water heater won't stay lit

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bdasgto

Member
Joined
Feb 15, 2009
Posts
6
water heater won't stay lit, burner lights but goes out immediately. i have propane, stove and fridge work fine and the water heater was working just fine yesterday. This is in a 2004 arctic fox camper. Any ideas on what to check, I'm in a campground at the moment.

Kevin
 
Kevin,
I had exactly the same issue last weekend while camping. It would light and run for about 1 minute then shut off. What I did was removed all the wires from the circuit board one at a time and pushed them on and off about 15 times each to see if the problem was corrosion. That's  what the problem was. One of them had corrosion and by doing that, it cleaned it up enough so it made better contact and stayed running. I hope your fix is as easy as mine. Try it.
 
i don't see a circuit board, it does have 4 wires going to what looks like a solenoid.
 
If it's a sSuburban the circuit board is probably accessible from inside.  Mine was held on top of the styrofoam insulation around the tank with double sided tape and the edge connector had come halfway off.

If that doesn't work clean the burner tube and the orifice.

If that doesn't work adjust the air mixture until you see a healthy flame and make sure it's actually hitting the thermocouple/flame sensor.

If that doesn't work you probably have a bad hi-temp cutoff.
 
Looks like you may need a new igniter/detector then if thoroughly cleaning its connection to the board doesn't work. An eraser works best for that cleaning or you could use a piece of 400-600 grade sandpaper. Disconnect the wire completely to clean

 
I just got home today, I'll write back here and let you know how I ended up, thanks for your help.

Kevin
 
I replaced the electrode and that didn't fix it so I called dinosaur boards and I'm getting a new board for the water heater.

Kevin
 
Ordered the board yesterday and it got here today, installed it and it works, hot water.  This is the second time dealing with Dinosaur Electronics and they came through both times, with help and the correct part that works. They got me in touch with R&G Electronic Specialty Inc. in So. Ca. to order the board. Spoke with Roy who was very informative and just a nice guy to talk to, he is also the owner and once was partners with Guy, the owner of Dinosaur Electronics. If you ever have the need for a circuit board I wouldn't hesitate to call them.

Kevin 
 

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