Atwood 10 gallon HWH -not firing on propane

[FormerBoater]

Well, as luck would have it the HWH in our coach will not operate on propane as we are scheduled for our first semi-long trip of the summer.


Cleaned all terminals, circuit board connector, blew out the burn tube, re-seated the thermostat ECO etc. Fired up beautifully 2 days ago after performing these actions however yesterday it would not fire up at all.


It is audibly sparking and you can hear the valve open to allow the propane to flow.


All the other gas appliances are working fine, i.e. propane is flowing throughout the coach.



The only thing I have not done is clean the orifice....however there is no rubbing alcohol available in our area.


Should I just remove the orifice and blow it out with compressed air?


Any other advice would be appreciated.


BTW, the electric portion of the HWH has not operated for years and therefore we are dependent on the propane for our hot water needs (my bad I know!).

[hamm2018]

Originally Posted by FormerBoater

Well, as luck would have it the HWH in our coach will not operate on propane as we are scheduled for our first semi-long trip of the summer.


Cleaned all terminals, circuit board connector, blew out the burn tube, re-seated the thermostat ECO etc. Fired up beautifully 2 days ago after performing these actions however yesterday it would not fire up at all.


It is audibly sparking and you can hear the valve open to allow the propane to flow.


All the other gas appliances are working fine, i.e. propane is flowing throughout the coach.



The only thing I have not done is clean the orifice....however there is no rubbing alcohol available in our area.


Should I just remove the orifice and blow it out with compressed air?


Any other advice would be appreciated.


BTW, the electric portion of the HWH has not operated for years and therefore we are dependent on the propane for our hot water needs (my bad I know!).

Check the voltage at the control board and check the fuse. But it could be the control board finally gave it up and needs to be replaced. If that is the case being that old you may have trouble finding a replacement board.
One place to look is Dinosaur Electronics, make sure you have model number
Good Luck

[FormerBoater]

The control board is a relatively new Dinosaur Electronics board.


Voltage is good and the control board is functioning (i.e. calling for heat, initiating the ignitor etc.). Fuse is good.

[hamm2018]

Originally Posted by FormerBoater

The control board is a relatively new Dinosaur Electronics board.


Voltage is good and the control board is functioning (i.e. calling for heat, initiating the ignitor etc.).

Our control board lasted only for about 16 months then went bad. Luckily, for us, on a new heater Atwood has 2 year warranty, so it cost nothing.
Check all of your wiring make sure nothing is loose, and try cleaning the orifice like you suggested.

[YC1]

If there is no hint of propane smell the solenoid that is clicking may not be working properly. Without turning on the hwh, crack the gas connection loose just a tad. If you smell gas it is getting to the valve of course.

Once the air clears, give the solenoid a rap with the handle of a screwdriver or nut driver.

If you can find the model number of the hwh we may be able to get your electric operation functional quickly as well.

[FormerBoater]

Originally Posted by YC1

If there is no hint of propane smell the solenoid that is clicking may not be working properly. Without turning on the hwh, crack the gas connection loose just a tad. If you smell gas it is getting to the valve of course.

Once the air clears, give the solenoid a rap with the handle of a screwdriver or nut driver.

If you can find the model number of the hwh we may be able to get your electric operation functional quickly as well.

It is an Atwood Model GC10A-3E.

[clifford j]

It's not a fuse, you got a spark, you hear the solenoid click and you don't smell propane, and there's no flame. Good suggestion above, crack the propane line and smell propane. Is the spark electrode positioned properly. Not a bad thought to clean the orifice, doesn't have to be alcohol, use something that is small and won't damage the hole. (broom bristle ?) You said there's spark and the propane valve clicks, a bad board wouldn't let the system get that far.

CLIFFORD

[YC1]

Page 17 has a great chart.

https://www.manualslib.com/download/...-6-Gallon.html


Darn manual is .1 mb too big to attach. The darn limitations are frustrating here sometimes. Figure out how to download it. I'm too lazy to resize.

With this manual it should be very easy to diagnose both the 12 volt no fire problem and the 110 volt no heat problem.

Look very closely while someone turns the switch on. Look where the flame would normally be but be careful to not burn your eye lashes off.

You should be able to see the spark if you are hearing the tick tick tick. It goes through several tries but if it does not ignite you have to recycle the on/off button.

If you have not used propane in the rv for some time the lines can lose pressure and the startup sequence will time out. It only takes a couple of seconds for it to time out.

If you are careful with a bar b que lighter you can heat the thermocouple, pull the lighter out quickly and stand back while someone turns the switch on. This may hold the propane on just long enough for it to ignight. Once lit there will be plenty of flow to keep the lines full.

You can also try lighting your furnace and stove top or oven to bleed the lines.

[Cassy]

Use a can of air & spray again. This happened to me. It took 3 times to final solve the dust issue.

[FormerBoater]

Thanks for the suggestions.....tried them all to no avail.


I think the solenoid/gas valve that feeds the propane to the orifice has died a natural death after 22 years of service.


Trip starts today, sans hot water on board but we will work around that and cold showers this time of year are not the worse thing in the world.

[NITEHAWK]

Newer RVs do not have the solenoid valve that is triggered shut when propane (or some other fumes) is detected by the "sniffer" in your RV.
It can be replaced by a simple pipe nipple, or you can just disconnect the wire on the solenoid.
When it comes to the propane rotten egg smell at the water heater gas control, you will get that smell just from the residual fumes left in the line.
Unscrew the gas line supply nut from your gas control until you feel a definite gas flow--or not.
If a definite strong flow then you do have a problem with the water heater unit and not your propane supply.
BY the way, the gas "sniffer" or sensor units do time out. The newer ones even have a replacement/timed out date right on the label.

[azpete]

clean the orifice, could be a spider plugged the opening. that happens all the time.
use wd40 and compressed air. dont use anything hard to open the orifice, that opening is lasered thru a commercial ruby. very brittle.
run something thru the burner tube. spicer webs build up in there too. in illinois, where i worked for 30 years we had a small spider that lovers propane.
also sand the electrode. it has an ionic build up that insulated it from the flame.
yeah, it sounds crazy, but thats from their research dept.

[Ray,IN]

This is the specific service manual for your water heater: http://bryantrv.com/docs2/docs/atwoodwaterheater.pdf


Old-biscuit talked me through getting mine working again. It took 3X cleaning ground connections and the circuit board connections to get the LP side working again.

[mchero]

Don't forget the fuseable link over the burner tube. Part of the ECO circuit.
Bad connection(s)