water heater trouble

[rujoe]

* i have a new 2019 jay flight slx. the water heater worked fine at home, but once at campsite it no longer worked. is there a pilot light that remains lit, or does it spark as required to heat the water? the propane flows fine to stove and furnace, but flows only briefly to water heater. it does not spark on its own...i hear and smell propane at the heater very briefly but then it stops before igniting

[Grumpy]

It should be electronic ignition, no pilot. Check the igniter wire (Orange I think) going from the board to the burner to be sure it's tight.

[ALJO]

It has to be properly diagnosed to see what it is doing. There isn't a pilot light on electronic models. Please state the WH model and explain better what it is doing. Have someone operate the switch for resetting and someone listen at the WH. You need to hear the igniter spark also, if not the igniter has to be adjusted.

[Jjdavidjr]

On my 2014 Swift 248rbs, I flip the switches for hot water electric and hot water lpg, and nothing happens. The switches turn and stay red. The Atwood manual states "a red lockout lamp will illuminate" if there is no ignition. I don't know where that is, or what to try next. Gas, 120v electric are on.

[Camper_bob]

Originally Posted by Jjdavidjr

On my 2014 Swift 248rbs, I flip the switches for hot water electric and hot water lpg, and nothing happens. The switches turn and stay red. The Atwood manual states "a red lockout lamp will illuminate" if there is no ignition. I don't know where that is, or what to try next. Gas, 120v electric are on.

This is a different issue than OP is trying to solve IMO.

OP's issue likely has something to do with the ignition not firing for one reason or another. It could be the board, it could simply be the distance between the contacts on the ignition itself, it could be a loose wire, could even be a 12V system problem....

Jjdavidjr's issue may not even be an issue. If the light for gas is illuminated, and the light for electric is illuminated, this would indicate "normal" operation. It takes a little time for hot water to present at the faucet unless you're talking about a tankless system. If both electric and gas are on and functioning, I think it takes about 10 minutes to heat the 6-gallons of water in that tank; a little longer for a 10 gallon tank.

If you're running it on gas and the gas function is not working for some reason, you will see a third little red light in the vicinity of the electric light and gas light on your panel often labeled "FLT". This means there was a "fault" when trying to ignite the propane, and the control board in the WH has stopped trying to ignite, and stopped the flow of gas. You need to cycle the switch and try again. This condition is often caused because there is no propane in the line leading up to the WH (the lines need to be "bled"). You need to make sure your tank valves are open (turn them slowly) and then try to ignite the stove. Once you ignite the stove, let it run for a minute, turn it off, then try to ignite the water heater on gas again.

It helps to have someone listen outside the water heater. After you flip the switch to call for gas heating (assuming the water is not already up to heat), you should hear the ignition clicking, then when the gas ignites, it will sound like a very small rocket engine. If there is no gas for some reason, the ignition will click for a second, stop, click again for a second, stop, click again. After three attempts with no ignition, the board will enter "FLT" (Fault) mode and you will need to cycle the switch to try again.

[Jjdavidjr]

Cycled the gas heat switch on and off five times, but no reaction from the gas valve or igniter. Small FLT light next to the switch does not come on. Cleaned the gas lines. Plenty of gas to the stove and refrig.

[Jjdavidjr]

Got 13.5v accross the thermostat leads and 1.5v accross eco leads. Circuit board getting power. 0.1 ohm accross termostat and eco inputs, so appear to have continuity.

No hot water for electric operation either. Guess I'll try replacing thermostat and eco next.