RV Water Heater Not Igniting Or Staying Lit - Troubleshoot - RV Maintenance And Cleaning
My RV Atwood water heater was not lighting or staying lit. I checked some components and cleaned everything to get it working. Links below.
You can read more about RV Water Heater Maintenance on my blog at:
www.rvhabit.com/post/rv-water...
(Affiliate) Links:
• See Atwood 93868 Mobile Products Spark Probe Single Sense on Amazon: amzn.to/32mfiFI
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#rvwaterheater #rvmaintenance #Atwood
We have been without hot water for 3 months now. Tonight, we all took hot showers. Thank you so very much. You made a loyal subscriber here.
Wonderful! So happy when I hear success stories. Happy camping.
Right with you lol. NEED a hot shower, I stink LOL
Thank you for not being a lame showman!!!! no false voice, music, jokes, yelling, etc. Your information is so concise and explained so that a 71 year old woman can understand and follow ;)
Thanks so much for your support
I just wanted to thank you so much for the helpful video. I sent $2.00, I didn't even know that was a thing, but I'm glad I could pay something back for your help and expertise.
Hi and thank you again. I hope this helped you get everything running smoothly. Happy camping.
After watching dozens of videos no one could explain the simple procedure that you just demonstrated in your video!! Thank you sir!! God bless you for helping simpletons like me! Lol🙏🏻🤙🏼🙌🏼
Hi Drew, Glad it helped!
I agree 100%
Well done, thanks for making an intimidating part of RV'ing seem a little less stressful
Half the battle is understanding how it works. Once you understand that part the rest is easy. Thanks for watching and happy camping!
That's what I was thinking, exactly.
VERY well done. As a video producer, I must say your shots were great, steady and you went right to the topic. You didn't try to be funny, add a lot of fluff, or other useless banter. You taught me a lot about the water heater, and I solved my "no light" problem thanks to you. I was getting the clicking of the sparker, but no ignition, so I was using my torch to light the heater when propane was needed. The problem was the gap between the sparker and the grounding rod. Also cleaned the water deposits off the screw and wind adjustment slide and it's igniting every time now with no hassle. I'd give you an A in my class, but I wouldn't be a good journalist or English professor if I didn't remind you not to use the word "basically." Also a good tip is, even though you may be using electricity all the time, use the LP option about once a month just to make sure all is clean and working. Keep up your good work and educational tips.
Excellent comment and tips. Thanks for watching and taking the time to respond. Always exercise all parts of the RV. Anything not used will certainly fail when needed.
Wow, what a great video! Thanks for taking the time to put it together and especially for explaining how both the electric and gas process works. I learned more from this one video than from all the other ones on KZhead put together!
Absolutely great video on showing us what to look for and do , my hot water heater is exactly doing what the one you were working on, I’ve tried a few things but ran out of daylight but I’ll be back at it in the morning, my wife had forgot to turn the hot water switch to off and came back to town for 3 days and when she came back to the trailer this happened not her fault though I probably would have done the same thing ,
I just watched a crap load of these and this one was the best one because of the hands-on expertise. It was greatly informative and also straight to the point. . It was easy to watch the entire duration. Good focus on the topic. Thank you.
Thanks so much. Hope it helped.
I followed your directions and got it to fire right up and stay lit. So glad it saved us a service call. Thank you!
Hi Jennifer, that's great to hear. Happy camping 🏕
Thank you very much for this walkthrough. One additional thing I noticed on my Atwood fix, while the sparker bases were intact the rods themselves had some carbon buildup. I gave them a light sanding as well as the connector tabs and adjusted the sparker gap to the proper measurement. As per your advise I carefully removed the gas nozzle tip and gave it all some compressed air. It’s been very dry here. Reassembled and it fired right up. Sweet blue flame. And adjusted the the air to gas window to a gentle roar. 👍🏼
Awesome, great to hear.
Thank you so much for this video. It helped me understand the workings of the hot water heater and how to properly take it apart for cleaning.
Hi Cheryl, glad it helped. Happy camping.
Great tips Lou, I am working on a RV preventive maintenance (PM) calendar. This is a great idea to take notice. Good Job!
Hi Tim, Understanding how things work is half the battle when it comes to maintenance.
Outstanding! Easy to understand what you're talking about, and good shots where you can see what you're talking about. Thank you for doing this.
Much appreciated!
Thanks for the tip. I have the exact same water heater with the same problem. The connection was a bit corroded from the water seeping occasionally from the relief valve. Also a miller had crawled into the tube where you regulate the airflow. Cleaned it all up and runs like a champ! Thanks!
Hi Jon, Glad it helped and for taking time to comment.
I'm going to tear into mine tomorrow!!
Yes! Found out 2 weeks ago that the hot water was not staying lit. You saved our trailer a trip to the shop. Cleaning it got it working again!!!
Hi Frank, Great to hear!
Very informative video. Ready to ditch my old Atwood, but after watching this video, I remedied the propane start/stop/start problem. Thanks for your guidance.
Hi Noah, Glad it worked out. Thanks for watching.
This is one of the best troubleshooting videos I've ever seen. Excellent, thanks so much!
Hi John, Thanks for taking time to watch.
Great video. Thank you. You go over everything in a nice way to make it easy to understand.
Thanks so much.
Lou, great maintenance video on the Atwood water heater. I didn't have any problems with my unit but I did clean up the burner tube alone with the thermal cut-off terminals. I did adjust the air/gas mixture. Doesn't sound like a 747 taken off. Kept those maintenance video's coming our way. I too have a 2016 GTS Forester with the same appliances / equipment.
Hi DJ, Yes those water heaters can get very loud. I think the 2016 GTS is a great rig. They did everything just about right. (except the split rear bed).
@@RVHabit the split rear bed with the window head board and the pull down shade, not a good design!
I finally got fed up with the shade and put a rice paper window film on the back window. Works out excellent and no more fighting with that shade.
Absolutely perfect instruction. I feel totally confident that I can troubleshoot and get the pilot light up and blue flaming. Thank you
Glad it helped
great, informative video.. showing how to clean/fix, rather than just look for parts replacement.. thx!!
Glad it helped
Thank you after listening to your video description, I found and fixed my problem. My spark probe was defective and cracked. I also replaced my thermal cut-off. Then I adjusted my air/gas mixture. Great video and congratulations.
Hi Jacques, awesome glad to hear it. Happy camping.
Simple steps to follow, propane and electric were not working. I changed thermostats and fuse earlier. Cleaned out the little orfic has plugged with white powder , cleaned out all good thank you .
that's great to hear. Happy camping.
Thank you, now to tackle the electrical heater issue.
Nice job Lou. You made it very simple for us. Stay safe.
Hi Al, Thanks 👍
100% just maintenance ! Really appreciate the video. All cleaned and it no longer shuts off. Thank so much!
Great to hear!
Likely the best video explanation of how this Atwood/Dometic water heater works, thank you very much! Ordering a few parts to get ours back in operation.
Awesome, thank you!
I'm camping without my husband and the water heater didn't work. Thank you for your video, it saved the day (week) for me, knowing what the different parts were helped me to not be afraid to unplug the igniter and plug it back in. It's working now all thanks to you and your very well made video. THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU
Great job!
Great video, and very informative. My Camper sat for a while and I was having an issue with ignition. gas was flowing, but had to use a lighter to light it. Looks like a bad spark probe. Cleaning out everthing else while I am in there. Thanks!
Hi Will, Great to hear!
Amazing DIY video. Straight to the point only. Thank you
Thanks so much.
Nice Job, Lou. Great close ups with the video. I miss our Atwood Water Heater. The only problem we ever had with it was the same that you had, the ceramic insulator on the igniter had a small crack in it that prevented the heater from running on gas. We changed it out and was good to go. Now we have the On Demand Heater, still hate it. LOL
Yes, I like the Atwood water heaters. Not quite sold on the On Demand water heaters.
Looked at a lot of videos this is probably the best one I’ve seen on that Atwood Water heater it was very thorough and very informative thank you very much
Hi John, Wow, thanks!
AMEN
Thanks for a great video tutorial, I have the same problem with my water heater and now thanks to you I know what to do.
Great to hear!
You're awesome!! I just adjusted the air flow like you showed towards the end of the video and it fired right up!!
Hi glad it worked.
Very informative. You helped my husband and me get our heater working great. We did find a small crack in our sparker and will be ordering a new one. Thank you!
That is awesome!
Figured out it was corrosion on my igniter that was my problem but I checked everything else you pointed out while I was fixing it! Thanks!
Nice work!
Great video! Went out this weekend and mine was doing the same thing. It would lite for a few seconds then shut down. The electric worked thank God. Will try your tips. Hopefully have the same results
Good luck!
Better than the other videos!
Thank you for watching.
Use you vid the first time before I went from Ohio to North Carolina about a month. Got it going with new control unit. On leaving North Carolina out of there with no hot water checked vid again and now after cleaning video and now I don’t even have ignition at the starter for three times
This was amazing. Not too “techy “. Thanks for an easy to understand explanation
You're very welcome!
Thanks so much for de-mystifying the solution to my problem. This is exactly what I needed. I haven't tried it yet, but it gives me great optimism moving forward and I feel sure it will work.
Good luck!
Thank you for your video. My wife picks on me for watching KZhead RV repair videos but I keep teller her you never know what you might learn. My water heater worked fine but sounded like a jet engine. After watching your video, I adjusted it, and now it is quiet with a nice blue flame.
Hi William, That's great. Watching videos is a great way to learn. You don't know what you don't know. Happy camping.
Thank you for explaining in detail what to do! My water heater just went out in my jayco Jay flight, going to check entire system tomorrow, now that I know what to do
Hi Andrea, Hope you get it working, Good luck!
@@RVHabit well I’ve cleaned everything drained the tank there was a lot of calcium in the tank itself, but my DSI FLT light is still coming on, I use the electric switch for my water heater instead of my propane. But neither are working (but I don’t have propane to troubleshoot that issue)
Just wanted to say thank you and that your video helped me main burner had mild blockage debris rust etc
Great to hear!
Thank you. Things to try. My propane is not working either. Does not light. It seems to try. I smell the propane but no go.
Excellent video. My water heater has the same issue - it won't spark and when I light it manually, it won't stay lit.
Excellent maintenance advice. I appreciate How you explain every step. Definitely worth the time to look at all video.
I appreciate that!
Thank you! I am visiting and staying in a friend's RV and the hot water quit this morning. I will try this first thing tomorrow. But this video is exactly what I need. I looked at this panel and got super intimidated. Nothing made a lot of sense. And that's not normal for me. I will let you know how it turns out.
Hi Karen, sometimes knowing how something works is half the battle. Good luck.
Thanks for this. My Atwood will not light. I do hear the sparks but no gas smell.
Great video. Covering lots of important details. Thanks for educating me on air flow adjustments and fine tuning.
Thanks so much for commenting.
I just fixed mine by pulling and re-inserting the multi-pin board connector due to slight corrosion.
Many thanks for the vid. I am in NSW and had the same issue with the spark initiator...cleaned it up and away it went. Cheers
Good to hear
Thank you so much for the water heater tutorial, totally fixed my hot water heater!
Hi Jayce, Glad it helped!
Great video and information, thank You. At what point would the thermostat need to be replaced. What would be the trouble at the multimeter end or other.. After I do a routine flush my HH will light then shut off 3 times or a few sets of 3 try. then, I turn the switch off, say a prayer, and it starts for good again. It's bee off and on like this for over a year. I will do all the servicing you menton here, I am sure it will help !!
Awesome. I'm learning how to clean n replace the parts. Now I pray after I put it back together it works!
Good luck!
@@RVHabit it worked!!!!! Your awesome!!!! Thank you!!!!
Glad to hear it. Happy camping!
Thanks! Very helpful as we troubleshoot the water heater on our new to us rig! Nice video!
Glad it helped!
I applaud this informational video!!!! You covered everything I needed to know to fix my problem! Thank you so very much for no nonsense, to the point without a bunch of unwanted banter!!! Subscribing and look forward to future videos from RV Habit !!
Great to hear!
Thanks so much for your video. Had issues with mine and your video saved the day. Happy camping! Thanks!
Hi Brent, Glad it helped! Happy camping.
This is the exact problem I was having. Followed all these steps and mine is working fine now as it seems
Glad it helped. These water heaters need yearly cleaning and maintenance to work properly.
Thank you. I think that's what is wrong with ours. We out at our camper today but visiting on Father's day and looked you up. Once we get back to campground I'm sure this will get our hot water back to work. So thanks.
Your welcome and Good luck!
He needs to say continuity one more time. I don't think he said it enough. 😁
Lol, It's hard sometimes talking off the cuff trying to explain things. Thanks for watching.
@@RVHabit you're good. I was just teasing. Thank you for the great content!
Fantastic video, I am having the propane start to make a whump sound when it lights. Going to do all of your steps to correct it. Thank you for all the tips, I will be able to recognize more issues if there are any!!
Hi David Good luck!
Excellent video.... Having the same issue. Going to try your fix in the morning.
Hope it works out.
Because of your thorough and well put together video I was able to troubleshoot why my (propane) water heater ignited but then stopped every time I attempted to start it. This is a 26 year old water heater. I went through every step you outlined. I checked the wires for conductivity and discovered a few wires were corroded and the spade connectors weren't tight. I checked the overheat safety for continuity. I checked the burner pipe for blockage and corrosion. There was lots of rust. I cleaned the orifice with carburetor cleaner. I checked the igniter gap. I checked that the round plate in the burner tube was centered. I re-adjusted the flame so it burned quiet and blue. I actually have a new water heater that I can replace it with but the work involved is too much right now. I'm at the tale end of a 2 month restoration on this motorhome and I'm exhausted. You saved me a lot of work. This rig was rarely used and this water heater should have a few good years left in it. Many thanks!!!
Great to hear when my videos are able to help someone.
Many thanks for making this informative and helpful video. We wish we had seen this before we did a couple of other things. 😆Now, we suspect it was simply a clogged orifice all along. Before we got to that though, we tried a new motherboard and we ordered a new gas valve. After we put that on, we checked the orifice and it was completely clogged! We are sharing your video link so others can be informed and avoid our mistakes.
Hi, thanks so much I appreciate it.
thank you very much very informative. my electric does not work either. going to look for a vid of that also. and the heater only blows cold air. have some work to do. I was thinking it is a propane problem. but with the electric not working on the hot water heater it has got me wondering. I will get to final answer you have me of to a good start. thank you again.
Good luck!
I have to do things by myself these days and need Ideas for that and brush up for all those things I thought I knew. Looking forward to having a long connection with you all.
Happy to help!
Great video. Having the links to products in the description helped a ton! Order 3 parts.
Hi Paul, Awesome, thank you!
Very well done. I now know how to solve my houseboat water heater issue. Thank you.
Hi Jerry, glad it helped.
you explained it so perfectly, thank you
Glad it was helpful!
Yeah i watch Rv maintenance channels there very helpful. Good stuff👍
Yes they are! Thanks for watching Darryl.
Thank you Fella, very helpful. 👍
Man great video. Wish it had been at the top of my list. Fortunately you have the same one as me so all your info was spot on. Luckily my gas side of heater just came on but I am going to check everything that you did when I get home.
Hi David, Glad it was helpful. I have another video about changing out the control board if you find that is the problem. Good luck.
Wow. I did exactly what u did and it fits up now. I took it apart and sanded connections on thermal fuse, blew out jet, blew out curved gas pipe, put it back together and it works. Suggestion tho, I had an extra screw, finally figured where it goes.. take photos before u start. Thanks for video
Yes if you are not familiar with something always take a picture before starting. I usually forget and regret it.
Great video but one question, how do you test the electrical element ? and do all WH have one ?
Hi, friend. I can't find a spec for what the voltage should be at the ignitor coil. Also, seems like the ignitor also functions in place of a thermocouple? is there a test you're aware of for it beyond just continuity? Thanks.
Your videos are so well made..... keep up the great work 👍
Hi Gary, Glad you like them!
I found out that the orris on the pilot line was stopped up I took a sewing pin to Clean the end orris and the pilot lite worked well and saved me money
Couldn't get my heater to ignite after spraying for wasps. Thought I was going to have to replace every electrical component in the box. 😮 Followed the steps in this video, and my water heater works like a charm. Great information well explained.
Great to hear.
YEA!!!! Thank you so much! This fixed the problem
Hi Karen, so happy to hear that. Happy Camping.
Nice job. Thank you. Now I'll service mine
Followed your directions and got the hot water heater going while out camping.
That's great to hear. Glad it helped. Happy camping.
Great video. Clear and concise. Very helpful. Thanks!
Thanks Michael.
You helped me fix my hot water heater!!! Thanks!
Glad I could help!
Best video for an old and new Atwoods
Thanks so much
The altitude thing with the sleeve was the bingo moment. I was 10K+ feet up in the Colorado mountains when I encountered problems.
Everything is simple once you know how it works. Thanks for watching.
Excellent tutorial...Easy to understand:)
Great tips, and maintenance practice. Good video 😎
Thanks! 👍
Great video I have to look up and see what kind of hot water heater I got thanks for info video definitely worth watching
Thanks for watching!
Hi there! Great video. I am having the same issue with the flame going out after just a few seconds. I did all the cleaning steps and installed a new igniter, but the flame still goes out after a few seconds. Do you have any other ideas on what the problem may be? Thank you
Fantastic! perfect video. It was exactly what I needed to know. Now I understand the system.
Hi Rick, Great to hear!
Thank You. My pilot light works but the big flame will not kick in 1989 lynx. any suggestions thanks KW
I don't know if it was your accent or not, but you were pronouncing it "selenoid" or "salenoid" instead of "solonoid". Excellent water heater tutorial! Thank you so much.
That is my Jersey accent lol.
My propane fueled rv heater just quit. I checked the ground wire lug where it screws into heater cabinet. I cleaned some corrosion off and reinstalled it. Heater works again.
great video looks like cold showers for this winter again !
Great video, but please show what you set the multimeter to,to test.
Thanks! Great video. Very helpful!!!
Thanks i appreciate the comment.
Thank you, going out to clean/sand/adjust.
Hi Rob, thanks for watching.
Thank you for sharing! This was very helpful.
You are so welcome!
Very simple and informative, sir. I appreciate you!
Thanks so much.