Waterheater LED light?

Indy Itasca · 09-30-2009, 03:38 PM

We have a 2007 Sunrise 35L with a 10 gal Atwood water heater. In our previous coach when you turned the WH on in gas - LP mode the small LED light that warns of a pilot light out, was illuminated for a couple of seconds and then went out. The manual in the new coach states the same thing, yet our dealer is saying that the manual is wrong and the led only comes on if the pilot fails. I think the light is burnt out or the logic board isn't working. The water heater does light and heat water in the LP mode. Anyone have this water heater in a set up like ours? What happens if you use LP?

W8RLM · 09-30-2009, 03:46 PM

I also have the same water heater in my 06 Journey. To my knowledge, the pilot light only comes on when the heater doesn't light. I just brought the motorhome back from the storage lot, and I'll check it.

W8RLM - Bob

AFChap · 09-30-2009, 03:53 PM

We have a 2003 Ultimate Advantage. The original water heater was a model 3E. The red light behaved as you described on your old rig. We replaced the water heater last April. The 3e is no longer available, and was replaced with a 4e. So far, I have NEVER seen the red light come on.

wa8yxm · 09-30-2009, 05:36 PM

A good design option would be to "Flash" the light, like the dash lights on your car. but.. That said teh Attwood in my rig,, Only lights if the burner fails to come on or if the over temp is sensed (NOTE: you can "Fake" an over temp and should if you drain the heater,, Remove the RED wire it says in the manual, when draining the heater)

Indy Itasca · 09-30-2009, 08:42 PM

Thanks so much for the answers guys. Do you HAVE to be an amateur radio ham to answer this question? All 3 of you have call signs.

Easyrider · 09-30-2009, 08:48 PM

On our 2005 Sunrise the light comes on and stays on - it's green - while the heater is in lp mode. A red light on a separate switch comes on and stays on when in electric mode. We usually leave it on electric mode all the time and turn on the lp only when taking showers. We've never run short of hot water using this method.

Indy Itasca · 09-30-2009, 08:59 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Easyrider

On our 2005 Sunrise the light comes on and stays on - it's green - while the heater is in lp mode. A red light on a separate switch comes on and stays on when in electric mode.

Yes mine is the same, my question was about the small red led next to the lp switch. It is marked "Pilot out". On the old coach it came on while the igniter was lighting the flame then it went out. (maybe 2 seconds tops). I always knew the light was working and sensing the pilot flame. The new coach, I"m told that the light only comes on if there is a failure. How do I know that it is working? If the sensor is bad or the bulb is burnt out what to tell me that the pilot is out?

mfire1339 · 09-30-2009, 10:18 PM

Because there is no pilot. Heater is either heating or off. No gas flowing.

Mike

MrTransistor · 10-01-2009, 12:06 AM

If you need to verify the function of the LED, I would suggest you intentionally create an LP problem by turning off the LP, turning on the stove, then allowing the LP pressure to drop too low to support combustion at the stove which should also extinguish the water heater. If the LED comes on in a reasonable amount of time, then it is doing its job. I know ours works for this very reason. Of course, the LP heating must be on in the water heater when this is done. So turn off the electric, run hot water from a faucet until the LP kicks in, then do the test.

Make sure the refrigerator is on electric before you start since it remembers the outage. As far as I know, the water heater has no such memory, therefore this should be a logical test of the ‘Pilot Out’ LED.

Easyrider · 10-01-2009, 05:50 PM

My bad, I didn't even know we had a pilot light out warning light, I've never seen it and I thought you were talking about the lights in the switches! I'm going to go out to our rv now and look. Two good things about this situation- I learned something new about our rv thanks to your post and I learned I've never had a problem with the water heater since I've never seen the warning light!

TBI · 10-01-2009, 06:48 PM

I have a 2007 Sunrise 35L and while in it today I treid the water heater. When turned on in LP mode the switch lights up (green). If it fails to light after the third time a red
"pilot out" LED turns on and it doesn't try to light again until you turn off the green switch and turn it back on again.

W8RLM · 10-01-2009, 08:23 PM

I tried my water heater on LP. The green light came on immediately, but no red light. The heater lit immediately. I suspect that the red light only comes on if the heater doesn't light.

W8RLM - Bob