Atwood waterheater ignition board keeps failing

[patrkbukly]

Hey folks,
New Grandby last year. Hot water heater would never come on so really didnt worry about it because it wasnt so critical.

Finally getting around to it and called FWC California and they were great, I'm still under warranty so they shipped me a new electronic board/ignitor. Plugged it in and it fired right up and had hot water in 15 minutes or so. I felt great and off on my trip....it never worked again.

Yes the propane is full.
Yes the propane is on.
Yes the hotwater heater is ful of water.
Yes power in the Grandby is on (used both shore and battery).

My question to the forum is before I call FWC again and ask for another board;

1. Has anyone had this happen before?
2. What would make these boards fail so quick? Maybe a short?

Thank you in advance.

 

[So Cal Adventurer]

Following

 

[CougarCouple]

Hello patrkbukly
You say the board is failing, can you say what part or can you see a visual damage or burn area. Not saying the new board has not failed, but if so something is taking it out and just replacing the board will not fix the problem.
Here is a site to try understand your heater maybe you can narrow it down but understanding the starting sequence

http://beamalarm.com/Documents/atwood_water_heater_troubleshooting.html

Hope this helps, our Suburban had a bad soilder point under a piece of foam, and was intermittent. Also a meter will help to check if you have power to the board to start.
Russ

 

[patrkbukly]

Hello patrkbukly
You say the board is failing, can you say what part or can you see a visual damage or burn area. Not saying the new board has not failed, but if so something is taking it out and just replacing the board will not fix the problem.
Here is a site to try understand your heater maybe you can narrow it down but understanding the starting sequence

http://beamalarm.com/Documents/atwood_water_heater_troubleshooting.html

Hope this helps, our Suburban had a bad soilder point under a piece of foam, and was intermittent. Also a meter will help to check if you have power to the board to start.
Russ

Wow, very thorough troubleshooting guide here, thank you Cougarcouple.
I will run through these and check back.

 

[ardvark]

There is a very simple way to test your hypothesis the board is failing, which I do not think is happening. Almost any dealer or service center will test the board for you with their board tester for free. I know the dealers near me will and I also did it for folks when I was still in business. It takes all of about a minute to hook the tester to the board and turn it on. Very simple, if they have a tester.

Folks are inclined to replace control boards the same way they usually blame a thermostat when a furnace doesn't fire. One of the single things that has really improved over time are the control boards. Not saying they never fail, but two in row virtually impossible in my experience. A connection issue or grounding problem is much more likely.

 

[patrkbukly]

Thanks Ardvark,
OK I will do some searching for grounding and connections.
I would have to believe you are right because it seems odd to me that 2 boards are dead that quick.
I am in Fairplay so it's quite a drive to a service center so I woud like to avoid it if at all possible.
I will check the connections.

Thank you again.

 

[patrkbukly]

Ok just checked each connection at the switch inside the camper by removing the 2 screws and the 4 wires plus the ignitor wire plus the circuit board plug on the hotwater heater itself....all clean and tight.

I am getting no spark from the ignitor when I turn the switch on.

I can manually light it with a BBQ lighter but it fires up and then goes out. Maybe I need to replace the ignitor?

Is there a way to bypass the circuitboard and plug the ignitor into one of the other spades to see if I get spark or will that damage something?

I get the "click" noise at the water heater as normal. With each of the 3 tries (clicks) the light at the power switch goes off, then comes back on since it did not light so that part of the operation is working.

 

[CougarCouple]

Patrkbuckly
I know of no switch wires, to bypass the circuit board. Ok there is a sequence of operations which happens when the water heater lights.
You stated there was no spark but the gas lit when you brought a flame into the picture. I think you might have low voltage to the board. Check with a meter, not just the battery which supplies the power, but at the line providing power at the board. It is possible you have a voltage drop thru your switch, look for that also. If you do not have proper voltage It is possible to open the gas valve but not enough to initiate the spark. The gas valve will only remain on a short time if the circuit board does not sense the flame it will halt power to the gas valve closing it. I understand you are looking for a broken part, there are however other things which can stop the heater from working.

Keep searching sir you will solve the issue.

Russ

 

[patrkbukly]

Ok I used a multimeter to read 12.9 volts at both brown wires (power).
Now, the spade from the circuitboard that is what the ignitor connects to....when I connect the multimeter to that during the 3 clicks (attempts) by the system to ignite I get no voltage there on any of the 3 clicks. I would think that would be getting current to the ignitor on each click attempt.

Also I removed the ignitor. I touched the power spade wire to the positive in the 12 volt battery and the plate (ground) to the negative and I get no spark on the ignitor. Does'nt that say the ignitor is not working or is there a better bench test for the ignitor?

 

[CougarCouple]

Good morning ptrkbukly

The spark is generated from the board, and the special tester is needed to bench test the board for spark. Let's assume the board is functioning for a moment. Going to the trouble shooting section gas present no spark make sure all these conditions are good.
The electrodes are the point where the spark occurs to ignite the gas. One rod is connected to the board, the other rod is the ground, besides being the point where the spark occurs, these two rods also prove flame is present to keep the gas valve open. If the ceramic isolater one of the rod's is damaged the electricity generating the spark grounds out early, not creating the spark across the tip to the other rod.

Short of just replacing parts it can be difficult for you to know how to proceed. Testing the board with the correct piece of equipment, will provide the knowledge the board is good/bad. After that you are really limited to the ignition wire, and electrodes ( this part needs to be secured tightly, and if there is rust between the two should be removed) as parts to replace if they are bad. If these parts are good and you still have no spark. There is a bad connection or a loose connection, something between the igniter and board stopping or diverting the flow of electricity.

In a previous post you commented about lighting with a BBQ igniter, but the flame went out. That says the circut board is not proving the flame is present (not necessarily the board, but could be) because it is not getting the signal that flame is present. Because you are not getting a spark and not proving there is a flame, check the igniter parts closely the spark cable is fragile inspeect it for dry rot or any other damage .
Also closely inspect the circuit board for bad solder joints. YouTube search circuit board cold soldering joints.



Don't give up you are making progress. Russ

Edit for sp

 

[patrkbukly]

Good morning folks, Just an update;
After extensive research on the Atwood water heaters that come with the FWC if ordered and the circuitboard failures and a lot of troubleshooting using many methods and a meter....
There is a large batch of circuitboards from China that have a defect. I won't go into the details of the defect but in a nutshell they will not last long at all....anywhere from a day to a few months depending on use.

I installed 2 new Atwood boards after the first one never worked (so a total of 3) and gave up and began research.
There is a company named dinosaur

which is a US company that makes the boards and is the only company that offers a 3 year warranty. They are less than the Atwood branded Chinese boards.

I bought one of those and plugged it in and hot water heater has been working great now ever since.

If your Atwood hot water heater fails to run/ignite/stay running/ etc, chances are it's the board and it's worth your money to call Dinasour and have them direct you to a seller that will ship you the board.

It will save you time and essentially upgrade your hot water heater.

 

[geologyjohn]

That is an important update on this issue. Thanks for your research and the posting.

 

[Karlton]

Seriously, thank you. Could you please provide the phone number of Dinosaur and the part you requested in the thread for future reference. In addition, perhaps provide the seller where you purchased the board.

Cheers

 

[patrkbukly]

YEs of course.

Dinosaur Eletronics is the manufacturer. They are very good on the phone and will even ask specific questions to help troubleshoot the problem. They only sell to resellers but their number is; 541 994 4344.

From there they gave me the phone number to R&G Eletronics, 800 390 3908. Also very helpful over the phone and will be very thorough in making sure you get the right part. They will then get your creditcard and ship it out 2 day prioriorty mail.
( there are plenty of other companies that carry the boards but this is the one I was referred to).

Rather than tell you the part number of the board I bought I would rather you tell them the make, model of your unit plus they will ask another couple of questions to be sure they send you the board with the correct mounting plate, connection style, number of pins, etc., so you get the correct part for your unit as there are several variations of the circuit boards.

 

[Wallowa]

Good morning folks, Just an update;
After extensive research on the Atwood water heaters that come with the FWC if ordered and the circuitboard failures and a lot of troubleshooting using many methods and a meter....
There is a large batch of circuitboards from China that have a defect. I won't go into the details of the defect but in a nutshell they will not last long at all....anywhere from a day to a few months depending on use.

I installed 2 new Atwood boards after the first one never worked (so a total of 3) and gave up and began research.
There is a company named dinosaur

which is a US company that makes the boards and is the only company that offers a 3 year warranty. They are less than the Atwood branded Chinese boards.

I bought one of those and plugged it in and hot water heater has been working great now ever since.

If your Atwood hot water heater fails to run/ignite/stay running/ etc, chances are it's the board and it's worth your money to call Dinasour and have them direct you to a seller that will ship you the board.

It will save you time and essentially upgrade your hot water heater.

Is there a year that FWC started using the chinese boards? Are they still using them? If no, when did they stop and what are they using now...I may have missed this info..

Thanks,

Phil

 

[patrkbukly]

Is there a year that FWC started using the chinese boards? Are they still using them? If no, when did they stop and what are they using now...I may have missed this info..

Thanks,

Phil

Hi Phil,
It is Atwood and not FWC that have the boards installed as a standard component of the 6 gallon water heaters. I may not have made that clear.
I do not know if it is a certain year however my Granby was built in 2017 if that helps.
The different repair centers I spoke with just said ; "there is a batch of the bad boards because we are getting inundated with this repair".

 

[CougarCouple]

Congrats patrkbukly
On figuring out your or rather the manufacturer problem. Upsetting to say the least, but awesome to post up the results, probably gunna help another and save the time and money.

Russ