10gal Atwood water heater Won’t Heat 2001 Adventurer 37G

TheWinnieSparky

TheWinnieSparky

New Member
Joined
Oct 28, 2025
Posts
7
Location
Ohio
I just recently bought a 2001 adventure 37G, when I first turned on the water heater the propane part worked great. It would heat it up super hot and I could take a 30min shower and not run out. But then I turned it off when going to work to save on propane and it’s stopped working completely. I’ve replaced everything, the board, the igniter, the gas solenoid, and both thermometers. None of which fixed the issue, so I’m at my wits end and have no idea at all what else could possibly be wrong with it. Could my propane regulator be bad? Both my cooktop and furnace work great with no issues, and the water heater did for 2-3 weeks before it died. Also I do not believe the electric water heater works, that never did

Edit: I forgot to mention, it will light and burn for a few seconds then go out, do that 3 times then stop trying to light
 
Sounds like you have done all the work and spent all the money without doing the basic things of getting the online manual to tell you how to troubleshoot and repair it!
Step one, is to find out what brand and model number heater. If it is Atwood, that is a start but there should be a label on the water heater to tell you which model.
Then when you have that in hand do a search for a manual. That is likely to have some form of flow chart to lead it to the solution step by step!

No need top wander around when we can get a guide to lead us!
 
Morich said:
Sounds like you have done all the work and spent all the money without doing the basic things of getting the online manual to tell you how to troubleshoot and repair it!
Step one, is to find out what brand and model number heater. If it is Atwood, that is a start but there should be a label on the water heater to tell you which model.
Then when you have that in hand do a search for a manual. That is likely to have some form of flow chart to lead it to the solution step by step!

No need top wander around when we can get a guide to lead us!
Click to expand...
I don’t have the manual, and the thermostat was broken, failed to have continuity so it needed replaced anyway. The camper came with a new board and igniter as well, just not installed. But thanks for the well intended advice
 
Yes, not having a manual for new things is a common problem. But with many of the items on RV, we can get the manuals online.
This is one link to get started on finding the correct manual:
But one of the first things to get is which water heater we have and then we can get the best ideas of what to do!
atwood.jpg

With that many different heaters in the ten gallon size, it would be pure luck if we got the right info without knowing which we have.
 
Morich said:
Yes, not having a manual for new things is a common problem. But with many of the items on RV, we can get the manuals online.
This is one link to get started on finding the correct manual:
But one of the first things to get is which water heater we have and then we can get the best ideas of what to do!
View attachment 1948183
With that many different heaters in the ten gallon size, it would be pure luck if we got the right info without knowing which we have.
Click to expand...
Thanks for the resources, I’d used its serial and model number to find trouble shooting guides on YouTube. But it’s hard to beat the manufacturer’s service manual. I’ll mess with this some more tomorrow when it’s light out again lol
 
Yes, understand when we all have to work on whatever the big thing is at any time. Sometimes just waiting to clear my mind is the best thing to do!
I've given up on trying to know the details on lots of the RV parts.
I just looked at the list and spotted something I've never heard before. If I knew what an exothermal water heater does, I might want to work on it??
But I'm safer if I know what one looks like before I try to light it!!

Wish you luck on the search!
 
This is a SWAG, but RV propane water heaters are notorious for not maintaining ignition because of spider webs or other degree in the ignition tube.
 
Yes, sounds possible but if it is gas and electric and both have failed, I suspect there is something deeper. But it could be that one failed and then later a second problem came along. But that is where it can get important to know for sure which model it is as a way to avoid lots of guessing that means nothing.

I was first taught the value of checking what was being repaired way back. As a group of young guys who knew way too much, we had a friend in the German air force but in the US for training. The guy had all kinds of trouble when traveling and would call for help.
A group of us were trying to help him get a car running when he was on a trip.
We were talking him through going to the front to open the hood and check a few things but seemed to be getting nowhere.
With the bit of language problems, we finally drove out there to see how dumb he had to be if he couldn't find the engine????
Turned out he was right and we were the dummies! He had rented a Volkswagon bug! Go to the front and try to find the engine and you are going to have a long trip!

Best to find out what we are working on before trying to fix it!
 
Waterbug said:
This is a SWAG, but RV propane water heaters are notorious for not maintaining ignition because of spider webs or other degree in the ignition tube.
Click to expand...
That was the first thing I checked lol. It lights fine, it just doesn’t stay lit. Tho the manual seems to be pointing me in the direction of the gas regulator. I was planing to upsize my propane tank before it got properly cold so I’ll replace the regulator at the same time. Probably for the best anyway, I don’t like having rusty 24 year old parts on my explosive gas system 😅
 
If it lights and the other items find the propane okay, I might lean away from the reg as a problem.
But does the heater have what they call a "flame sensor'? If I remember the setup on some of them, the valve opens and then gets ignited. But if the flame sensor doesn't pick up that there is a flame it shuts the gas valve to avoid pumping a lot of propane out to explode at some point!

Have you found which model you have and found the flow chart for that model? You may/may not have a flame sensor!
 
Morich said:
If it lights and the other items find the propane okay, I might lean away from the reg as a problem.
But does the heater have what they call a "flame sensor'? If I remember the setup on some of them, the valve opens and then gets ignited. But if the flame sensor doesn't pick up that there is a flame it shuts the gas valve to avoid pumping a lot of propane out to explode at some point!

Have you found which model you have and found the flow chart for that model? You may/may not have a flame sensor!
Click to expand...
I’m pretty certain my flame sensor is a resistive one built into the igniter. I’ve not found my exact model’s manual either. It wasn’t on the list you sent me. I’ve just been using the GCH10A-4e manual. Do you know of a good website I can plug these numbers into? I’m great with my hands, less so with computers

The Model : GCH10A-3e

The Serial : 94165007792

Oh also! Slightly related but I figured out what’s wrong with the electric side of the water heater, the hot line into the on off switch has a STRONG connection to ground even when taken out of the switch. So I’ve got a dead short somewhere in my wiring lol, glad I’m an electrician. Likely gonna have to pull in new romex for that issue at some point.
 
Okay, looking at that source for manuals, is not impressing me.
I just go with a search looking for Atwood water heater manual that brings up lots of different sites with varied amounts of good info. I thought that good until I got around to looking closer at what it gives and now I would look for some other site.
Let me see if I can't do a better job of finding the good manual as what I like should have a flowchart where you start at a point and go down a chart following the arrows that fit what you are finding.
BAH!
Not finding what I think of as good!
This seems like some good but it also has some stuff like testing the gas pressure which I would skip over totally. I think you getting the other RV things to work is close enough on that point.
I do not find a flow chart like I was thinking to find but this does have some things that may let a guy that knows the electric end wanting to check as semi-easy.
The ECO thing is a cutoff in case it gets too hot in the rear and it needs to shut things down.
I noticed a schematic and that might let you do a quick check that one little part has not gone open in the line of safety items.

I might be more help on pointing out some drawings of the 110AC side of the RV. there are all kinds of jobs in electrical stuff and we all have different experience in things.
Mine has kind of wound up being in looking at paperwork for a number of years.
SO I do drawings and find that I'm lacking in anything new to be found in house AC. Things like arc fault came along after I tried to ignore working!
This shows how the 110AC goes on the two versions of your year and model RV. Big difference is if you are 50 or 30 amp, sheet 1 or sheet 2?
Maybe something to study iof it starts raining/snowing?
 
Thanks! I’ve been sick with the flu this week so I’ve not been responding normally. I’ll do some perusing and see if I can figure out my issue. But it’s looking more and more like a “replace the water heater”.
 
Morich said:
Okay, looking at that source for manuals, is not impressing me.
I just go with a search looking for Atwood water heater manual that brings up lots of different sites with varied amounts of good info. I thought that good until I got around to looking closer at what it gives and now I would look for some other site.
Let me see if I can't do a better job of finding the good manual as what I like should have a flowchart where you start at a point and go down a chart following the arrows that fit what you are finding.
BAH!
Not finding what I think of as good!
This seems like some good but it also has some stuff like testing the gas pressure which I would skip over totally. I think you getting the other RV things to work is close enough on that point.
I do not find a flow chart like I was thinking to find but this does have some things that may let a guy that knows the electric end wanting to check as semi-easy.
The ECO thing is a cutoff in case it gets too hot in the rear and it needs to shut things down.
I noticed a schematic and that might let you do a quick check that one little part has not gone open in the line of safety items.

I might be more help on pointing out some drawings of the 110AC side of the RV. there are all kinds of jobs in electrical stuff and we all have different experience in things.
Mine has kind of wound up being in looking at paperwork for a number of years.
SO I do drawings and find that I'm lacking in anything new to be found in house AC. Things like arc fault came along after I tried to ignore working!
This shows how the 110AC goes on the two versions of your year and model RV. Big difference is if you are 50 or 30 amp, sheet 1 or sheet 2?
Maybe something to study iof it starts raining/snowing?
Click to expand...
My rv is the one that can do a 20, 30, or 50 amp service. So prob sheet 2
 
When up to it, the 110heating may bean easier one for you to take a quick look that power is actually getting to the heater as it should have some Romex coming in that you've seen before! If it gets tot eh heater, no real reason to chase it back toward the breakers, but I might mention a couple points as about all I know on the load shedder. Never had one, never even seen one!
About all I know is here!
load shed.jpg

One I would want to stay aware of is that it has two feeds, so not to feel too safe by killing one! Sparky may not need his lights lit up?
But if power is not getting to the heater, is it getting to and through the switch or is the load shedder not resetting as it should? Not sure how that might look on a meter looking back from the heater to the load shedder? Switch bad?
heater 110.jpg
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

S.Rodimus
Dribs and Drabs of Water Left in Water Heater After Draining and Flushing
Morich
MO
ID
Micro Minnie 2108DS water heater problem
2
Wmlunt-WO
WM
MA
Gas water heater turning ON BY ITSELF occasionnaly
Bnystrom
Bnystrom
MI
Gas/ Electric water heater acting oddly
creativepart
creativepart

New posts

Featured Campgrounds

Reviews provided by

Try RV LIFE Pro Free for 7 Days

  • New Ad-Free experience on this RV LIFE Community.
  • Plan the best RV Safe travel with RV LIFE Trip Wizard.
  • Navigate with our RV Safe GPS mobile app.
  • and much more...
Try RV LIFE Pro Today
Back
Top