaspastia]

Several times

[RV Wizard]

Low voltage on the 120 vac side of the heater will not damage the element. Unplug and reinstall the connectors on the control board to insure good connections. Most likely you have a bad element or the connections at the relay are burnt. I find a lot of burnt wiring at the relay on backside of heater.

[Elkhartjim]

You didn't accidentally turn the power on without water in the tank.

[Robs]

Quick Diagnostic
Following the sequence of operation:
No power to board through the orange or white wire.
• Test for power into wall switch. If no power, check wiring, fuse, breaker, etc.
• If switch has power but does not work, check to see if switch is wired correctly. If switch is wired correctly, replace switch.
No power out of board at BRN 3.
• Confirm power entering the board at orange (OR1), white (WHT 2) or both with the switch on.
• Check molex connector for proper connection.
• Bad board (replace).
No power at brown (BRN 1), when calling for gas or electric operation.
• Check thermostat for voltage or continuity. Replace if necessary.
• Check thermal cutoff for voltage or continuity. Replace if necessary.
• Confirm molex connector is making contact.
No power through red wire from RED 4.
• Confirm power coming in at brown (BRN 1).
• Confirm molex connector is making contact.
• Bad board (replace).
No power through yellow wire (YLW 2) to relay. Electric operation only.
• Confirm continuity from red (RED 4) at Molex connector to Valve Ground. If the ECO or Valve coils are open then the board will not send power to the yellow wire (YLW 2).
• Confirm power coming in the brown wire (BRN 1).
• Confirm molex connector is making contact.
• Bad board (replace).
No power through relay (electric).
• Confirm AC present.
• Confirm DC through yellow wire (YLW 2).
• Check AC into element. No power, replace relay.
• Power into element from relay (no heat), replace element.

[peliaspastia]

First, thanks for all the responses to my post.
Yesterday we pulled into a casino campground and decided to wait out the wind which was blowing into our front at 25 mph. The next morning the winds were still blowing so we decided to wait till Friday when the winds will shift 180 degrees and blow us home. This afternoon we decided to take showers, and before doing so, I checked the control panel and noticed that I had not turned on the Propane side of the hot water heater. When I checked the water at the tap, it was hot. The temps outside had been in the mid 30's during the night and never got above 42 all day, so the water should not still be hot. I checked the control panel again and although the propane switch was in the off position I had left the electric switch in the on position, but the red light was not on. It appears that the electric side has been working all along but the indicator light had quit working.
The question now is, does the switch have to be replaced, or is there a replaceable bulb in it??

[RV Wizard]

There are several different switch assemblies or stand alone switches manufacturers can use. I do not know which one you may have. It reads like the switch itself might have the light in it. If so; replace the switch.

[wa8yxm]

I don't know about your Damon, but on My Damon the red light in the electric switch for the Attwood water heater is a 12 volt grain of wheat bulb that burned out fairly quickly.... It is what is called a "lighted switch" the light, itself, has NOTHING to do with the operation of the water heater, it only means "Switch on"

You could completly remove the heater and still the light would come on, less it's a BOB (Burned Out Bulb) and then it will never come on

My red LIght is now a Green LED next to the switch,, still 12 volt though.

If I turn the switch on with no 120vac at all.... it comes on (Since it only means "Switch On") if I disconnect the LED so it never comes on the water heater still works normally

There is a red light (small round one) that comes on if the water heater fails to work on Gas (no effect on electric)

[gbs2320]

Quote:

Originally Posted by RV Wizard Low voltage on the 120 vac side of the heater will not damage the element. Unplug and reinstall the connectors on the control board to insure good connections. Most likely you have a bad element or the connections at the relay are burnt. I find a lot of burnt wiring at the relay on backside of heater.

My propane side works but no elec. Elec switch does not light up either. 120 volt water heater breaker switch was not tripped. The relay at back of heater was had alot of burnt wires around it. It appears a ground wire was pushed against a hot input wire at the relay causing the ground wire to burn apart and possibly damage the relay (surface on relay was burnt from the burnt wire). Fixed all the wires and reassembled making sure wires stayed away from hot connections on relay but still no go. So a new relay is on order. Greg

[gbs2320]

Turned out my relay was good repair/replacement of burnt wires fixed it. But bulb in switch is burnt out. Now to find out why I have a back-feed of 35 volts on this circuit when the hot water heater circuit breaker is off. It must be coming from my refrigerator circuit since the 35 volts disappear when the refrigerator circuit breaker is turned off. I now have elec and propane heated water. Now for the back-feed voltage mystery to be resolved. Will report back later. Greg

[RV Wizard]

Quote:

Originally Posted by gbs2320 Turned out my relay was good repair/replacement of burnt wires fixed it. But bulb in switch is burnt out. Now to find out why I have a back-feed of 35 volts on this circuit when the hot water heater circuit breaker is off. It must be coming from my refrigerator circuit since the 35 volts disappear when the refrigerator circuit breaker is turned off. I now have elec and propane heated water. Now for the back-feed voltage mystery to be resolved. Will report back later. Greg

Glad to hear that you have fixed the water heater. You probably have a bad heating element in the ref. If you were to unplug it and use an extension cord plugged into a GFCI receptacle it will probably trip out as the heating element has a leakage to ground (slightly shorted to ground). If it trips the GFCI replace the heating element and you should be good to go.

[gbs2320]

Quote:

Originally Posted by RV Wizard Glad to hear that you have fixed the water heater. You probably have a bad heating element in the ref. If you were to unplug it and use an extension cord plugged into a GFCI receptacle it will probably trip out as the heating element has a leakage to ground (slightly shorted to ground). If it trips the GFCI replace the heating element and you should be good to go.

I checked everything out and it appears the backfeed source is the intellitec energy management system circuit board. With both the out-going lines to the Refrig and the Water Heater disconnected from the board and only incoming lines from the WH breaker and Refrig breaker connected I still get a backfeed of 35 volts to the WH breaker (measured when the WH breaker is off) which goes away when the refrig breaker is turned off. Is my energy management circuit board bad or is this normal? Intellitec tech support will no longer provide tech support to customers on the phone - they will only help RV techs. Greg

[gbs2320]

Quote:

Originally Posted by gbs2320 I checked everything out and it appears the backfeed source is the intellitec energy management system circuit board. With both the out-going lines to the Refrig and the Water Heater disconnected from the board and only incoming lines from the WH breaker and Refrig breaker connected I still get a backfeed of 35 volts to the WH breaker (measured when the WH breaker is off) which goes away when the refrig breaker is turned off. Is my energy management circuit board bad or is this normal? Intellitec tech support will no longer provide tech support to customers on the phone - they will only help RV techs. Greg

I ran a test with a load over 20 amps and plugged into shore power of only 20 amps. I had the water heater on, frig on, ac fan on (not the compressor) and convection oven on. The ems should have turned off Water Heater first and the frig last. It turn off both the WH and Frig and left on the fan etc. So clearly I have a cross connect in the intellitec energy management system causing my backfeed with the WH and Frig and causing the ems not to function correctly re Frig and WH in the shedding process. Price for a new board on my 2008 Winnebago - part number 73-00911-00 (apparently the 73 number is not important) varied from $281 from a couple of online suppliers to $175 at mastertech-inc.com (needed to call for the price). It should be here in a couple of days. I suspect the bad install of my WH wiring at Winnebago caused burnt wires (see my earlier post) and a short that may have caused the board to become damaged. I also installed a $2 red led (radioshack) on the WH switch bezel instead of replacing the lighted switch since only the non replaceable bulb went out and otherwise the switch works fine. Winnebago dealer wanted around $8 plus $8 shipping for that switch. New board should be here in 2 days. Wish me luck. Greg