Water Heater Problem

[darkskyseeker]

I've seen plenty of reports about water heater problems, but nothing that specifically applies to my problem.

I have a 6 gallon Suburban SW6DEL heater.

My rig was purchased new in January and I have taken 7 trips with good results with the water heater until the last trip in June. The heater stopped working during the trip. By that I mean we had hot water and mid trip the heater stopped working.

When I turn the unit on by switching the rocker switch in the coach, I hear the control value solenoid click and I smell gas. Then the gas goes off. After a 10 second pause the click happens again, and I smell gas again. This happens 3 times.

I go not hear the ignitor sparking, however, I have used a wand lighter and can easily light the gas, but it only remains lit for perhaps 5 seconds and then I hear the gas control value click and the lighted gas goes out.

I have detached, crimped and reattached the electrical connections, and have depressed the rubber resets. I have also removed the ignitor and dressed the spark area hoping to allow it to do its job. I see no inline diode in the wiring as shown in a lot of the troubleshooting media.

Is the next step for me to replace the control board?

[Brents2]

Mine is doing the same thing. I looked at circuit board and it appears that a resistor burnt up

[modaholic]

Where is this board located

[darkskyseeker]

Originally Posted by Brents2

Mine is doing the same thing. I looked at circuit board and it appears that a resistor burnt upAttachment 144302

Do you access the board from inside the coach?

[Cypressloser]

Darkskyseeker, your unit should still be under warranty.
If you can, get in touch with service department at your dealership before you start taking the board out, you never know.

[Brents2]

Mine was under a white plastic cover that was taped to the side of the styrofoam on the water heater. It was accessed by removing an access panel

[darkskyseeker]

Originally Posted by Cypressloser

Darkskyseeker, your unit should still be under warranty.
If you can, get in touch with service department at your dealership before you start taking the board out, you never know.

Yeah, Camping World is aboiut 100 miles from my home and their first weekend opening for an appointment is Sept.

[Scrapper]

Originally Posted by Brents2

Mine is doing the same thing. I looked at circuit board and it appears that a resistor burnt upAttachment 144302

Looks like Q3 has gotten pretty hot also.

[bikendan]

Originally Posted by darkskyseeker

Yeah, Camping World is aboiut 100 miles from my home and their first weekend opening for an appointment is Sept.

Contact an independent RV shop and see if they'll do the warranty work.
If you get pre-approval from FR, they'll reimburse you.

[darkskyseeker]

Originally Posted by bikendan

Contact an independent RV shop and see if they'll do the warranty work.
If you get pre-approval from FR, they'll reimburse you.

There's a terrific dealer nearby me and I spoke to them yesterday. They made it sound like Camping World is my only choice - something to the effect, "they are the nearest Suburban dealer is CW".

[Flybob]

Since you have the board out, the easiest solution may be to just get a new one ($80 on Amazon) and install it yourself. You avoid 200 mi round trip, and potential damage on dealer lot. Thinking actual failed part is Q3 which then caused resistor to get hot.

[Flybob]

Just saw this in another post:
http://www.forestriverforums.com/for...ml#post1559917

[lapoldo]

I am having the exact same issue.

[PolarBearCO]

Glad you guys have this thread going. I am having this exact issue. On my maiden voyage with a 2018 Surveyor 287BHSS I had hot water for two days. On the 3rd day I noticed the DSI Fault light on. Tried to switch off and on a few times. No luck. Switched to electric operation and had hot water for the last two days.

I just spent a few hours at the trailer in storage doing this and that, and tried and tried to get that hot water heater working on gas. Sometimes the sparker would click-click-click regularly to light, and it would light -- for 5 seconds then shut off. Sometimes it would only click a little, out of rhythm, and gas wouldn't light. Sometimes it wouldn't click at all, but I could hear the gas flowing.

It looks like I will have to drop off the trailer at the dealer. UGH. I'll wait until mid September, as I don't plan to be without shore power on any of my four planned trips in next two months.

DARN. After first two days, I thought I actually got a new trailer where everything worked perfectly. Funny thing -- my last trailer, a Flagstaff HW27KS, and had problems with hot water heater on maiden voyage. That one wasn't connected!

[darkskyseeker]

I caved in.

I summoned a repair tech. He came to my address. I paid him a convenience fee to come, and he billed Suburban for the parts and labor. This was a much better situation than driving to Camping World or even to an address in nearby town since I am located in a rural area.

He stood next to me and I showed him that the ignitor did not work. He went inside the coach, removed the board, replaced it with a new board, and it worked.

It took more time to show him my paperwork (purchase receipt, etc) and pay the convenience fee than it did to replace the board.

I asked him if Suburban is working on a more robust board design and he said NO.

[Mr. Dan]

Originally Posted by darkskyseeker

I caved in.

Good for you! Sometimes caving in is the better part of valor.

[darkskyseeker]

Originally Posted by Mr. Dan

Good for you! Sometimes caving in is the better part of valor.

I am happy about it. I like the words "Done" and "Fixed".

I also did a little DIY project and repaired some trim pieces that came off the dining area. Originally I rationalized that it was OK they broke, but with the water heater repair and DIY project done, I feel much better about the condition of my coach.

[zorky]

I did post a response from Suburban. They told me that the Q3 boards are defective and they will replace all of them even out of warranty for free. This was their response to me asking them why I went through 2 boards in a matter of weeks on a new 2017 unit. Maybe email this guy/gal here.

Suburban is aware of an issue of the Q3 component on some water heater module boards that was caused by the manufacture of said component. Suburban is warranting a replacement module board (using CNE board) and filing warranty with the manufacture of the module board. My question, if the board failed as indicated in your email after only owning for 13 months, why didn’t the RV service center contact Suburban, we would have replaced the board at no charge as well as paid the warranty allowance time to replace it?


kspengler@suburbanmfg.com




Kris Spengler

Assistant Service Manager

Airxcel, Inc – Suburban Division

[darkskyseeker]

Originally Posted by zorky

I did post a response from Suburban. They told me that the Q3 boards are defective and they will replace all of them even out of warranty for free.

Good news.

[lapoldo]

I emailed Suburban today. They won't ship me a new board under the warranty. They are claiming I need to go through the dealer. Ugg.

Lou