Appliances, Nice Folks, Social, Technical, Water Heater 
13 Comments Fixing the RV Water Heater
It’s taken about a year from the first manifestation of a problem to a resolution, but my RV water heater is now operating perfectly. The final fix was easy, but getting there involved quite a bit of diagnostics.
The problem was that the water heater would fire up, then turn off after a few seconds. The problem appeared to be propane flow. At least, that’s what seemed logical to me. After all, whenever something else in the rig fires up then dies, it’s because there’s no propane. So, that’s the red herring I chased until I finally asked for help. Experienced RVers, including Croft, told me they’d experienced similar symptoms at the same time their circuit board died. This wasn’t very reassuring!
Before I was sent out to buy a new circuit board, I was told to check all the connections to make sure they were clean and tight. That helped a bit, sometimes.
The next step was to remove and replace the probe. Les of RVer’s Corner did this for me when I stayed over in Prince George this spring, using a probe from a leaky heater he’d picked up. He also did a few adjustments. This also helped a bit, sometimes. So, I had to concede that I had a worst-case scenario short of replacing the whole RV water heater and needed a new circuit board.
Circuit boards aren’t cheap; the best price I could find in Canada was over $200 with shipping. It wasn’t an expense I could justify at a time when I had access to free hot showers. I decided to hold off until the summer when I’d be a bit more flush and then bite the bullet.
This is when I discovered that sometimes procrastination can pay off. Donna of Life On Our Ark knows an RV tech named Tony*, based in Okotoks, who just happened to be replacing a perfectly good water heater with a perfectly good circuit board just like mine. Long story short, the circuit board made its way to me for the unbelievable price of $15–the cost of shipping!
The new board arrived this afternoon and installation took fifteen minutes, ten of which involved finding tools. On a scale of easy peasy to omigodcallanrvtech, I’d consider the replacement of the circuit board in an RV water heater to be easy.
-
- Donna’s awesome packaging! :-)
-
- the boards are attached with two screws and have two electrical connections
-
- the boards were identical, right down to their round green sticker
-
- this awkwardly placed screw required WD-40 and pliers to remove and reinstall
-
- guess which one is old and which one is new
*Tony Thomas, Technician/Owner of RV+MD (that is a red cross) Mobile RV Service “Quality, Full-Line RV Service At Reasonable Rates” (403) 968-RVMD (7833) rvmdrv@telus.net
Share on Facebook
Congratulations! You did it yourself! We are assuming it works like new?
It was not necessary in this case but it is always a good idea to give the electrical contacts a light polish with a pencil eraser before sliding the connector on. It gets rid of any oxidation on the contacts.
Sometimes fortune really smiles on you! What a deal you got on the circuit board.
Croft, I don’t think those contacts could be any more polished than they are.
It seems to be working like new; I don’t really have a frame of reference! Let’s just say that I flipped on the switch and 15 minutes later I was able to scald myself when I turned on the tap and forgot that I had running hot water! 
Martha, it’s who you know and talk to.
That is fabulous news! Yay for reliable hot water.
And there is NOTHING better than a hot shower in your own rig. Congrats on the price and the ability of being able to fix it yourself. You are woman – hear you roar!!
You still have to consider the new board a weak point as you have replaced the bad one with the same (poorly designed, unreliable) board of unknown vintage. It too could go at any time. The ultimate answer would be a Dinosaur Board and hopefully when and if this one fails you will be somewhere you can get one easily.
http://www.dinosaurelectronics.com/
One further tweak, Tony goes to the states in the winter, but has been summering in Okotoks for a few summers now, including this year.
, he still has the best prices around short of wholesale!!
He is a great RV tech for any RV repair from plumbing to electrical to cosmetics, appliances, you name it! Even when you have to buy a part
Croft, you are being incredibly unfair to the old board that worked well for more than ten years!
I have no reason to expect to lose this one any time soon. If I do and don’t get lucky again with a free part, then I’ll go with Dinosaur.
Nicole, my shower is AWESOME! One thing I don’t miss from the past six months is SHOWER CURTAINS.
Donna, thanks for the added info about Tony!
[...] have to confess that I’m still reeling from shock that the water heater is indeed fixed and working perfectly. There hasn’t been a single hiccup with it since I changed the control board. That said, [...]
[...] since I bought Miranda, and even after changing the circuit board, my water heater has often been a pain to start. This usually happens in damp weather, although it [...]
[...] what it’s always done when it doesn’t work: it lights for a second and then shuts off. I thought I had fixed it when I replaced the circuit board, but nope, because there probably wasn’t really anything wrong with it. I only have this [...]
[...] had to heat water on the stove to do dishes. Dang, why can’t things work?! I’ve already replaced the circuit board on my water heater. What more does it [...]