QuestionHello - I have a new-to-me 2005 Terry Quantum. There is a 6 gallon gas
w/electric ignition Atwood water heater. The problem is that the water
heater stopped working. One night, nice hot water, next morning,
nothing. So, i took out my little tool that tells me if fuses are blown
(conducting electricity or not). I started at the switch on the wall since I
was not getting any lights to light up when i pushed the electricity
switch to the "on position". I unscrewed the plate and looked at the
wires, uh, no where to ground the tester. So, I did something weird and
clipped the tester to where the red wire on the left connects to the back
of the plate. THAT made the switch (ignition?) light up, and I had hot
water. So, I had hot water that night, but the next day, it was gone
again. I took the outside cover off and stared at the insides of the
heater - nothing happened!!! I know, my stare isn't powerful enough....
So, does this suggest that it is the switch plate that is not working?
The plate says Atwood on it, has a toggle-like switch for electricity
on the left, and for gas on the right.
Any help would be appreciated. Thanks, jennifer
AnswerHi Jennifer:
Based on what you are telling me, about your procedure for testing the "off" and "on" switch, that senario sure seems a bit odd. Here is the way I understand what you stated in email to me. Since the switch only breaks the hot wire to the water heater, there was no ground in that switch box for you to connect the black lead of the tester to. So when you clipped the red lead onto the switch, the water heater fired up. You and I know just touching your lead to one terminal could not do anything to make it fire up except only on one condition. That condition would be this: If that power switch to water heater, had defective switch contacts, then while you were attempting to put lead clip onto terminal, this could have jolted the contact points in the switch enough to temporarily cause the burner to ignite, then next time it went to fire again next day, switch contact points may not be closing again. Please keep in mind, this is just a wild guess, based on what you have told me. Here is what I suggest. If you have a ohm meter tester, disconnect all power to water heater, then put the leads from ohm meter across the switch, and the reading should be at or very near zero ohms. If you get a high resistance reading, this usually indicates the switch is open or defective. If you do not have an ohm meter, disconnect power, use a jumper wire with rubber insulated clips, and jump across the switch and observe to find out if the water heater fired up.
Hope this helps out, let me know the outcome if you would.
Regards, Larry
