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Old 12-27-2015, 08:28 PM   #21
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??? Maybe just leave it off for a few hours and then try propane. You can hear the roar of it heating but can't with the 110v.
Dumb question, but are you allowing the hot water to run long enough for it to reach your faucet?
Thanks. That sounds like a good plan. Yes, we have had success with the hot water for a couple of days. Today, when the hot water was back, DH washed some dishes and took a shower. At the end of his shower, the water was cold.

DH did tinker with the bypass on Thursday when he dewinterized at the RV park. Nothing since then, though.

Thank you all very much for your suggestions! We really appreciate your help. This is our first RV and this is our first trip in it. Everything was going swimmingly until watergate.
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Old 12-27-2015, 09:11 PM   #22
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The saga continues. DH jiggled the wires outside and the heater is working on propane. Soon, a hot shower! We'll take it in for service when we get home. Thank you all very much!
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Old 12-28-2015, 12:44 PM   #23
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AH! Yes, the first thing to check is the connections.
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Old 12-28-2015, 05:01 PM   #24
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Sounds like to me you have the bypass in the wrong position I would try moving those and see if you get hot water you've got cold water mixing with your hot water
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Old 12-28-2015, 06:32 PM   #25
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Sounds like to me you have the bypass in the wrong position I would try moving those and see if you get hot water you've got cold water mixing with your hot water
If you read post #4, it had been working for several days previously, so probably not the bypass valve.
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Old 12-28-2015, 06:37 PM   #26
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Working in post #23.
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Old 12-28-2015, 06:41 PM   #27
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Working in post #23.
That's actually post #22, I was commenting in #23. Haven't heard anything since. Hope that was it.
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Old 12-29-2015, 11:12 PM   #28
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After the sophisticated method of wire jiggling, we got one more tank of hot water. It didn't work the next day on electric or propane, so we are going to have it looked at when we get home. I'll report back on the results. Fortunately, we had a large electric tea kettle that allowed us to quickly make hot water to wash dishes.

Other than the hot water snafu, it was an amazing trip. We love the floor plan.
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Old 02-05-2016, 11:37 PM   #29
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And the answer is...

A loose wire associated with the thermostat. We took it to Camping World and that was the diagnosis. It's been rewinterized, so we won't know for a while if it's well and truly fixed.
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Old 02-29-2016, 04:11 PM   #30
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An update on our water heater issue

We took our 3171 out on its second voyage this past weekend. We unwinterized at an RV park in Moab and had hot water that night, on propane. The next morning we no longer had hot water and the heater wouldn't work on electric or propane. DH checked connections and fuses and followed Atwood's suggestion of bypassing the thermostat and ECO. The fuse was fine. He also used a multimeter to check the voltage on one of the blue wires because, according to Atwood, if there is current on that wire it can cause intermittent problems with the circuit board. No current on the blue wire.

DH did a hard reset by disconnecting and reconnecting the two blue and two red wires and that got it working again. We had hot water the rest of our trip, but we are waiting to hear back from Atwood about the issue. We noticed that when we are on propane, the water is scalding hot out of the tap. It is a more reasonable temperature on electric.
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Old 03-01-2016, 01:03 AM   #31
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DH did a hard reset by disconnecting and reconnecting the two blue and two red wires and that got it working again. We had hot water the rest of our trip, but we are waiting to hear back from Atwood about the issue. We noticed that when we are on propane, the water is scalding hot out of the tap. It is a more reasonable temperature on electric.

Sorry to hear your are having problems with your water heater again. Don't know where the reset switch is. Since we have the same exact units, I'll be watching this thread to see if someone chimes in with the location, just in case we should have to do the same thing.
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Old 03-12-2016, 08:43 PM   #32
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CW could not replicate the problem, even though they ran it all day. If it goes out again, we are going to ask Atwood to send us new parts directly (thermostat and/or circuit board) and DH will replace them.
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Old 03-13-2016, 12:55 AM   #33
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Pixey, does it work when you bypass the thermostat?
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Old 03-13-2016, 01:24 PM   #34
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If it has shut off and we bypass the thermostat, it does not work. We had to reset it to get it going again.
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Old 03-16-2016, 12:32 AM   #35
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If it has shut off and we bypass the thermostat, it does not work. We had to reset it to get it going again.

Did you ever find a reset switch on the water heater and if so, where was it?
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Old 03-16-2016, 12:35 AM   #36
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There is no reset switch. You have to disconnect and reconnect wires.
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Old 05-16-2016, 09:48 AM   #37
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DH fixed the water heater issue, something that Camping World was unable to do. He replaced the thermostat and the ECO in March. (Atwood sent us new ones.). Two happy months of hot water!
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