Lighting my water heater

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alphadog69

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May 17, 2013
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Hi!  I have a 1989 Southwind. I am trying to figure out how to light the water heater.  I cannot get the monitor panel to light up, which is where the "water heater" switch is to tell it to light.

I have removed the solenoid valve from the gas line, so the detector no longer impacts gas flow, but until I can get the power to the monitor panel I am dead in the water.  The fan works on the oven hood which would seem to indicate that that there is power there.

The gas detector turns on, beeps and then shuts off, but the green light never lights up. Hopefully the gas leak detector is not the problem.

Help!  Feel free to email me directly with any suggestions.

Thanks,

Lee [email protected]
 
Once again, the make and model of the water heater would help. That said, the switch and light for a gas water heater is powered with 12V and that likely from a fuse or an adjacent 12V supply and feeds the WH through a  junction box on the WH, at least according to my Suburban diagram. Nothing will happen without 12V power. It is, as you said, "dead in the water".... Not sure if we are talking about just the switch/light for the WH or another "monitor" panel in which it may be mounted either.

AFIK, the propane detector should be out of the picture since you removed the actual solenoid in the gas line, despite the beeping.  I am pretty sure the 12V supply to the WH is NOT controlled by the propane detector but I do not have the experience nor a wiring diagram to know for sure.

You will likely have to change the detector out later for one that does not have solenoid control if you intend to leave things as they are. (This detector, if original, is long past due for replacement as their lifespan is about 10 years, some have a date stamped on the back of the unit)

I would also suggest you not leave your email address shown like that as forums like these are often scanned by robots searching for emails addresses that are then used for spamming purposes. I suggest using a format such as username at msn.com or something similar.

Ohhh, and welcome to the group!!! :)
 
The switch basically just activates 12v power to the water heater, typically via a relay rather than direct through the switch itself. The relay is normally mounted on the heater itself, so you should be able to feed 12v to it and get it to run if there is nothing else wrong.

There should be a wiring schematic in the heater manual, or if not, available online in the service or installation manuals for the brand and model. Heater manuals are readily available online.
 
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