Kirk W

I sure don't get my investment advice from public forums like this one! I do read it occasionally for entertainment value.

That is probably the reason it is still offered. But most new RVs have the flashy designs done with decals if not full body paint.

I have seen several motorhomes of 10 years or older that were painted in a single color. I recall 2 that were just white and another that was a very light brown or beige. One of the white ones also had some pinstriping to break up the single color. We liked the look and probably would have done that with our 14-year-old coach if we had not downsized.

I own a 2003 truck that the pain today looks very little different from what it did 14 years ago when it was new, except for a few scratches and rock chips. We kept our fiberglass motorhome for 14 years also and even with it having been washed and waxed the decals were faded and some had been removed, leaving a shiny strip where the decal used to be. Surfaces that were gel coated had to be buffed each time it was washed to try and get them to look good and even then did not look like new.

Most RV builders are using automotive paint for the full body paint and so it lasts far longer than does the gel coat. If an RV does not spend most of its time in a location that is protected from the sun, gel coating will begin to degrade noticeably in 5 to 10 years while automotive paints that are cared for will look pretty much the same for 20 years or longer. Only you can decide where the price/value point is but in my mind the cost of the new RV should be part of the question. I would consider the value to be somewhere between a 5% and a 10% increase in total price.

What time should all of us plan to be there?

Welcome to the Escapee forums! And thank you for sharing your experience. After reading it, I now understand the reason it is called a test. They truly tested you!

While it is possible, I doubt that it is probable and it would be pretty difficult to prove if true. I believe that you did replace the ignition probe so at this point I would suspect the circuit board if the ECO & heat limiter is in good condition.

Bet you can't travel when the weather stays cloudy for long periods.

At risk of hijacking the thread, I'll offer a brief comment. We were more nomadic than you so had far fewer ties to the last house before fulltime life began. We left the family home after the last child went into the Army but before retirement so that made that part less difficult. Now that we are back to part-time we have come to realize that this may not be our last stop as we are starting to think of a change to no more home-owner responsibility. It is always good to have some rough ideas of what will come next but keep them flexible.

While it can do so, it really isn't that common on water heaters like it is for refrigerators. With your water heater if you just judiciously use a shop vacuum to suction out any dirt and foreign materials from the opening of the burner tube and air shutter are usually ample to take care of this. I have heard many stories of cleaning the gas jet, but in my experience, more people make their problems worse in doing that than fix anything. You can see the burner tube and the opening of the burner area in this picture. If you remove the igniter probe it leaves you plenty of room for the vacuum. The air shutter is the slotted area that can usually be adjusted. Unless you have some reason to do so, it is usually not necessary to adjust it. If you use a vacuum you are far less likely to create problems from getting things in the way of the gas jet. I only use compressed air as a last resort.

The voltage to the ignition probe is quite high but very brief and so is difficult to measure. Here is the troubleshooting section from the manual. Pay particular attention to the procedure on page 21 of that service manual. Anything that interrupts the 12V power will prevent the firing of the spark but the fact that you are getting the light in the switch eliminates a lack of that power. Power to that light comes from the circuit board, so we know that it has power and should mean that the ECO is also passing power but it would not hurt to use your meter to verify that by checking the voltage as you trace to and then through both sets of thermostats. It is always a good idea to remove and reseat all power connections since your water heater has airflow through it when you travel and that air can also carry both dirt and moisture. It only takes a moment to pull each plug and put it back, two or three times just to be sure. Pay particular attention to the lead that goes to that spark probe. You could also check for power to the gas valve and if you put your hand on it and have someone turn the water heater on you should be able to feel it open but my experience shows that you may not hear it open. An additional test that I perform when troubleshooting a failure to ignite is to use one of the long butane lighter for lighting a barbeque to see if that lights the propane. They are made of plastic so won't shock you and if you have it burning when the valve opens, you should see the propane light, even if the flame isn't detected and the gas turns back off after 3 attempts. It would not be a bad idea to try replacing the ignitor assembly as they can be difficult to troubleshoot and you can get one for about $35. It will come as an assembly with the probe and the lead attached. I have never seen one supplied without that high voltage lead. (I wouldn't buy it if I did). If you buy one, use care as there are several different versions available. Since the probe that supplies the spark also detects the burning propane and sends back a signal to the circuit board to indicate the propane is burning, it doesn't take much to prevent that signal as it is in microvolts. I also always replace the probe if I am replacing the circuit board as they have a shorter lifespan and cost very little. If you do replace that circuit board, I suggest the use of one from Dinosaur Electronics as I have found them better than those from Atwood, they cost less (about half) and have a longer warranty. Of all those that I have used, I have never had one fail.

The circuit board that controls the water heater operates on 12V power and it then sends a much higher voltage to the ignition probe by way of the heavy lead you can see from the circuit board to the mounted probe. The red light in your on/off switch tells me that you have 12V power to the circuit board as the switch gets its power from that board. If you had no 12v to the water heater it would not show any light at all. Some water heaters also have a 120V heating element but it is controlled by a different switch from what you describe. Where did you check for this voltage? There must be something since you got the warning light. You can normally hear a snapping sound as the ignitor makes 3 attempts to light the propane gas before it shuts off. Not hearing that would indicate that it isn't making any spark which could mean any of several different problems. I suggest that you start by downloading a copy of the service manual from Bryant RV website.

One of the good (and bad in some ways) things of going on the road without any home-base or storage space is that you do have to clean out some of the stuff that seems to just hang around for "one day." Having cleaned out my parents home once they were gone, I suspect that it is mostly a good thing. I keep my faithful Fluke 77 which I have relied on for a long time as well as a cheap analog meter for minor things and for the times that I don't want true RMS readings. I also keep one of the 12V, icepick-like, test lights as well since they really help with dealing with those systems. I was long a fan of Simpson meters but gave up my last one when we hit the road but have transferred most of that loyalty to John Fluke nowadays. I think the most difficult thing for me to let go was my old Tecktronics Oscilloscope. Wait! We have sure wandered off of the original subject of Atwood water heaters so let's hope that subject has been dealt with. If it has not, someone just point us back in that direction!

That part is very true and because we so rarely stay in a KOA, it may well be outdated, but it was valid back when we first began to travel by RV. I suspect that it has been at least 3 years since we last stayed in a KOA because of past experiences. I was asking Pam what she recalled and for her, there is one particular trip that she has never forgotten, which I'll describe. We raised our family in Wyoming where campsites are readily available with no reservations and many without fees. In the late 70's we were traveling to California with 3 boys, 1, dog, and two of us. We could not recall the exact prices now but we stopped at a KOA somewhere in Utah where our KOA guide listed a site for our pop-up with water and electric only for something around $15. What she remembers is that because we had more than 3 people, it was an extra $1 each for the other 2, and it was $1 or 2 for our dog, and then since we didn't have a shower in the RV, all of the showers required quarters to get the water. We think that we stopped in 3 more KOA parks that trip and found the extra charges pretty much that way. Since that trip, we have mostly avoided KOA parks but have found that in general, the older ones are more to our liking if we do stay at one. When a business develops a reputation, it can take years for that to change. We do occasionally stay in a KOA nowadays if there are few options or if it is the most convenient, but I still believe that in most areas where there are other parks as well, the KOA tends to be among the higher priced for what we actually use. I may be wrong in that belief, but the last I knew we were still allowed differing opinions.

Sometimes you do win, but other times the win is only temporary so only time will tell. The positive thing is, look at all of the great troubleshooting experience you are getting!

After having a bit more time to think on this, I agree with JohnT that dielectric grease is not a good idea there. It is an insulator and not a conductor and its use is mostly to keep moisture & air out of connectors and while cleaning the connection is good, that is all that I'd do in this situation. Making sure that the ground connection is good is also a good idea. What has crossed my mind is that we are assuming that the problem is in the relighting of the propane, but when this problem occurs, do you get the red light in the on/off switch? Since you didn't mention that it might be that isn't happening and that would mean that no attempt to relight was made. If you don't have the red light when it fails to relight, I would take a good close look at both the ECO (a pair of thermostats) and the thermal fuse.I have seen the ECO fail intermittently and have heard reports of that for the thermal fuse. Either one would prevent the water heater from relighting but not give you the red failure light.

Dinosaur Electronics has two possible choices but I'm pretty sure that you need this one. Check the edge connectors on what you have now just to be sure. If it isn't that one then you should use the universal circuit board. I have used both of those boards in Atwood water heaters. I have never had one fail to work. It is important to follow the instructions and I also use the mounting kit and cover.

I am a repair person by trade although not RVs, I have been repairing them for more than 30 years for others as well as my own. While it is possible for a circuit board to work intermittently, it is quite rare for simple boards as this one is and in all of my experience, I have never seen that happen. What I have seen cause the exact symptoms that you are experiencing is the ignition probe assembly. I agree with JohnT that any of the components in one can cause this to happen, but you can only buy the ignition probe as an assembly that includes the probe, it's ceramic insulator, the high voltage lead, and all of the related components that could cause the problem. I can only offer you what I would do if I were working on your water heater, based upon actually having repaired many of them which experienced what you now describe. The first thing that I would do is to remove the present ignition probe assembly and its lead. Carefully clean all parts of it paying particular attention to the probe and ceramic insulator. If you can see even the smallest crack, replace it but if you feel it worth your time, clean it and set the gap to 1/4" as closely as you can. Next check the connector that the high voltage lead connects to and be sure that it is clean and well soldered. (not a common problem but possible) Look at the insulation of the high voltage lead and be sure that it is in good condition. Once those are done, reinstall the probe making sure that it is in close proximity to the propane jet and directly in the path of the gas from it After it is installed, test to see if things work again. Over the years it has been my experience that when this does solve the problem it is usually only temporary and for that reason, I seldom bother to go through that but just replace the probe. A new probe will cost you around $35 while a new circuit board will be $100+. I never change out the circuit board without also replacing the probe unless it is new because they have the highest failure rate of the electric parts in RV water heaters. When buying a new probe be sure to get the proper one as there are several versions of them over the Atwood models in use. If the probe does not solve your problem, only then would I buy a new ignition board and I would buy it from Dinosaur Electronics as I have used both theirs and the OEM ones and found the Dinosaur boards cost less, are guaranteed longer, and work as well or better.

The lack of anything on the display lists 4 things to check. Have you verified that there is 12V-dc power at the terminal block in the rear of the refrigerator? You should find that terminal block on the floor of the space inside of the rear access panel and usually, it is to the left side, near the 120V power outlet. If you do not have power there, you must find what the course is. In most cases, there is a fuse on the RV's 12V distribution panel that supplies it. There is also a 3A fuse on the main circuit board for the 12V supply. Either of those will give the symptom that you have.

Welcome to the Escapee forums! You really haven't given us much to go on but here is a link to the service manual for your refrigerator . I suggest looking at the troubleshooting section in the front of the manual. If you tell us a bit more of the symptoms we could probably help more. Is there any odor of ammonia in the refrigerator inside or in the back? If you open the back can you see any yellow residue anywhere?

Flushing with water only is usually sufficient, but some of us (not all) also believe that it is good to sanitize the system annually and this would be the best time to do so. Keep in mind that the water heater has been sitting all winter exposed to air and anything else the air might introduce. I have never heard of anyone saving the RV antifreeze but I suppose it could be done. To me, the effort of catching it without introduction of dirt and junk into it and then storing it some way far exceeds the cost of just buying new each year.

Mostly west of us, but you are so close, we should really make a connection! If you are at the Thousand Trails park, we are less than 50 miles apart. We are midway between Canton & Tyler and just off of I-20.

We should be around so drop me a PM and let me know when you expect to pass through north TX and your route.