Hot Water Heater No Workee on Gas!!! - Montana Owners Club

exav8tr · 08-30-2009, 02:02 PM

Looks like my HWH has quit working on propane. Worked fine until yesterday, now only works on elec. The CG we are at has some weak power and we were running our HWH on propane until the water went cold. I have double checked the propane bottles and both have propane in them. I shut it all down and went thru gas startup procedures but am not getting anything. Could I have lost the thermocoupler???? I understand no gas flows until the thermocoupler heats up enough to ignite the gas, If this is the case I could probably change out the thermocoupler, If I can find one around Boston......Any and all suggestions would be appreciated......

awaywego · 08-30-2009, 02:23 PM

Phil,

When you turn the switch on for the water heater do you hear the click click after a few seconds when it is trying to light?

If yes then it is probably a gas problem. Leave the gas valve on a hour or so and try again after the line equalizes.

If no then you may have a bad electronic board which is mounted usually on top of the water heater.

Hope this helps and others will be along with other solutions.

old turbo · 08-30-2009, 02:50 PM

This could be the Ignitor Board. You can locate the board . It is somewhere mounted on or around the hot water heater in the trailer. Turn off all the noise in the trailer,turn off the electric to the heater. Turn on the hot water gas ignition switch, you should hear a clicking sound,similar to the sound your furnace makes before it comes on. I do not know how old your rig is but this board can go bad. If you hear no clicking sound you can take the board out, it is usually mounted under the edge of a mounting strap or it has double back sticky tape and is sitting on top of your hot water heater. It has one main power wire that plugs into the board and another that has three that comes from the heater. Watch how you unplug it so you can remember which way it goes back in. If it is mounted on tape just pull it off and get some new tape to install. Take the board to a rv dealer or rv parts store and have it checked with a multimeter before you buy a new one. If it is the board check the dealer price and warranty or you can order a board from Dinosaur Electronics 1160 SE 27th ST. Lincoln City, OR 97367 Phone No. 1 (541) 994-4344. for arond $109.00 with a 3 yr limited warranty.

FLSTS03 · 08-30-2009, 03:01 PM

Phil, try another gas appliance like your oven to eliminate any supply problems. Here a link to the service manual that is downloadable as pdf.

http://www.dutchmen-rv.com/scripts/p...get.php?id=148

Steve

Desert RVer · 08-30-2009, 06:51 PM

This is assuming yours is a Suburban Water Heater. Do all the stove burners light and burn at full height? If not you have a gas supply issue. When you turn on the inside switch for the WH it will try to light 3 times and then quit if it isn't successful. Then the switch needs to be turned off for 10 seconds and then turned back on to repeat the cycle. Two people are needed to test things. One at the water heater outside with the cover removed to observe what is going on. Another inside to turn the inside water heater switch on while you are outside watching. When the switch is turned on you should observe the ignitor arcing to try to light gas, If that isn't occurring then either the Electronic module has failed or it is not being allowed to try. If it is arcing and tries three times but doesn't light they gas isn't getting to the WH. That can be due to the gas shut off, ir in the line or the gas valve is not opening. If the valve is not opening, check using a VOM whether 12VDC is getting to the two coils while the arcing is occurring. If the 12V DC isn't there then probsbly one of the coils has shorted out which in turn has caused the Electronic Module to fail as well. .

ARJ · 08-31-2009, 03:37 AM

Maybe this will help!

http://en.allexperts.com/q/RV-Repair...r-Heater-3.htm

kerry · 08-31-2009, 03:00 PM

There are 2 reset buttons on the outside of the WH. One is 120 AC reset, the other is 12v reset. Push on the rubber round detents. Just a possible fix. Kerry

exav8tr · 09-01-2009, 01:24 PM

Gas is flowing to other applicances well. Will try a reset tomorrow once we turn off the elec to the HWH so when we try and restart it we will have a demand for hot water. I understand the pilot does not light if water is already hot, am I right in assuming this? If so, must wait until water is cold, tomorrow after showers would be a good time to try this......Thanks to all for great help. If I can't get it restarted, I must call for a repair. I don't do electricity!!! I know my limits....

bw2 · 09-01-2009, 03:23 PM

Turn off the electric switch. You can use the water relief valve and drain the hot water. Be careful not to burn yourself with the water. Drain about half and let it refill with cold water. Then reset the limit switches. I had this problem this spring when I opened up for the year. Apparently the limit switches had tripped while I was closing up for the year last fall.

Hope this helps

NewFlyLady · 09-02-2009, 12:05 PM

This sounds like what happened to me just a couple of months ago. I could hear the clicking but it would not light. I was finally able to get the repair guy out and he determined that it was a problem with the gas valve if I remember correctly. The conversion went something like this.

"Yep, looks like a bad valve control. Good thing I have one in the truck"

"That is good because I have been without hot water for 2 months"

At this point he gives me an odd look and says..."Why didn't you just switch to electric"

To which I answered, "I didn't know it ran on electric. How do you do that?"

He pointed at the UNMARKED switch and then removed the cotter pin and switched it on.

At that point I meekly walked back into the 5'er and hid until he stopped laughing.

exav8tr · 09-02-2009, 12:21 PM

Here's the latest: turned off all elec and gas to the heater this morning. When I got home I turned on the gas, then the electric and the igniter cycled three times, but did not light. I tried this two more time to no avail. Then took the main gas supply line off the valve and plenty of propane flowing. took the bottom gas line off, the one on the bottom of the valve that goes into the heater tube and NO gas. I can only assume at this point that the valve went bad, does this sound correct????? If so I guess I should call the repair guy as NewFlyLady did and have it checked and replaced.

Am I thinking right? Not sure I should try and replace it myself, don't want to blow up my trailer........

Tom S. · 09-02-2009, 12:41 PM

Phil you may be right but before replacing the valve, make sure you are getting electricity to it.

exav8tr · 09-02-2009, 01:18 PM

Quote:

quote:Originally posted by Tom S.

Phil you may be right but before replacing the valve, make sure you are getting electricity to it.

Tom, How do I do that?

HamRad · 09-02-2009, 03:09 PM

NewFlyLady,
I'll bet you're the ONLY one this has happened to! NOT! Only difference between your situation and mine was that I was checking things out one day and decided I'd check the HWH. I accidentally found the electric switch. This was about a year after we'd gotten the rig!

So after he stopped laughing did he replace the bad valve? Did he give you any kind of discount for all the laughter you supplied?

Thanks for sharing.

HamRad

noneck · 09-02-2009, 03:19 PM

Phil, that gas valve will only be active when the ignitor is "clicking".
If this was me having to debug I'd do as suggested have my meter ready and check for voltage on the valve when "clicking".
If voltage is there and no gas then its the valve...another idea can you see sparking at the ends of the ignitor when its "clicking"?

exav8tr · 09-03-2009, 01:15 AM

noneck, yes there is arching at the end of the igniter....

ole dude · 09-03-2009, 01:24 AM

Some gas valves have a strainer on the inlet side of the valve, where the gas enters, they can and some times do stop up.

Tom S. · 09-03-2009, 01:54 AM

Phil, it will require two people and a multi meter. Hook the meter to the valve wires and have someone inside the trailer turn on the switch. The valve operates off of DC voltage, so set the meter to an appropriate DC setting (20 volts on many meters). If the valve is getting electricity, then my next move would be to replace it. The reason I would test first is many places will not accept returns on electrical items.

One other thing you might want to check before changing the valve is the burner tube to make sure there are no obstructions. Spiders have been known to build webs in them and thus block them off.

FRED S · 09-03-2009, 06:27 AM

I have had this suburban waterheater gas valve fail twice on a 2007 3400RL.
both times the dealer techs said they are having frequent and reoccuring failures. the first one shorted to ground in the selenoid and also cooked the circuit board, the second one just quit allowing gas flow. third one is working well yet . Fred

NewFlyLady · 09-03-2009, 12:55 PM

HamRod, Yes he did replace the valve. It's funny because as I was hiding inside he came to the door and asked if I really wanted it replace because it was a very expensive part. Expecting the worst I asked how much just to find out it was $90. That was a no brainer. The electric where my unit is doesn't even run my air conditioner and has blown out 2 microwaves. I doubt I could watch TV and heat water at the same time. At least I am just there until October first then the unit goes into storage.

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