Atwood Refrigerator Problems - Propane

[droidguru]

I have a couple of questions about an Atwood Fridge that works fine on electric but the propane won't fire up.

The problem is either with the POWER BOARD or the IGNITOR ELECTRODE, I haven't figured out which yet but all of the fuses look fine on the board.

1. Do I contact GD or Atwood about getting parts for the repair (the entire rig is still under warranty)?

2. I know GD is good about getting parts out for repairs but how is Atwood, never had to deal with them before? If the answer to #1 is Atwood does anyone have a contact there? What info do they need just the serial number?

3. I cleaned out the tube and I can clearly hear the propane turning on and smell it coming out, it is only the igniter not arcing (but I can hear clicking). Again the fuses all look good and I have vacuumed out the burner tube and cleaned the starter. Anyone have any other tips or tricks I can try to get this going in the near term?

Thanks for any and all help.

 

[luckeyd1]

Do you hear the ignitor firing? It makes a clicking sound. You can't really tell by looking at fuses as sometimes they fool you. Then to rule out any propane issues, use a BBQ lighter to light the pilot and go from there.

 

[droidguru]

Do you hear the ignitor firing? It makes a clicking sound. You can't really tell by looking at fuses as sometimes they fool you. Then to rule out any propane issues, use a BBQ lighter to light the pilot and go from there.

I do hear clicking but I don't see an arc. I haven't manually lit it yet but I can try that, I'm assuming it will light since I can smell the gas.

 

[luckeyd1]

Could be the gap is set too wide. Light it with a lighter to rule our propane. Also, it will click a few times and then do a shut off. You must wait a few minutes before trying again. Manuel states how long, but I don't have it handy.

 

[droidguru]

Could be the gap is set too wide. Light it with a lighter to rule our propane. Also, it will click a few times and then do a shut off. You must wait a few minutes before trying again. Manuel states how long, but I don't have it handy.

Sounds good I will give it a try tonight and report back tomorrow morning, thanks for the advice!

 

[droidguru]

I actually think it is 3/16 for the gap btw (I'll double check) but good advice for people to know.

 

[droidguru]

So I was able to manually light the propane, the clicking I am hearing appears to be the propane and not the triple click that the igniter is supposed to sound when trying to light.

We are back to square one, the board does not appear to be sending a signal to the igniter. I replaced all three fuses with no luck, my guess is the board is bad.

Back to my original question:

1. Do I contact GD or Atwood about getting parts for the repair (the entire rig is still under warranty)?

2. I know GD is good about getting parts out for repairs but how is Atwood, never had to deal with them before? If the answer to #1 is Atwood does anyone have a contact there? What info do they need just the serial number?

I'll probably give GD a call today and see what they have to say about it. Thanks again.

 

[luckeyd1]

I vote for option 1, contact GD since you are still under warranty.

 

[droidguru]

Just talked to Jerry at GD and he said Atwood won't just send parts I need to take it to a service center and have the board/igniter replaced. Seems kind of crazy to me since I can do the work for free but the local RV shop charges $150 just to look at it, but whatever $300-$500 for a $10-$50 repair just makes good business sense!

First rule in government spending: why build one when you can have two at twice the price?

Happy Camping!

 

[droidguru]

For those who are scoring from the seats the rig is now at the dealer for repair. Will post the outcome when I hear from the dealer.

 

[droidguru]

This ended up being a fried component on the main power board (the one the igniter plugs into). The dealership is replacing the board. Hooray right.......not so fast.......

Again I run a business so lets add everything up:

Board cost: $30
Mailing to me: $10
My installation fee: $0
Total if Atwood would have allowed me to install (which they did not): $40

Actual Cost:
Dealer Diagnosis: $150
Dealer Labor: $75
Board Cost: $30
Mailing: $10
Gas to get to the Dealer: $45
My time: $priceless

Total: $265 (dealer) $90 for me round trip (plus a somewhat ticked off customer).

I'm just saying I told you so....... Businesses need to change how they do business (whatever happens to meeting the customers needs).

I told Atwood I would mail them the board free of charge and if they tested it and it was bad they could mail me a new one and they said no dice, c'mon man.......c'mon......

Vent complete, camp on!

 

[offtohavasu]

Yeah, it might have saved them money, but I don't know many companies that would do what your asking to cover warranty work. Sure, GD has done it with some of their parts, but not even GM, Ford, nor Ram would handle warranty work this way. Heck, you need to bring it to their dealers vs. any qualified mechanic to complete warranty work.

 

[james quinn]

Yeah, it might have saved them money, but I don't know many companies that would do what your asking to cover warranty work. Sure, GD has done it with some of their parts, but not even GM, Ford, nor Ram would handle warranty work this way. Heck, you need to bring it to their dealers vs. any qualified mechanic to complete warranty work.

X2

GD sending out replacement switches and similar stuff is a far cry from sending out repair parts for a 110ac / propane appliance. Why would a company want to set themselves up for a lawsuit if you replaced something they sent you and blew yourself up in the process. By having the dealer do things they keep the process simple rather than have to deal with a gazzilion different requests for alternate ways of fixing it. Besides, it's under warranty and they paid for it so complete, finished, done ! It's gone from bashing companies for not stepping up to criticizing how they do it when they do.

 

[minnow101]

What would be great is if these companies could contract with mobile service tech's and bless them as "authorized service" . The the fix would come to you instead of us having to drag the RV back to the dealer who for the most part don't want to work on warranty claims anyways. This seems to work for the home appliance manufacturers so why not RV's ?

 

[droidguru]

What would be great is if these companies could contract with mobile service tech's and bless them as "authorized service" . The the fix would come to you instead of us having to drag the RV back to the dealer who for the most part don't want to work on warranty claims anyways. This seems to work for the home appliance manufacturers so why not RV's ?

Amen, I would pay more for this service up front with all the problems these things have.

What I should do is start a LLC and just contract the work to myself.