water heater question electric/gas

[rich2481]

My 300 hbsl has two switches, Gas and electric ( if memory serves me) I once thought it had an electric element for the Electric switch, and gas was 12 volt and propane. This summer wife ended up with a cold shower ( not good when you let her take first one then go wiggle wires and it fires up ),,,, so getting ready for a weekender I went out to fire it up on Electric ( was on my AC from garage) and all I could hear was a high pitch buzzing from the board,,, then I switched it to gas and it powered up,, the schematic is small and under the burner,, and I also put some silicone grease on connector pins after this summer ( never had a problem once it started running ),, The thermal Diode is good on the thermostat dots on the drum.( bypassed it, still same buzzing). I have pulled on the wires thinking bad crimp ( 35 years tech/Engineer at Raytheon), but nothing came free,there are also two bulbs which look like neon in the poly coat on the board.. should I look for a new board? or check ground on board to chassis ( have a millions projects since retiring last year ) thanks in advance.

[rich2481]

I notice Amazon sells a new board for 200+ and a new water heater with board for 349, I can believe the boards wouldnt cost 50 bucks, will keep looking into it before I have to drain it for winter..

[sundancer 87]

Originally Posted by rich2481

My 300 hbsl has two switches, Gas and electric ( if memory serves me) I once thought it had an electric element for the Electric switch, and gas was 12 volt and propane. This summer wife ended up with a cold shower ( not good when you let her take first one then go wiggle wires and it fires up ),,,, so getting ready for a weekender I went out to fire it up on Electric ( was on my AC from garage) and all I could hear was a high pitch buzzing from the board,,, then I switched it to gas and it powered up,, the schematic is small and under the burner,, and I also put some silicone grease on connector pins after this summer ( never had a problem once it started running ),, The thermal Diode is good on the thermostat dots on the drum.( bypassed it, still same buzzing). I have pulled on the wires thinking bad crimp ( 35 years tech/Engineer at Raytheon), but nothing came free,there are also two bulbs which look like neon in the poly coat on the board.. should I look for a new board? or check ground on board to chassis ( have a millions projects since retiring last year ) thanks in advance.

That buzzing might be a stuck relay or a capacitor crying for help. Unless you want to pull the board and start testing, might as well look for a new board. These boards, like furnace and refrigerator boards hold their value because they aren't used anywhere else but the over priced RV industry.

[rich2481]

Thanks for the reply, I will look better at the crimps in the connector, and see if I can blow up the schematic at the bottom,, before jumping into 250,, the TT has been a sore spot between wife and I ,, she wanted it, I wanted a cottage in CT for same price,, I lost LOL<< Sits in yard more than moves..

[rich2481]

Turns out my water heater is gas or electric with an element, I found the back side of the water heater with the bypass valves,, all three were inline... I turned the bypass on 90 degrees,, waiting on water heater to heat up with electric, sounds like a relay is singing on the control board, but voltages look right.
now I found the kitchen sink hot water side leaks, only taken this this out 4 times... in two years ,, geez. have a picture of back of water heater with valve turned, hope this is correct.

[ewarnerusa]

That is the correct configuration for use. Having the bypass open along with the inlet and outlet open would explain the cold shower. You likely had a tank of heated water but the cold fresh water chose to take the path of less resistance through the bypass pipe and then on to the shower.

If you ran the electric element with the tank bypassed and empty, you may have fried the electric heating element. Although it sounds like you had a full hot water tank but with the bypass valve open as well. But I can't explain the noisy electronics, mine don't make any sound at all.

[rich2481]

The board outside was buzzing,, covered in black hard stuff,, will live with it,, Electric hot was is 130 degrees,, the bypass valve was the only one turned wrong so probably why the hot shower was just okay with the blending,, every thing good now,, Kitchen Sink faucet had a piece of building crud in it from the hoses..( was red in color and was hot water side )

now to test the outside refrig with a Inverter off the batteries, it draws 100 watts, so should be able to have extra frig space when boon docking it with 400 watt solar panels to charge the batteries..

thanks for the input,,, this has been a great site for info.

[sundancer 87]

Originally Posted by rich2481

The board outside was buzzing,, covered in black hard stuff,, will live with it,, Electric hot was is 130 degrees,, the bypass valve was the only one turned wrong so probably why the hot shower was just okay with the blending,, every thing good now,, Kitchen Sink faucet had a piece of building crud in it from the hoses..( was red in color and was hot water side )

now to test the outside refrig with a Inverter off the batteries, it draws 100 watts, so should be able to have extra frig space when boon docking it with 400 watt solar panels to charge the batteries..

thanks for the input,,, this has been a great site for info.

Covered in hard black stuff you say? That's called 'potting', sometimes to protect the components but most probably in the RV industry it's so you can't replace a component, the whole enchilada has to be replaced.