Water Heater Issues

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TTitansfan

Member
Joined
Apr 23, 2011
Posts
8
Hello all. Need to pick somebodies brain that knows more about water heaters than I do which is probably everyone here. My problem is that we just bought our first diesel pusher - a 2000 Winnebago Itasca and after getting it parked I hooked everything up to see what does what. ( The guy at the dealership was not much help and of course there were no manuals! Anyway i have the water hooked up and when I turn the switch on for the water heater it ignites and heats up fine but after taking a shower it does not reheat the water unless I turn the switch off and then back on. It worked correctly one time - I ran some hot water thru the faucet and it come back on and heated the water up but then after sitting overnight I ran water thru the shower and it never came back on until I cycled the switch off and back on. I think it is probably the circuit board but do not know for sure and really don't want to change a lot of parts unnecessarily. Any ideas?

Thanks,
TTitansfan
 
Until someone comes along with a better idea, clean the connections to the control board.  Unplug them and use a pencil eraser.
 
Good suggestion for starters from Molaker.

We really need to know what make and model WH you have. Is it a DSI model? (Direct Spark Ignition)? If so, does the red light on the switch  reappear indicating it tried to re-light but failed?

If it is a pilot light model, is the pilot light staying lit??

Have a look at http://www.rvforum.net/SMF_forum/index.php?topic=20624.0
and pick up the Winnebago customer service site and see what they have in manuals etc.

 
The water heater is an Atwood GCH10A-3e. After running the shower this morning the heater did not relite until I cycled the swith then it worked as it should for a while. - When we washed dishes in the sink it came on and reheated - but then we let it sit for a few hours and when the wife went to take a shower it did not relit. The lite for the (pilot out) lite does not come on and I can not hear the unit trying to ignite.
 
As said above, clean the connections. Pull each connection on and off a couple of times. Slightly squeeze the female disconnect and then re-install.
 
The number 3 in the model numbers says you have electronic ignition. I assume by that they mean DSI, no pilot flame. I believe that the light coming on says it tried to relight but failed to detect a flame.  The igniter/flame detector (often 1 piece) may be on it's way out but cleaning up its connection to the board often solves such problems. Follow up on the cleanup as suggested by others and try again!!.

Good luck!!
 
Just a try, but leave the bay door open and see if it stays working.  If not try leaving the bay door and water heater door both open.  We had a 2000 with the same heater in a 35U gasser that did nearly the same thing.  Atwood told us Winnebago didn't leave enough air intake area.  We ended up just leaving the bay door open at the bottom when ever we were on LP.
 
The number 3 in the model numbers says you have electronic ignition.

Not quite right.  The "3" is the version number and the folowing "E" indicates electronic ignition (DSI). The "G" means it is a propane gas heater, the "C" means combo gas/electric, the "H" signifies that the engine heat exchange feature is included and the "10" is the capacity in gallons.
 
The first question is whether it behaves the same on both gas and electric. The answer to that will help isolate the cause. I assume the first attempt was on gas (you said it "ignites").

The circuit board is suspect in this case, since the heat causes expansion and the microcircuits on the board can either open or short. However, the thermostat and its wiring is also a potential cause, for much the same reason. Make sure the wire between the t-stat and the circuit board has a clean connection.

You can download the Atwood 2004 Water Heater Service Manual HERE. Skip over the section on Pilot Heaters (the front) and go to the Electronic Ignition section.
 
Greetings from the Sunshine Coast, Larry Cavens here the RV Doctor
well first things first here, at the switch for a combination unit you should have two switches with a red light between them white in color. The left one should control the
electric operation the right switch should control the gas operation, Or if you have just a single switch with a red light beside it should be a color black. Now there's another configuration where some of these Winnebago's will put the switch in the over the range with all the others in this case it should be a single switch with the word check or the word pilot out above or beside it. Now when you turn on the unit the red light should come first for two to three seconds
indicating that the system is running, if the burner fails to light the red light should come on again and remain on until you reset the unit by turning the switch off then on again. I had the same experience and what solved my problem was two things/ 1st depending on the age of the D S I board it sounds like it's been subject to either a power brown out or a power spike or an AC ripple which would hamper the microcircuits and its now operating on a backup or in limp mode where manual operation is possible, in that case you must replace the board / 2nd the power converter itself could also be damaged as well and its not putting out the required voltage which should be at 13.5 DC  maximum no higher and the storage battery is not filtering the power circuit, if this is the case this would indicate the power converter is putting out raw power and the sensitive circuits in these D S I boards are subject to fail, this will include your furnace and your fridge as well, another possibility is that the storage batteries have been charged by a external battery charger while still hooked up to the coach that in itself will ruin the charging circuit in the converter and the rectifying circuits in the D S I boards,
so if it were me first I would replace the board on the H W Heater and secondly get the converter inspected for the power output and the purity of the
DC wave form as it should not have any AC ripple in its wave form . hope this helps ya. You can Email me at [email protected] and let me know if I can be of further assistance. :D
   
 
I'm responding on the iPhone and no manual, but maybe Larry knows..
Is there a seperate hi temp cutoff sensor on the WH? Sounds like the unit is going into lockout and its taking a power-on reset to clear it?

 
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