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Old 04-02-2018, 11:39 AM   #1
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SW6D WH not lighting - which fuse?

Hi all - we're at the trailing end of a two week trip with our TT and this morning I had no hot water. Been checking things and searching the internet but so far haven't found the answer to the mystery. Some of the info I read says to pull the fuse for the WH - unfortunately, there is no fuse in our WFCO power panel labeled Water Heater. Of course there are 8 fuses but only 7 actually labeled. I pulled out the unlabeled one and the fuse is fine and it didn't help the heater system reset.

I did push the reset button on the heater itself (the one covered with the black rubber plug). and it felt like it "clicked" the first time I did that but again, no difference. One other thing I've noticed/learned after reading about the heater - the DSI/FLT light above the WH rocker switch on the control panel is not on. However, in the past it was always on when the WH switch was on. I thought this was normal until I read the the FLT stood for Fault (our previous TT didn't have this indicator and it wasn't mentioned during our walk through)

For now, this is just inconvenient - we don't have a sewer hook up here so we're not showering in the TT. We'll heat water on the stove for everything else the remainder of this trip. So when I get home I will dig into this but if anyone has any "try this" ideas, I'm up for them.

thanks,
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Old 04-02-2018, 11:51 AM   #2
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Originally Posted by larry2c View Post
Hi all - we're at the trailing end of a two week trip with our TT and this morning I had no hot water. Been checking things and searching the internet but so far haven't found the answer to the mystery. Some of the info I read says to pull the fuse for the WH - unfortunately, there is no fuse in our WFCO power panel labeled Water Heater. Of course there are 8 fuses but only 7 actually labeled. I pulled out the unlabeled one and the fuse is fine and it didn't help the heater system reset.

I did push the reset button on the heater itself (the one covered with the black rubber plug). and it felt like it "clicked" the first time I did that but again, no difference. One other thing I've noticed/learned after reading about the heater - the DSI/FLT light above the WH rocker switch on the control panel is not on. However, in the past it was always on when the WH switch was on. I thought this was normal until I read the the FLT stood for Fault (our previous TT didn't have this indicator and it wasn't mentioned during our walk through)

For now, this is just inconvenient - we don't have a sewer hook up here so we're not showering in the TT. We'll heat water on the stove for everything else the remainder of this trip. So when I get home I will dig into this but if anyone has any "try this" ideas, I'm up for them.

thanks,
There has been a rash of bad control module boards in Suburban water heaters. We have several threads on this.

Just some easy things to check.

1. Propane is the first, and I would assume you do have such if you are able to use your stove. Have you recently ran out of propane, or changed your propane cylinders?

2. You say you pushed in the ECO/Hi Limit thermostat reset button on the face of the heater. If this is truly a propane only water heater there should only be one, but to be absolute sure, were there perhaps two of these resets on the rubber cover. If so you need to push the right hand side one for the propane.
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Old 04-02-2018, 11:56 AM   #3
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Thanks for the quick response - yes, I did switch tanks a couple days ago but it was working after that. And we are using the stove and the furnace so the propane is working - at least for those things. Regarding the reset button, yes, I pressed the one on the right - and then I took the rubber plugs out and see that only the right side is a actual button - the other side is just a cover.

I'm getting used to things that don't work/quit working on out TT, there have been quite a few...
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Old 04-02-2018, 12:06 PM   #4
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Thanks for the quick response - yes, I did switch tanks a couple days ago but it was working after that. And we are using the stove and the furnace so the propane is working - at least for those things. Regarding the reset button, yes, I pressed the one on the right - and then I took the rubber plugs out and see that only the right side is a actual button - the other side is just a cover.

I'm getting used to things that don't work/quit working on out TT, there have been quite a few...
OK, we can eliminate the easy.

Have you turned off the water heaters propane/dsi switch inside the RV. Just checking before offering the next advice, so as to make sure you are not in lockout mode.

If the switch is off first, now when you turn it on, do you hear a clicking at the water heater (which is the Direct Spark Ignitor aka DSI trying to light the propane?
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Old 04-02-2018, 12:13 PM   #5
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Yes, I've turned the switch off & back on several times - and no, I don't hear the lighter clicking when the switch is first turned on (and normally I do hear that followed by the woosh when it lights)
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Old 04-02-2018, 02:18 PM   #6
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Yes, I've turned the switch off & back on several times - and no, I don't hear the lighter clicking when the switch is first turned on (and normally I do hear that followed by the woosh when it lights)
Ok, I think we may need to look at the control board possibly among other things. Can you access the rear of the water heater fairly easy?
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Old 04-02-2018, 02:40 PM   #7
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You could have a bad limit switch/thermostat. Here is the service manual if you don't have it. See page 22 for the troubleshooting.
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File Type: pdf Suburban WH Service Manual 05-18-11.pdf (2.78 MB, 207 views)
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Old 04-03-2018, 09:22 AM   #8
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Sorry for the delayed response - yesterday was local sigthseeing day and we ran all the way through a night time tour of Hearst Castle.

I haven't pulled the panel off but I assume I'd see the back of the WH if I remove the wooden access panel under our pantry. I can give that a try later this morning (need to wait for coffee and Advil to kick in). What will I be looking for there?
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Old 04-03-2018, 09:56 AM   #9
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Thanks Scrapper - that's much better than the one I found!
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Old 04-03-2018, 03:42 PM   #10
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Thanks Scrapper - that's much better than the one I found!
Your welcome. Those limit switch/thermostats do go bad at times. When they do your water heater will not light. Since you say the DSI light doesn't come on it would point to a blown fuse or the limit switch/thermostat being bad. Somewhere on your fuse panel there should be a fuse for the 12vdc side of the furnace. Though it may not be labeled.

Look on page 11, figure 10. Looking at the schematic, the power has to go through the limit switch/thermostat before it gets to the module board so it would not try lighting. I believe you can test it with an ohm meter/continuity tester.

Be sure you get the Switch Assembly, 12 V.D.C. T-Stat/Hi-Limit Part # 232282
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Old 04-03-2018, 08:58 PM   #11
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Thanks Scrapper

Today is done and tomorrow is a travel day so this will probably have to wait until we get home. I'll have all the tools and the time I need there.

thanks for the suggestions and I'll let you know how it comes out!
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Old 04-06-2018, 01:56 PM   #12
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OK, we're back home, TT's unpacked and today I have some time to look at the Water heater. First I checked all the fuses and they all show good - and kudos to the WFCO, it has an LED for each fuse that when it is removed/blown lights up.

Next I pulled the access panel from under the pantry to see what I could see of the WH and control panel. I saw the control panel was taped to the insulation on the WH so I just left it there and went to read the WH service manual that scrapper provided. I figured the easiest thing to check was the voltage to what I assume is the high limit thermostat (see picture). I went in the trailer & flipped on the WH switch then walked back outside to check the voltage. I had just checked the input side and found 13+V when I heard the sparker clicking and next thing I heard was the woosh of the burner lighting.

So I'm not sure what happened here. As I mentioned in the 1st post, the heater was left on overnight and the water was cold in the morning. that's when I started trying to figure out what was going on. I saw the rubber "button" with reset printed on it and the first time I pressed it I did feel a "click" like it reset. However, when I flipped on the WH switch the sparker didn't come on and it never lit. Maybe I didn't wait long enough for the system to go through the ignition cycle but it seemed like I did.

At this point I'm just going to shut the WH off, wait for it to cool and then turn it back on again to see what happens. If it lights again, then I'll just move on with fingers crossed. If it doesn't light next time, I'll dig deeper and probably ask for more guidance from the FR brain trust.

thanks all!
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Old 04-06-2018, 03:31 PM   #13
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I went in the trailer & flipped on the WH switch then walked back outside to check the voltage. I had just checked the input side and found 13+V when I heard the sparker clicking and next thing I heard was the woosh of the burner lighting.

So I'm not sure what happened here. As I mentioned in the 1st post, the heater was left on overnight and the water was cold in the morning. that's when I started trying to figure out what was going on. I saw the rubber "button" with reset printed on it and the first time I pressed it I did feel a "click" like it reset. However, when I flipped on the WH switch the sparker didn't come on and it never lit. Maybe I didn't wait long enough for the system to go through the ignition cycle but it seemed like I did.

!
Larry, I don't know how fast you are, but I would think by the time you turned on the DSI switch inside the RV, it would have started attempting to light before you got back all the way to the access panel and had time to check the incoming DC voltage.

Any chance that when you were checking the voltage on the ECO/Hi limit thermostat you could have possibly wiggled a loose connection or such? Maybe even pressed on the actual ECO/Hi limit thermostat itself?

From your description, it does sound like something made contact while you were checking the voltage.

You might could wiggle it all in reverse when it's running to see if it quits working....and possibly could have the ECO/Hi-limit thermostat going bad as Scrapper stated previously.
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Old 04-07-2018, 04:01 PM   #14
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The first time you pushed the eco reset switch was the heat switch turned off? Remember if the ECO/Hi limit thermostat had tripped and you reset it, you may need to turn off the wall switch for the DSI fault to reset itself.
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