Atwood water heater morse code

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Soaringeagle

Well-known member
Joined
Sep 2, 2012
Posts
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Location
Saskatchewan, Canada
In my 2013 Journey 42e I have a 10 gallon Atwood water heater that makes a clicking sound when it is heating in electric mode. When I have changed the thermostat, the clicking stops for a few weeks but eventually comes back. This has occurred with both the standard and adjustable thermostats.
The clicking seems to be coming from the rear of the water heater so I changed the relay, and once again the clicking stopped but came back in about two weeks. The clicking is not constant but very sporadic. I have also noticed that the pressure relief valve has been letting out water periodically while this has been going on. The water heater operates fine in the propane mode.
I am wondering if I possibly have a faulty circuit board or if I have a problem with the quality of power, inverter?, going to the heater.
I have spoken to Winnebago and Atwood, and neither had heard of this problem before.
Any thoughts would be appreciated
Thanks
Brent
 
It's not uncommon for electric heating elements to make a clicking noise as they heat up. It may also be the pressure relief valve. Another poster has a problem with the pressure relief valve, but only on electric.
 
I originally thought that it must be the element, but when it goes away when I replace a thermostat or relay, I'm not so sure. I remember the post about the pressure relief valve, and if memory serves, someone had said that their circuit board was to blame. Circuit boards are a bit pricey so I'm hesitant to replace it without a bit more evidence.
Thanks for the input.
Brent
 
Maybe it is a shroud or something that gets moved, tightened or loosened when working on the water heater and then goes back to the way it was eventually. I would look at something metal that expands or contracts. When on propane it may see more heat than when on the electric element and expand differently.
 
I just had mine pulled out part way because the electric wasn't working.  Those two little devices on the back are temperature switches, not relays. If you relief is popping it sounds like the electric element is boiling the water. Those switches need to make good contact with the back of the tank or they will allow the watertank to get too hot. The bracket that holds those switches in place needs adjusted to allow the base of the switches to make good contact on the back of the tank. Some thermal grease found at Radio Shack will improve the heat transfer to the switches.

This thread shows the two switches on the backside of my heater:
http://www.rvforum.net/SMF_forum/index.php/topic,104397.0.html
 
My Atwood GC10A-4E is doing the same thing.  "Morse Code" is a good description of the sound.  Definitely coming from the relay on the back of the water heater.  Not sure if the relay is bad or something else is causing the relay to open & close.  Since a new relay was not a permanent fix for the OP, I'm hesitant to replace it.

I know this is an old post, but perhaps the OP has notifications on for the thread and will chime in if they ever got the problem resolved.
 
Yeah, I saw that. That's why I mentioned if they had notifications set for the thread they might respond to a notification email.  I know, a long shot, but I still get notifications from forums I haven't been on for years.
 
If this happens when in electric heating, it could be a control issue, although electric mode, gas might be trying to light, what you hear is the igniter. ?  Possible?

Found this thread on another forum
https://www.jaycoowners.com/forums/f5/water-heater-noise-46741.html
 
The Relay consists of a coil of wire. Wound on an iron core. with a Feromagnatic "arm" held "out" by a spring.  A copper strip attached to the arm ends in a contact there is another contact attached to the frame (both are insulated)

When power is applied the current in the coil creates a magnetid field that attracts the arm I mentioned above pulling it "in".

There is NOTHING at all in this that can cause clicking that I now of save perhaps a broken coil wire.

THE control board and T-Stats (two of them T-Stat and ECO) however  ECO will trip fault light

Weeping at the TPR.. Drain the water heater flush and refill
 
Thanks for the replies.  I finally got a chance to take a closer look at it.  The relay mounts on the back of the water tank covering the electric heating element.  Once I removed the relay I found a large amount of corrosion on one of the heating element terminals.  Additionally, there are two ground wires from the relay that attach to the tank.  Both of these connections had corrosion. As John mentioned above, a relay is simply an electromagnet energized switch.  I'm quite sure that when the relay was energized the poor electrical connections (probably the grounds) were causing the circuit to open and close, thus causing the relay to open and close creating the clicking sound.
Over the years I've found that more often than not, an electrical issue can be traced back to a bad ground.
 
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