If you cant laugh at yourself.

[Lakota Wolf]

Here we go,,,, wheeeeee... I got the bath sink installed,, in a previous blog. Well that still left a lot of daylight hours to tinker,, or really screw something up big time. But hey, its a guy thing (sometimes wimmins, but they have the advantage,, they actually READ instructions).

The water heater is being down right stubborn, to put in polite,politically correct terms, (P.I.T.A.  in laymens terms) .After replacing the Auto switch propane regulator for the dual tank set up,, cleaning out the gas lines etc. And before that, I replaced the Control board circuit,(which by the way is mounted just above the blowing flame of the burner tube), Then replaced the Gas control valve assembly,, w/ the 4 relays mounted on the bottom. I replaced the orifice and blow tube (mixture tube), I replaced the 2 sensors, for thermostat and electronic shut off. I cleaned out the intake burner tube, and the exhaust vent tube.. Changed everything except the factory sticker on the cover, inside under the cabinet. All was working fantasticals. Well the last couple days,, its get attitude and the pilot light clicks on and it dont want to restart,, unless your lucky and can click it on and off a few times and hear it fire up. Other times I will go out and manually unplug the 12v wire and reconnect it,, watching it light up and whooosh, fire right on up. This isnt to bad,, unless its cold and rainy.. total suckage.

Im waiting for warmer weather to install the 20 gallon electric water heater in a secure location, close to original water connections and a designated 110/120 v. power outlet.( More then likely run seperate power cord out to power service pedestal ). So if you ever get discouraged with your project,, take into consideration, I have worked on RV's a long time and have figured stuff out, from scratch without the luxury of work manuals etc. Even a seasoned fixer has bad days.

This is just one of those things that make ya scratch a bald spot on the top of your head and ya figure it out.. BUT, I take it with Humor,, It wouldnt be no fun if it worked the 1st time every time,, and you just stand back and laugh at yourself,, because there will always be another project, or something to fix, that will test your patience.

Just remember, Its not always the Destination, But the journey.

Be safe and have fun.

[Rich Thomas]

Hi Lakota, very glad your in hot water..... again. LOL. you might check out Dinosaur Electronics for a circuit board that will work with your heater. I got a relay from them for my furnace a couple years ago.  

[Chris Ramey]

By the way, Lakota... GREAT IDEA with moving the board well away form the heat source! You oughtta patent the idea and sell it to the Industry! I hope it solves the problem of those melting circuit boards, sounds like it should!

[Chris Ramey]

I wonder why the manufacturers complicated everything with circuit boards and whatnot? For instance, every RV we've owned has been well over 30 years old, and all of 'em had their original appliance. I suppose we got lucky in buying well-maintained rigs, but I have to say that the only problems we've had over the last 10 years in 3 coaches, has been one of them had a fridge that needed replaced and one of them needed the water heater replaced. None of 'em had anything fancy controlling any of the appliances... As a disclaimer though, the reason for switching RVsso often  has been because of interior space/floorplan for the family, except "losing" our beloved Travco because of not justifying the exorbitant cost of engine replacement... In any case, none of the units had any of the "circuit board controlled" stuff in them, and all of that kit worked extremely well for us as long as we owned 'em, and I'd imagine for as long as the PO's had owned them. Do the manufacturers just come up with that stuff just for something to do? CHEERS!

Chris 

[Lakota Wolf]

UPDATE,,,,,, Ok, I went out and decided to fix this water heater once and for all,(LOL yea right).

I removed EVERYTHING,,, every wire and connector,, replaced the plug in connectors with new wire again,, cleaned everything,, even tho it was not dirty. Put it all back together,, clicked the switch and click,click, pause,,,,,,,,,, click,,,,, pause,,, click,,,,,, pause,, click click whoosh,, it fires up,, The Problem is ANOTHER melted circuit board,, literally melted the cover and then turned the insides to marshmellow goo. I drove the 42 miles to Funtime RV center and aske dthe guy if he had one,,, He laughed and said probably not.. He asked if I had dropped it into the fireplace or left it on the stove,, ummmm no,, it melted from the heat inside the compartment due to the design of where its located..He was a real nice guy and went in back for about 15 minutes and came back with a dusty,, been around the block a few times,, Circuit board and said to give this one a try and he will look into an updated version of my old one,, Way cool.... I get home and mount it,,, and everything works like a dream. Now Im planning a new location far far far away from the heater,,, Im thinking on the other side of the RV in the back storage box,, and make a pig tail to run the wire harness. This way, there is NO heat that is going to melt this one.... By the way,,, a new one costs $139.00 and 5 days shipping,,,Im waiting to hear what an upgraded one will cost. This last new one was only $99.00, so I guess ya have to just catch the deals when you can on Flea Bay...

[Rich Thomas]

This makes me wonder if the I.C. Board has a cold solder joint opening up after being heated from the location it's in. I have had similar problems with other equipment and had to re solder the offending I.C.'s; also have had circuit traces develop a crack that would open when it was heated up. The heat causing the board to expand and crack the copper trace.

Traces are the copper lines that make up the circuit for those who don't dabble in electronics and I.C. = Integrated Circuit; that's all the little chips soldered to the board. Sometimes those little individual components can be poorly soldered and heat can cause them to loose connection to the circuit board.

[Chris Ramey]

AMEN! Sounds like me, except you left out the part about the 30 trips to the hardware store, because "I forgot something"! Gotta love tinkering!

Cheers! Chris