Hot water heater wiring smoking.

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Hot water heater wiring smoking.

March 17, 2020, 04:20:54 pm

I haven't used my hot water heater in years.
Upon suggestion, I fired it up to see if it still worked.
I have a See Level II monitor panel and when I hit the switch for the heater, the green light came on like normal.
I didn't hear the propane fire up and about 10 seconds later I smell burning wire and smoke coming from the water heater on the outside. Open the door and all the wiring is melted, so it's toast.
Now my monitor panel no longer works. It controls the water pump and tells me systems status of other things.
I checked the fuse panel, the water pump fuse was blown so I replaced that. All other were fine.
Still no monitor panel, so something else is wrong.

Can't find a separate inline fuse for the monitor panel that was installed many years ago.

Thanks Jota
Any suggestions on how to track down the problem would be appreciated.

Re: Hot water heater wiring smoking.

Reply #1 – March 17, 2020, 06:31:45 pm

Found a hidden inline fuse buried away after chasing down wire.
Replaced that and all is well.

Re: Hot water heater wiring smoking.

Reply #2 – March 17, 2020, 10:13:41 pm

"Found a hidden inline fuse... Replaced that and all is well."

All is well with the SeeLevel System or the water heater???

Re: Hot water heater wiring smoking.

Reply #3 – March 17, 2020, 11:07:19 pm

When you figure out what happened, I hope you'll post an update. "all the wiring is melted" is a scary situation. It would be good to know what caused it.

Re: Hot water heater wiring smoking.

Reply #4 – March 18, 2020, 06:43:30 am

Quote from: Jota - March 17, 2020, 04:20:54 pm

"I haven't used my hot water heater in years."

Jota,

Glad your damage wasn't significant. But sorry, but I have to ask how you use your rig that you have 't used the water heater in years? I know there are some who never use their oven and some who haven't even used their stove. Just curious....

Steve K

Re: Hot water heater wiring smoking.

Reply #5 – March 18, 2020, 11:44:37 am

The See Level is working again.
The water heater has melted wiring. Not sure what caused that.
I am lucky it didn't catch fire, but I caught it very fast.
I am going to try and repair the wiring, it doesn't look like any of the components were damaged but I won't know until I fix it.

As for not using the heater for years. I shower elsewhere and the hot water I need I get from the stove top.
I will report on what I find.

Re: Hot water heater wiring smoking.

Reply #6 – March 18, 2020, 12:21:52 pm

Hi Jota. I find that insects, and spiders build nests/webs in the hot water heater burner tube. Especially after that long, but you may have burned up the evidence of that. Some flame could have backed up into the area where the wiring is. RonB

Re: Hot water heater wiring smoking.

Reply #7 – March 18, 2020, 01:49:46 pm

I'd go with Ron's hypothesis, except that Jota said there was no sound of propane firing up. Still, the damage could have occurred earlier. A "backfire" due to an insect-clogged burner tube does sound like the most likely explanation.

There's some good information on troubleshooting water heaters in the Lazy Daze Companion. I'm betting at least the thermal cutout will need to be replaced.

Incidentally, I had trouble locating that entry in the Companion because it is filed under "Hot water heater" rather than "Water heater". Since both usages are common, could someone add a "Water heater" entry that directs readers to the "Hot water heater" article?

Re: Hot water heater wiring smoking.

Reply #8 – March 18, 2020, 02:07:20 pm

Quote from: Jota - March 17, 2020, 06:31:45 pm

Found a hidden inline fuse buried away after chasing down wire.
Replaced that and all is well.

What fuse are you referring too, the thermal link, on the back of the water heater?

Larry

Re: Hot water heater wiring smoking.

Reply #9 – March 18, 2020, 03:37:41 pm

The fuse I found was installed inline from the See Level monitor to the power panel. Just a 5 amp blade fuse.

Re: Hot water heater wiring smoking.

Reply #10 – March 18, 2020, 03:43:59 pm

"The fuse I found was installed inline from the See Level monitor to the power panel."

This sounds to me like two coincidentally separate problems. How is the burned wire in the water heater related to a blown fuse in the See Level monitor???

Re: Hot water heater wiring smoking.

Reply #11 – March 18, 2020, 03:56:15 pm

Might be so.
The switch for the water heater is on the See Level panel. When I hit it, the green light for the heater came on. About 5 seconds later I smelled the wiring burning and the light was off. I think the fuse blew when I turned on the heater switch. Why, don't know, maybe blockage at the heater caused something when the propane didn't fire up.
Once I get settled somewhere, I will look at the heater to see if it's fixable.

Re: Hot water heater wiring smoking.

Reply #12 – March 18, 2020, 04:48:00 pm

"...the green light for the heater came on."

By reading between the lines I am able to deduce that your SeeLevel and my SeeLevel, although both are Series II, are not the same. Your 709-4PH has the integrated water pump and water heater switches (much less common), while mine does not. On my discreet hot water heater switch there are two LED lights, one red and one green. When I turn on my heater both LEDs illuminate until ignition occurs whereupon the red light goes out.

That clears up a bit of confusion!

Re: Hot water heater wiring smoking.

Reply #13 – April 01, 2020, 08:19:59 pm

I installed a new Dometic replacement for the Atwood that was installed at the factory.
Since Dometic bought out so many companies and raised prices on everything, it was $730.
Upon looking at the old one, I can't tell if anything serious was blocking the vent as the cause.
Happy to have it fixed, now that all the gyms are closed, I have resurrected my shower for use.
Finding a place for all the things I kept in there has been interesting.

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