Atwood 10 gal elec/gas water heater

[grant3791]

2002 Winnebago ultimate advantage. Water heater is not getting enough combustion air. This condition happened on recent trip. It was working good and then problem just out of blue started. I found that it was not getting enough combustion air, when I leave the door open it works perfect, when I close door it immediately is starved for air and burner goes out. There are no obstructions in the door. I pulled a large rag through the combustion tube and found nothing in it. Does anyone had this problem?

[emiddleb]

Yes, there are some older threads on the topic of the water heaters not getting enough air in older Winnebagos. Here are a couple, you can search for others...


http://www.irv2.com/forums/f101/atwo...er-146751.html


http://www.irv2.com/forums/f101/wate...ey-146636.html

[Podivin]

On my water heater (not the same model as yours) there is a slotted piece that fits over tube that feeds the propane to the burner, it's held in place by one set screw.
You might check yours to see if that has worked loose a little and has slid so that it's blocking the opening.

[Old-Biscuit]

Are you at high elevation.......sometimes issue is just lack of air due to elevation.
Uncommon for water heaters but does happen with fridges (smaller flame)

Need to remove burner and spark assembly

Then clean burner tube, clean spark electrode (emery cloth), remove gas orifice and clean it with alcohol and blow it out (no poking objects thru it)
Then reassemble ......
Make sure burner tube is aligned so gas flows down center, spark electrode gap 1/8" and is engulfed in main flame, clean/tight ground connections and make sure high tension wire from circuit board to spark electrode is clean and tight

So many times non-firing issues are just lack of cleaning and dirty ground connections

[Petro]

I had this problem in an older Pace Arrow. It was a 6 gal though. I tried everything to no avail. I reset the air adjustment, I checked the igniter, I changed the mother board, and nothing helped. I ended up making up a clip where I could open up the door a couple of inches on the top when I set up at a camp ground and it worked fine. It worked that way until I sold it several years later.

Don

[AFChap]

If a new problem you need to figure our what changed. I had troubles when new with inadequate air intake causing over heating & the fusible link to trip. After trying several things I removed the weather strip between the inner & outer doors across the bottom. That has been a permanent solution.

[grant3791]

Atwood 10 gal elec/gas water heater
2002 Winnebago ultimate advantage. Water heater is not getting enough combustion air. This condition happened on recent trip. It was working good and then problem just out of blue started. I found that it was not getting enough combustion air, when I leave the door open it works perfect, when I close door it immediately is starved for air and burner goes out. There are no obstructions in the door. I pulled a large rag through the combustion tube and found nothing in it. Does anyone had this problem?


Update: 03/09/2016
I could not make it work so that burner would get enough combustion air so I called the Atwood factory. Talked to a very knowledgeable young lady. I told her my problem and she said if everything was working good and there hadn't been any alterations then it had to be gas pressure at the orifice. It states in the manual that the pressure at orifice should be 10.5-11 water column inches of pressure and 13 where it enters gas valve. I said okay I can check that because I worked LP and Natural gas in my past work and I had an instrument to measure pressure in water column inches. However I looked every where and couldn't find it. She had told me that I couldn't reset the regulator because they had quit making them adjustable. I was going to call a gas serviceman and have them come out and measure the pressure, but after much thought I decided it couldn't be anything else. I got online and found a new OEM White Rogers gas valve on ebay for $89.95. I installed it today and everything is working perfect plus it is a lot quieter. I just could not go along with just leaving the door open, wanted to find the solution. Thought I had better post this info, and thank all who responded to my thread.