87 Fleetwood Water Heater

[Russell E Johnson]

Can someone tell me the sequence they use to get the warm water going on a Fleetwood Southwind ?  I found the 2 brown wires and one that is either blue or green all melted when I went out to check to see what was going on.

If no one has a wiring diagram or a way to explain how to test it, I can get a tankless heater for $265, is it worth paying someone to try and fix the one in the MH?

Thank you for your help.

[Jim Stoltz]

Did it work previously? Or is this your first attempt at getting it going. In either event, wires shouldn't melt. There should be a fuse in your fuse panel for the heater. The brown wires are the thermostat wires - there should be one hooked up to each side of the thermostat on the right (the thermostat on the left is the high-temp cut-out and should have red wires on it). There is a blue wire, but you shouldn't see it outside. It runs from the control box to the switch and lights up the red trouble light. According to the wiring diagram, all green wires are ground. That being said, I had a random green wire under the sink in my Allegro that came from the HW heater. I didn't think much of it until the fuse blew one day. Turns out it was hot and had grounded on a copper pipe. I don't know what it's supposed to be hooked up to, but the HW heater functions fine. 

Alllllllll that being said, $265 for a tankless heater sounds like a good deal. It's not much more $$ than replacing the conventional unit that's in it. Is it gas and electric? But...you may not need to spend anything if you can find something simple wrong with yours.

[Jim Stoltz]

Oh yeah - all of the info I provided assumes you have an Atwood hot water heater, which was by far the most common HW heater back then. Wiring diagrams are plentiful if you google "Atwood hot water heater wiring diagram"

[Russell E Johnson]

Jim,

It is an Atwood heater and yes, it was working fine before we left on vacation,  The blue or green wire, I cannot be sure of its color because it is so charred, is directly above the brown wires and its melting insulation dripped on the brown wires and may be the reason they melted together.  

I will Google the wiring diagrams as you suggested and replace the brown wires, provided I can figure out the other wire.  I also was surprised to find melted wires and that the fuse did not protect it.

The tankless heater is an EZ 202 - EZ Tankless propane with 2 D cell batteries for the ignition and controls meant to be used for camping.  I thought instead of paying some tech $100 an hour (that's what they get around here) to fix that old a water heater, if I can't figure it out, I would just replace the old heater for the same or less $$$.  My brother in-law replaced the tank in his 5er with a tankless and absoutely loves it, he said the hardest part was to get the old unit out and fix up a mounting board for the new one, other wise the hook up of hoses and the propane line fell right into place.  With my luck I will end up re-pluming everything LOL.

Thank you for your help, I really appreciate it.  Have a good day.  Russ

[Jim Stoltz]

Okay so mine's rusty but it still works. This pic might help. I installed an adjustable thermostat so it won't look like yours. That blue wire does indeed appear outside and then runs inside to your switch. I would guess that's the one that melted because it's 12V+. It shouldn't have - the fuse should have prevented that from happening. I would make sure you have the right sized fuse (or any fuse) for the HW heater. It should be 20A. 

[Russell E Johnson]

I will check that as soon as I get home, I am in St Louis right now.

[david craft]

Green is ground. Brown is power in and the blue runs from the board up to energize the indicator light. The wires burned from the main burner being clogged with a spider web...those little solid white ones. You can get a thermal cut off to install that will stop fires on the atwood.