Troubleshooting Propane/Electric Atwood 6 Gallon Water Heater

Updated 07/13/2020 | Published 12/13/2018

Question:

Excel 2007 - 28TRW - Atwood 6 gallon heater. Switch on propane and nothing happens - no attempt to ignite - no sound from unit. Switch on the electric then the propane and the propane immediately ignites and water heats quickly. Turn electric off and the propane goes off. Until this trip it would heat on electric only, propane only, or both if we wanted to get water heated in a hurry. So - what might be the problem. We really do want it to work on either fuel source.

asked by: Candy

Expert Reply:

I have attached a photo (#1) for you which shows what the back of a wall switch for an Atwood 6 Gallon Water Heater should look like. I would first recommend you check this to make sure all of the spade terminals are attached properly and the wires are secured in them. If there are any burnt or broken wires you will need to replace them.

I have also attached a photo (#2) for you which shows the wiring schematic for the control board on an Atwood 6 Gallon Water Heater. Similar to the wall switch, you will need to inspect the spade terminals and wires to make sure none are broken or burnt.

I also recommend that you isolate the water heater by supplying a separate power source to the water heater and take the coach out of the equation. This will allow you to check that there is no interference causing the propane side not to work unless the electric side is turned on.

With that being said, isolating the system really needs to be done by a trained technician so that is what I must recommend you do. If the unit is faulty or not worth the repair costs then we do offer replacements, the Atwood RV Water Heater part # AT96117 for manual pilot or part # AT96163 for auto pilot.

expert reply by: Conner L

click to enlarge

John S.

6/23/2020

My Atwood RV water heater turns on the gas and lights for about 10 minutes than goes out and will not start back up.

Chris R.

6/24/2020

The most common cause for this type of issue is a bad thermocouple. We have a few universal replacements available, such as the 18" # CAM09273 that should work well.

Veta H.

7/8/2020

We bought a new Atwood 6 Gallon Gas Water Heater two years ago. My husband got really sick and we did not use the motor home at all last year. We are ready to go again but when we lite the pilot the heater comes on for about 30 seconds and goes out. Will not come back on. What are we doing wrong?

Chris R.

7/13/2020

I'm not sure you're doing anything wrong. This type of issue usually points to a bad thermostat/regulator so you'll want to have a technician come by just to be sure that's the problem.

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