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Atwood or Dometic Heater Issues and Fix
We have a 2018 Keystone Avalanche 32' 5th wheel. No major issues until this last trip home. Used the heater in Green River Utah with 10deg temps, got home to Colorado and was doing some clean up and found the heater fan would come on and then shut down.
Checked and made sure propane was good at water heater and stove top, good flow. Checked fuses and all good, checked reset on unit and cycled and all good. Called repair center, then Keystone and then checked youtube and sure enough found the issue.
We have an Atwood AFMD35121 same as Dometic's and found that the unit would come on for 28-30 sec and shut off and it pointed to the "Sail Switch" Part #33082. If it runs for 1.5 to 2min, that points towards the main board, FYI
For those that do not know, it is a piece of metal like a fan blade that sits next to the fan blower, when the fan comes on to disperse any left over propane, it moves the fan blade against a push button switch that allows the propane valve to open and then ignite, it's a safety switch. When I pulled apart I found it filled with debris not allowing the fan to push on and activate the switch thus not allowing the propane valve to open. After cleaning and re installing all worked great.
Now the bad part for Avalanche owners, you have to pull the heater to get to it as there is no outside access. In some youtube videos some other RV's have an outside access panel which gives you access to this switch.
Removal wasn't too bad, pull gas, 2 screws holding it down and the 2 vent lines and then the 4 wires but just the fact that it has to be pulled is a pain.
All in all and easy fix for a serious problem when its 10deg outside
Hope this helps those with the same problem
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