Keystone Alpine on demand water heater issue

chunker

Senior Member
Joined
Mar 22, 2015
Posts
2,636
Well we got a 2021 Alpine we were looking at and it's in pretty good shape. All setup and having issues with the water heater. It's a Suburban on demand tankless type. Can't get it to fire off and heat water. Even with the control panel switch to OFF, the ignitor steadily pops away. Turning it on and no light off. It did briefly so I made sure I have propane. We do. Lit the stove burners with a strong flame. Recycled both the 120VAC and the 12VDC switches. No change. Sometimes the fan in it is blowing even though it didn't light off. Sometimes not. I found the owner's manual and not much help with this issue. Tomorrow if I don't get some help here I'll call Suburban for help. Anyone have similar issues with this? Seems that a continuous ticking of the ignitor would be bad and cause early failure of that part. Previous owners haven't used it in over a year and I haven't tried with them yet.
 
If it's trying to ignite and not it may need a good cleaning. When it tries to fire can you smell LP? It could be trash in the gas line, gas valve could be bad. I haven't had to mess with mine yet as I have had no issues with it.
 
Thanks the gas cylinder has plenty of gas and get good flames to it. I heard it briefly ignite once before I had checked the gas to the stove. When it wouldn't stay lit I then confirmed gas in the lines. Its behavior is odd. The constant ignitor ticking, the fan in it running even though it didn't fire. The control panel seems to also be inconsistent to me. Since I'm not familiar with this type water heater, my assessment of it may be flawed though. When I turn it on and go out and listen, I don't smell any propane. Inside I removed a side access and it turned out to be the heater and the water heater wasn't visible. Alpine 3700FL is the RV model.
 
So another issue related to the W/H. I go over to the RV and turn off the 12VDC switch in the battery compartment. The fan for the W/H is still running. Now I see water running from the underbelly under the W/H. I crawled in the front basement compartment and removed an interior wall panel which accesses the back of the wet bay and also access to the back of the furnace and W/H. There are 2 drains on the back of the W/H, regular and condensate. 2 clear reinforced nylon hoses and the condensate one is kinked so nothing could flow through it. It "appears" water is coming from that area. In a bit I'm going to remove and reposition that drain hose with the goal of stopping the leak. The owners and installation manual mentions but does not explain the purpose of the condensate drain. I think the PO didn't properly winterize or at least that's a fear now.
 
Use this service manual to possible hep you.. when you removed 12 VDC power did the WH control panel then turn off ?

There is a reset button located on the WH circuit board that can resolve some issues ..

I’d also reseat the control panel wires (plug) that connects to the WH control board and see if the issue resolves itself

The IW60RL WH is not the most stellar unit on the market

On the outside of the alpine locate the WH exhaust and remove that panel .
Then remove the panel off the WH unit to gain access to the insides .
 

Attachments

  • IW60-Manual.pdf
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Well bad news on it The wimpy effort if any was taken didn't protect the W/H and it's fried/frozen/dead. Have to get a new one. I researched different brands and with new cover, controls etc and alterations required for installation, not cost effective. If this one craps out I'm going with a tank type. Thanks for the help.
 

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