Atwood water heater issue - Page 3

derrickcassel · 07-22-2018, 11:10 AM

Hey everyone. New to the forums and new to Jaycos. The wife and I just took our new 267BHS for a weekend trip for the first time and the water heater quit the second night. Looks like we're having the same issue others are having because we're getting gas and can light manually but the flame goes out and it shuts down.
Rather than taking it to get warranty work done I guess the common consensus is just buy the replacement board and do it myself?

oldmanAZ · 07-22-2018, 11:23 AM

Welcome to the forum.

Some do replace the board themselves, but IMO it's not really a consensus.

Gizmopilot · 07-22-2018, 11:38 AM

It is pretty straight forward to replace it.

I wouldn’t buy another attwood board until they resolve the quality issue.

That is why I just replaced mine with a dinosaur board.

You have to make the decision for your self.

My thinking was, I just thought that if so many of the replacements are failing that in reality I would be the one paying for a new camper sitting at the RV repair shop that I can’t use so the warranty is kind of a joke.

What does it cost to tow it back and forth, what is the loss of value to you while you can’t use it. To me $140 via amazon was the better value.

Campingteacher79 · 07-22-2018, 11:39 AM

I had mine replaced by a mobile tech, it was done it a couple of days. I also sent my original board to my dealer, and they have a cheque coming in the mail for me.

If you can get one on your own, may as well.

derrickcassel · 07-22-2018, 11:51 AM

Thanks for the quick responses.

Gizmo that was kind of my thoughts. Closest warranty place is over an hour away (and it's a camping world) so I'd rather just pay for it then have to pull it all the way there for it to sit for Lord knows how long. How long have you had the dinosaur board? You have the one linked earlier on in the thread?

derrickcassel · 07-22-2018, 12:05 PM

Found the link you shared. No concerns about it not being potted?

Gizmopilot · 07-22-2018, 12:14 PM

I posted the amazon link to the one I purchased and it has been flawless (on currently).

The picture you posted looks a little different than mine you may want to call dinosaur and ask them which model you need or see if you can match your model on their website.

Also mine came with a plastic transparent cover - I did have to reverse the metal mounting plate for the mounting holes to line up with my heater.

Photo attached

TCNashville · 07-22-2018, 12:32 PM

I've read about the problems Atwood is having with their boards lately but before I went out and purchased a new board I would check the igniter [flame sensor] which serves 2 purposes. When you switch the heater on gas, the gas valve opens and the igniter "clicks" to ignite the flowing gas. Once ignited the igniter or flame sensor gives a signal back to the board that it senses flame and the water heating process begins. If your water heater board is going through the correct process of lighting but then shutting down it could be the $21 igniter as they get brazed and will not send a signal back to the board about flame, thus shutting down. These are easily cleaned with steel wool or something of that nature or replaced. It probably is a bad board but I'm just throwing this out there because I was getting ready to replace the board in my Atwood but it turned out to be the flame sensor instead. It was still "clicking" with flame in the tube.

derrickcassel · 07-22-2018, 12:53 PM

I was looking to see if I was getting spark and was not. Then I pulled the wire off that goes to the ignitor and tried to see if it was arcing and it wasn't. Wouldn't that rule that out?

Here's a close up shot of what my board looks like. I'm going to try to dig a little deeper and if I can't figure it out I'll call dinosaur tomorrow I guess and see if they can tell me. It's a 6 pin.

Gizmopilot · 07-22-2018, 01:05 PM

Mine needed to be re-gapped (should be 1/8 “) and there was some white powder between the ignitor/ sensor and the bracket it is mounted to, that I cleaned up and I got it to work for one more day.

TCNashville · 07-22-2018, 01:19 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by derrickcassel

I was looking to see if I was getting spark and was not. Then I pulled the wire off that goes to the ignitor and tried to see if it was arcing and it wasn't. Wouldn't that rule that out?

Probably and it sounds as if you need a new board unfortunately. If under warranty definitely see if you can be reimbursed somehow. Personally I would spend the $100 for a new board even if I was under warranty because my dealer is 70 miles away and have to lug it up there, leave it for who knows how long for a 20 minute job and lug it back.

LabMan · 07-22-2018, 03:31 PM

My heater would work on propane, but not electric. Element is good (10.4 ohms), relay is good (works to close on 12vdc). Talked to dealer, he gave me new board, 10 minutes to install, all working now. It's a 2014 Octane with lots of use, heater worked fine for 4 1/2 years. That makes 1 heater control board, 2 radios, 1 vent fan, and the rear door (toy hauler) replaced under extended warranty. I second guessed getting the extended warranty, but the rear door alone covered the cost. By the way the new board for the heater is different from the original, dealer said it's a upgrade, but it looks like the pictures above. Hope it last as long as the original.

Bandit12 · 07-22-2018, 03:51 PM

Well, I was gonna do a search for this very topic. We just got home from our maiden trip in our 2018 X23b. First night out, I flipped the switch for the hot water heater, and after a few moments, the DSI light came on. I turned it off and back on, same result. I went out to the water heater and had my wife throw the switch. I could smell propane as well as see and hear the igniter snapping. Real weak spark though. A friend of mine was camped across the road and his family was in the RV business for many years. He came over to look at it and we were able to manually light it off. It burned for about 90 seconds then shut down. We waited till everything cooled off, removed the igniter, opened the gap a bit and cleaned some debris from the end. Reinstalled and threw the switch. Nothing. Not a click, no propane smell, zip. I shut the switch off and we just heated water on the stove as we've done in the pop up for several years. Guess I'll be shopping for a replacement control board and sending the bill to Atwood. Nearest Jayco dealer is 90 miles away and the dealer I purchased from is over 200 miles one way from home.

Sailberg · 07-24-2018, 12:40 PM

Tried to use gas,DSI light came on, retried 5 min later.
Here is what happened!

Camper_bob · 07-24-2018, 12:53 PM

I just replaced my Atwood board last weekend. I ordered it from Amazon, and it took about 5 minutes to install.

The one I purchased said it will work with basically any combination of wires (the 6-pin and 4-pin harnesses).

This is a brand new unit, so there was no chance for buildup on the igniter. I even tried to mess with the gap to no avail. I was able to light the flame manually, but it would cut out after a few seconds.

Dinosaur board installed, and works just like it's supposed to now.

ETA: Like many others here, my servicing dealer is a long way away, so I usually end up fixing most issues myself because it's not worth the time and cost to bring it in for service.

GL243 · 07-24-2018, 01:34 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by derrickcassel

I was looking to see if I was getting spark and was not. Then I pulled the wire off that goes to the ignitor and tried to see if it was arcing and it wasn't. Wouldn't that rule that out?

Here's a close up shot of what my board looks like. I'm going to try to dig a little deeper and if I can't figure it out I'll call dinosaur tomorrow I guess and see if they can tell me. It's a 6 pin.

Am I seeing that the board can be removed and replaced with just removing 2 screws and un-plugging and plugging in two wire plugs? I just had my new 267BHSW in the shop for a couple weeks getting it's new replacement Atwood board, so am thinking I should prepare myself for the next failure.

Menchie · 07-24-2018, 02:05 PM

Brand new 242BHS here. Had it just a couple weeks now and we’ve gone through 3 control boards.

Finally they gave us a board with a slightly different transformer and we’ve been ok for a day so far.

Cheap Chinese junk.

Years back an RV-tech friend of ours gave us an American-made “dinosaur” board for our old camper and it never failed. Wish I could get my hands on another one.

Gizmopilot · 07-24-2018, 05:44 PM

That is what many of us have done - we have been getting the dinosaur board from amazon - look at my previous posts for a link

Big1 · 07-24-2018, 06:27 PM

I had to replace my furnaces board, and it's only a year old.

Camper_bob · 07-25-2018, 07:09 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by GL243

Am I seeing that the board can be removed and replaced with just removing 2 screws and un-plugging and plugging in two wire plugs? I just had my new 267BHSW in the shop for a couple weeks getting it's new replacement Atwood board, so am thinking I should prepare myself for the next failure.

Yup, that's all there is to it! SUPER easy.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Gizmopilot

That is what many of us have done - we have been getting the dinosaur board from amazon - look at my previous posts for a link

Thank you for posting up that link! I bought that exact board.

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