Gas Water heater not lighting

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WMcClelland

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Aug 31, 2020
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18
2001 Wini Suncruiser 32v
Gas Water heater doesn't light. It has electronic ignition.
What and how do I check?
Thanks, Wayne
 
Access is inside the utility door outside on the side of the coach. I assume you have an atwood 6 gallon?

There is a specific sequence that follows turning on the switch. First the gas valve opens and sends the gas into the chamber which is ignited by the electrode/sensor. The electrode/ sensor should be sparking or clicking which indicates it is trying to ignite the gas. If the gas ignites, there is a short period of time (less than 10 seconds) for the electrode / sensor to varify a flame is present. If a flame is not detected, the gas valve closes and ignition must begin again.

If you can post what the unit is doing when you turn on the switch, many of the members can help you through it.
 
WMcClelland said:
2001 Wini Suncruiser 32v
Gas Water heater doesn't light. It has electronic ignition.
What and how do I check?
Thanks, Wayne
Click to expand...
Wayne
Clean or replace the spark/sense electrode.
 
Thanks folks for the questions.
The waterheater is an Atwood 10 gal. Model GCH10A-3E 10,0000 BTU. When I have an assistant turn on the WH switch inside , the unit does almost nothing. There is no gas released, and no arching by the igniter. The only sound I hear is a faint click in the electronics. My guess is the gas valve is stuck closed due to inactivity and has to be operable for the sequence of steps to continue.  What are your thoughts?
Thanks,  Wayne
 
Do you run it on gas and electric at the same time?  Have is been on gas on windy days!?

A yes to either of those questions may mean the thermal fuse is blown.  It looks like the attached picture.

Easy way to test it with a ohmmeter.  It should read zero ohms.  Or you can remove it and connect the spade connectors from both ends together.  If the WH lights get a new one, it's a safety device there for a reason.
 

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Unplug all the wires going to the circuit board and clean the terminals. A pencil eraser works good. Then plug and unplug several times in order to clean the matching connectors
 
Hi Wayne.  I had a similar problem a couple weeks ago with my Atwood 6gal, but mine is a good bit older (1990).  I didn't use mine much but it was working then quit all of a sudden while I was using it on my last local trip. Mine went into lockout mode after a few seconds with the switch light on. With the lovely wife as a helper, I was getting an audible clicking/sparking from the electronic ignitor but no gas smell and no ignition.

I did get it working again and these are the steps I went through:
1) Cleaned all of the electrical connections I could get to without disassembling everything (control board, thermostat control, gas valve control). No joy.
2) Removed the control board and examined all the traces on the back for burns, then tested all of them with a multimeter. You may or may not not be able to do this if it's encased in epoxy. Put it back on.  No joy.
3) Removed the ignitor/gas sensor (mine is so old they are separate items with their own ceramic insulators and wires!) and hit them with sandpaper to clean them up. I adjusted the ignitor slightly to 1/8" but that probably wasn't an issue. Tried again - no joy.
4) Removed the gas valve and cleaned up the ground wire specifically and the other contacts a little more.  While I had that off I exercised the solenoids with a 12v battery to make sure they were both clicking/opening.  They were not doing that with the previous tests so maybe the grounding was an issue.
5) While I had the gas valve off anyway, I  disconnected the water heater gas line from the t-connector under the rig that also went to the fridge, then blew that out with compressed air.
6) Reconnected the gas line, then reconnected the gas valve.  Success!

I fired it up a couple of times and it works, but doesn't seem to want to shut off after a half-hour more, so I'm going to order a new thermostat kit to see if I can fix that. Not sure if step 4 or 5 fixed it, but I did read on one site that until they blew out the gas line they had problems even after replacing a bunch of parts so that's certainly worth the few minutes to try it.

Atwood does have a troubleshooting guide that I remember looking at but I can't find it at  the moment. Good luck with your repair!

Jim R.
 
On mine, I had a bad temp switch on the thermostat assy. The first time, I was able to clean the contacts and push the button to break through any internal oxidation. That lasted 2 years. This year, the switch that had the manual reset button was stuck open and I was unable to get push the button to close it. I replaced the thermostat set for $15 on Amazon and it worked fine.

If its accessible, you could bypass the switches for a minute or two to see if it turns on. DO NOT leave it like that though or you could overheat the water; damaging the heater, water lines...or at a minimum, burn yourself with scalding hot water.
 
BinaryStar said:
Hi Wayne. I had a similar problem a couple weeks ago with my Atwood 6gal, but mine is a good bit older (1990). I didn't use mine much but it was working then quit all of a sudden while I was using it on my last local trip. Mine went into lockout mode after a few seconds with the switch light on. With the lovely wife as a helper, I was getting an audible clicking/sparking from the electronic ignitor but no gas smell and no ignition.

I did get it working again and these are the steps I went through:
1) Cleaned all of the electrical connections I could get to without disassembling everything (control board, thermostat control, gas valve control). No joy.
2) Removed the control board and examined all the traces on the back for burns, then tested all of them with a multimeter. You may or may not not be able to do this if it's encased in epoxy. Put it back on. No joy.
3) Removed the ignitor/gas sensor (mine is so old they are separate items with their own ceramic insulators and wires!) and hit them with sandpaper to clean them up. I adjusted the ignitor slightly to 1/8" but that probably wasn't an issue. Tried again - no joy.
4) Removed the gas valve and cleaned up the ground wire specifically and the other contacts a little more. While I had that off I exercised the solenoids with a 12v battery to make sure they were both clicking/opening. They were not doing that with the previous tests so maybe the grounding was an issue.
5) While I had the gas valve off anyway, I disconnected the water heater gas line from the t-connector under the rig that also went to the fridge, then blew that out with compressed air.
6) Reconnected the gas line, then reconnected the gas valve. Success!

I fired it up a couple of times and it works, but doesn't seem to want to shut off after a half-hour more, so I'm going to order a new thermostat kit to see if I can fix that. Not sure if step 4 or 5 fixed it, but I did read on one site that until they blew out the gas line they had problems even after replacing a bunch of parts so that's certainly worth the few minutes to try it.

Atwood does have a troubleshooting guide that I remember looking at but I can't find it at the moment. Good luck with your repair!

Jim R.
Click to expand...
I finally was able to get back to this repair. Having the electric water heating option pushed it to the bottom of the list. Thanks for your insights as I cleaned all electrical connectors including ground to gas valve, and exercise the gas valve while disconnected. Well, something worked. I almost concluded that those tries didn't succeed by trying only once to turn it on. Because the gas valve was disconnected, it took 3 cycles of on/off on the control switch to purge the gas line. Presto, it light e ey time. Thanks all who contributed!
Wayne
 
WMcClelland said:
Because the gas valve was disconnected, it took 3 cycles of on/off on the control switch to purge the gas line. Presto, it light e ey time.
Click to expand...
Great news! Also thank you for returning to let everyone know the outcome and of your success. All of us learn from the experiences of those we help if they return to let us know the results.
 
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