Water heater issues

[Golfnut13]

2021 Jayco Redhawk 22J. We get hot water when running the water heater on electric. Switching it to LP only gives us lukewarm water. Anyone have any ideas? Thanks.

 

[Ttlanders]

When on gas, can you go outside and hear it burning?

 

[SmokeyBear-JAY]

Ditto what Ttlanders said. If not, I'm guessing you have a dedicated 12v line to the gas igniter. I'm also guessing there is a hidden fuse in that line that is blown. The key word here is guessing.

 

[JimD]

1. Flame should be steady and a nice blue. If not, burner may have crude in it or orifice may be blocked.
2, Burner should cycle on and off under board control.

Atwood models use the same thermostats for gas and electric. Suburban models use different thermostats for gas and electric so if the above checks are good and the unit shuts down early, the gas thermostat may be faulty.

 

[Kevin Cooper]

Try this. Turn off the 120 volts and turn the battery disconnect to off. Get to the water heater and pull the wire connectors off and plug the back on. Do this for every one you can. Since electric and gas use the same temp sensor, they should turn off at the same temp. Hoping that you do not have a bad control board. Once you have done all the wire connectors, turn all the power back on. Have someone turn on the gas switch while watching and listening to the heater. Maybe it will work, maybe it will let you find an issue.

 

[MagnusBjorn]

2021 Jayco Redhawk 22J. We get hot water when running the water heater on electric. Switching it to LP only gives us lukewarm water. Anyone have any ideas? Thanks.

Is it possible that the propane is not working at all, and the lukewarm water is left over from running on electricity? I would check to see if the propane ignites, then watch it for a while to see when it goes out. If it doesn't light at all, it's a different problem than if it stops heating before it's up to temp.

 

[Golfnut13]

The fridge works on propane, so I'm guessing it's a different issue.

 

[Kevin Cooper]

I reread the comments. I did not know, as JimD said that there are two thermostats. One for gas and one for electric. The gas thermostat would be the most likely reason it is not working. You must go out and observe the water heater with the door open to see and hear what is happening. Without that, everybody can only throw darts at the board blindfolded.

 

[KC1SA]

As others said;

• Check the flame, should not be a lot of yellow and no soot.
• Check the thermal over temp switches, you have one for electric and one for propane. Very inexpensive to replace, about $2. Our electric thermal switch failed last summer, puzzling to figure out the problem but once I had the schematic the problem was quickly found.
• Assume you have propane?

Good luck

 

[MagnusBjorn]

The fridge works on propane, so I'm guessing it's a different issue.

Did you check the flame? I have seen where it will ignite, run for a bit, then shut off because the ignitor didn't see the flame when it was really lit, as it uses current through the ignitor to test to see if the flame is lit. Also, it's common for the flame tube to be partially clogged, not giving a blue "hot" flame.