Dometic water heater

Old and soft · 08-29-2020, 10:43 AM

Didn't want to hijack another thread. Model G8A-8E. New 2018 264bh on only the 2nd trip. Heater won't light. Gas clicks on, pilot doesn't spark, shuts down after 3 attempts. While gas is flowing, I can provide a spark and it lites for maybes 10 seconds, and gas shuts off again. Is there a link to some proper troubleshooting or is it just plain a bad board?

LuckyDuck · 08-29-2020, 11:17 AM

Sounds exactly like what mine did — it was the infamous bad Zhongding board. If you are still within the two-year warranty, replace it while you can. Dometic won’t touch you after two years, even though they acknowledge they had a batch of defective boards.

Old and soft · 08-31-2020, 06:03 PM

Thanks for the response. I was hoping for a more technical response, have meter and know how to use it.
Next question if I may? Looks like 2 boards are available, wich one to avoid?

Morttt · 09-01-2020, 03:15 PM

Just had similar problem (though mine just blew the 2A fuse and wouldn't even come on). Take the board off (2 screws and a ribbon cable). If there is a big bubble on the back, its busted.

Check the new part numbers you need to be sure, but I replaced with this one and was good to go.

https://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/B019COT1HC

Morttt · 09-01-2020, 03:19 PM

Should add - if you're still under warranty and want to deal with the dealer, it will save you...at the cost of your time and trouble.

I'm not, but heard about the bad boards, so I called dometic - the bad batch of boards was made in specific weeks of 2017. They wouldn't replace mine (outside of warranty) since it wasn't made with one of those - and he could tell right off by the VIN

But there are certainly worse things to go wrong, since its such an easy fix.

Old and soft · 09-01-2020, 04:04 PM

Dealer is over 100 miles away. Working on a small punchlist that I would prefer to address after the first of the year. 1 more trip planned then deer season starts in 2 weeks. Would keep the new board as a spare if dealer replaces. If I don't need it, maybe it will save someone else's trip. I need to id another part from the parts list I found. One of the three wires plugged onto the board has a resistor or diode? inline that has a crusty male connector on the one end that I also want to address.
Thanks for the link.
Edit, does not look like the board I need. Mine has 3 additional wires pluged in besides the modular connectors. I was planning on purchasing from a distributor that actually answers the telephone, if such a place still exists.

Morttt · 09-01-2020, 04:49 PM

Yea, the boards vary by WH model, make sure you get the right one. It will be printed on the side of the board, maybe on a sticker, but note that some of the model numbers have been updated from 2018, but the new models work fine.

The diode is a thermal cutoff diode - in case the whole thing catches on fire, it will cut off everything when it gets too hot. You can find that wherever you buy the board as well. And its much cheaper.

Old and soft · 09-01-2020, 05:20 PM

Thermal diode. For giggles and grins when heater did not fire, I did remove the diode and reconnect the wire the wire to the board and no joy.
For the other readers I believe a diode only passes current in 1 direction. I will test this and report back on all to add closure to the topic. Hate it when that doesn't happen and leaves us hanging.

mtdawg · 09-01-2020, 09:19 PM

I had the same problem. Checked the voltage. Had 12 volts going in, nothing coming out to the ignitor rod. It was within warranty and the dealer was willing to send me a new board. Took less than 5 minutes to replace. I think the board is a high fail item. New board worked like a charm.

Jim

Old and soft · 09-02-2020, 04:46 AM

I tried using the search finction and a lot turned up. Found a nice troubleshooting guide turn up in another post.
http://www.allthingsforetravel.com/2020/02/18/water-heater-atwood-water-heater-troubleshooting/

2021JayFlight28BHS · 09-02-2020, 06:17 AM

Have you you ran the stove and cleared the air from the lines? (Forgive me if you have just didn’t want to assume.)

Old and soft · 09-02-2020, 02:25 PM

Yes I did. Even got the water heater to lite if I provided the spark. Gas valve would click off after about 10 seconds.
Tested thermal today, it was a closed circuit giving my meter a strong tone.

Morttt · 09-02-2020, 02:31 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Old and soft

Yes I did. Even got the water heater to lite if I provided the spark. Gas valve would click off after about 10 seconds.
Tested thermal today, it was a closed circuit giving my meter a strong tone.

That's odd. The solenoid for the gas shouldn't open unless everything checks out, and 1) the spark should trigger (assuming yours isn't a pilot-light version) when the solenoid opens and 2) the flame sensor controls shutting the gas back off if it doesn't light.

So either both the ignitor and the flame sensor are bad, or whacky stuff is going on with the board...I'm guessing the second one.

ecksdude · 09-02-2020, 03:14 PM

Same thing happened to mine within 6 months of owning it. Rather than wait for the dealer, I bought a spare board and repaired it myself. I have another spare sitting in the trailer just in case I ever have to do it again. It's been 4 years since then with no issue (crosses fingers).

They are not cheap, but I don't want to take cold showers!!!

Old and soft · 09-02-2020, 06:13 PM

Mine is the china board. The new one I ordered off amazon has a different sticker on it according to the pic. Should be here on Saturday. The bedroom set we have had on order since May also needs picked up on Saturday. You don't have to guess which project the dw wants done first.

LuckyDuck · 09-02-2020, 08:00 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Morttt

Just had similar problem (though mine just blew the 2A fuse and wouldn't even come on). Take the board off (2 screws and a ribbon cable). If there is a big bubble on the back, its busted.

Check the new part numbers you need to be sure, but I replaced with this one and was good to go.

https://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/B019COT1HC

My bad board was replaced at the dealer with the same board as this. It says Panasonic on it and it has worked flawlessly.

colby · 09-03-2020, 09:24 AM

I cheated and replaced it the second time with a Dinosaur board...

Old and soft · 09-05-2020, 07:56 AM

So the answer is, it's a bad board. New one sparked up on the first try.
I will put the bad one back in before a road trip to the dealer for warranty work this winter.

Sauce73 · 09-09-2020, 12:40 PM

Yeah the same thing happened on our 264BH. Third trip and the board went out. After our not so pleasant experience with the dealership, I decided to bite the bullet and replace it on my own. I knew it would save me a 150 mile round trip excursion and lots of time and frustration to do it myself rather than dealing with Camping World.
With a little research here, I was persuaded to go with the Dinosaur Board. It is much better quality. Has been running strong for two years now.
https://www.dinosaurelectronics.com/Dom_boards.htm

Helibassplyr · 09-09-2020, 12:52 PM

Same thing happened to me. The board was the crap one from China. I didn't want to wait for the dealer so I bought a new one and installed it. I called Dometic and they actually sent me out a new board so now I have one as a spare. Just call Dometic. They were very easy to deal with. Just had to give the serial number of the old board to them over the phone. No issues since then with the new board.

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