Hot water tank ?

[moparguy]

We bought a new to us (98) TrailsWest horse trailer recently with finished living quarters.



Two issues have cropped up.



1: The Atwood hot water tank burner will run for a minute or so, then shut down. This tank has a electronic igniter that isn't working, have to lite the pilot with a match, and there is a sticker that mentions "if equipped with a electronic igniter" a inline thermal safety device being used.



Is the 3"x3" black box with the igniter wire exiting it the thermal protection device? If so could it be the cause of the main burner not staying lit? I really don't see how this works since the described box only goes to the igniter.



The second issue is the roof air unit. It worked fine when we bought the trailer, now after towing it about 900 miles, no cool. Fan runs fine just no cool. I suspect it's replacement time, however this trailer has had very, very little use, I had hoped things would not need replacing this soon, but I do realize it's a used unit.



Any advise welcome.





Thanks, RJR

 

[ropinfool2]

I'm not sure how you are lighting your electronic ignition water heater with a match as there is no pilot. You shouldn't even be able to light the main burner with out the electronics working. The black box is the ignition exciter, be careful here, high voltage (kind of like a coil on a car). You need to find out why the electronic ignition isn't working, check all fuses. Is the compressor coming on when you have the air running? Turn the switch to cool, then turn the thermostat dial to max cool, you should hear the compressor start. What kind of power source are you hooking to? If you are using a long extension cord then the compressor probably won't run, not enough juice. Good luck. John

 

[moparguy]

Ropin, I'm gonna have to look at the burner again, I wouldn't expect to be able to light a electronic ignition burner either, but it has a pilot tube and a igniter. Don't sound right, but I believe that's what it has.



On the ac, we picked the trailer up and I didn't have time to do much to it prior to the wife pulling to a ride. It was plugged into a rv type power supply at the ranch she was ridding on. But... . the thermostat on the wall may be tied into the ac and not set low enough to call the compressor, I expected the roof unit to be a standalone unit, not connected to the furnace thermostat. Have to look at that.



On a aside, which power plant are you with?

 

[ropinfool2]

The a/c unit is probably a stand a lone type. The t-stat on the wall is more than likely heat only. The t-stat for the a/c should be next to the off/fan/lo cool/hi cool/heat(?) switch on the roof. It probably only shows a red to blue stripe. You say it was getting cold before you picked it up, so unless it has a refrigerant leak, it should still work. On the water heater, I have seen pilot types converted to electronic ignition, it's possible that you have one of those. The gas valve would've had to be changed out. Without seeing what it looks like makes it tough. Just a little background info, I was, quite a while ago, a factory certified Sundowner and Sooner tech. I am now running a small co-generation plant (1. 5MW) that feeds a college campus here in So. Ca. Feel free to continue asking questions, I will try to help the best I can. John