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I believe there is a design problem on the controller board that causes infant mortality (some might call it a retroactive abortion) of the PCB's transistor that sends 12VDC to energize the Relay mounted behind the heater that sends 120VAC to the heating element. I have had two replace the potted controller TWICE in a 3-year period because the yellow wire was not getting energized. Otherwise, a $0.25 transistor is all that would be necessary. The Propane portion of the heater was working. It is good engineering practice to add a DIODE (1N4001) to clamp the back EMF produced when the relay is deenergized. I soldered the Cathode to the yellow wire and the Anode to the Green wire in position #6 of the connector. This way the new controller's transistor will not be damaged in the future. The PCB's relay that sends power to the Gas Valve may very well have a similar issue but there is no way to add a protection diode due to the potting compound.

Incorrect information

Great video , thank you .

I'll try it thank you

so you telling me that I still need propane gas to make it work ???.... my Tanks are both empty....😂

do these water heaters turn off automatically when it gets to temp

Thank you for such a detailed video. It helped me eliminate everything that I can see on the outside. Do you have any tips on how do diagnose problems with the 120V heater? My Atwood works fine on propane but quit heating with shore power electricity. I checked the breaker and it is fine.

Check thermostat and limit switch before you go to the circuit board

I own a 2016 Sport 22FB. I am the fourth owner and my trailer has at least 17,000 miles on it. The first four years of mileage are unknown. The trailer is in excellent overall condition and everything works. I get the impression that the purpose of this video is to imply that the Airstream is not a good product. I disagree and what I see when I view this video is slipshod maintenance and describing many routine maintenance issues (or lack thereof) as defects. The wheel bearings on the Sport 22FB should be repacked every 10,000 miles or every year, whichever comes first. Brakes require maintenance and checking just as in any other vehicle. I agree with other commenters that much of the damage seems to be a result of excessive vibration. The "Touring Treadwells" mention that they put some crap in their tires to make them leak proof. I don't understand that. The tires that come standard on the Sport are good for five years and then it is recommended that they be replaced because of age. The owners manual recommends that the tires be maintained at 65 psi. It appears that many owners inflate them to 80 psi. Why? Better gas mileage? I doubt it will improve your mileage much and you will probably create more vibration in the trailer. When cabinetry is coming apart and doors are opening on their own, you have a vibration problem and/or you are also driving too fast over rough roads. BTW, replacing interior pop rivets in an Airstream trailer is not a defect. It goes with the type of aluminum monocoque construction and is considered routine maintenance. I resent the erroneous impression you are leaving people with that the Airstream is not a quality product.

Your camera work is giving me motion sickness lol

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Thankyou for this !!

So you are saying that the newer version circuit board the plug on the wire harness is up on the top part of the board sitting horizontally intead of vertically. Correct? If that be the case the one in my motorhome is the newer version. Whatabout that 2A fuse. I don't see any fuse on mine. What about yours?

What about replacing the gas valve? How close do the replacement models have to be?

Thanks for the nice walk-through and commentary!

This was very helpful.... thank you

Why would you have to Heat HOT WATER? My water heats cold water and makes a little warmer for me to shower etc.

Thanks for the clear info

Thanks so much for the video! Much appreciated! Nice job!

Dielectric grease. Rule of thumb. The grease would literally rather die than be conductive. Passing voltage through dielectric grease causes it to break down at that point it becomes conductive but also sacrifices it's ability to repel water, coat services for anti corrosion and *wash-away* static buildup. Dielectric grease that has voltage flowing through it breaking it down causes mortgage too close early I.e arks and Sparks thusly short circuits, especially to ground. You want to put it on your electrical connectors where they are rubberized to create a seal for keeping the environment out and never on the metal contacts!! imagine your spark plug wires. You put the grease where the rubber boot touches the porcelain only and never where it connects in the top-center IE very back of the boot or on the spark plug nipple. When you go to replace spark plug wires and plugs and you find nasty crusty yellowish fried dielectric grease all jammed up in the boot and on the nipple of the plug.. that's exactly why it's time to change the wires in the plug but in some cases simply cleaning that junk off will suffice. Suffice it to say it keeps rubber rubbery and elastic so that it can heat up and expand to make a new seal in such occasions each time it happens which is exactly what you wanted to do because bad hardened rubber doesn't create a seal to keep the environment away are out of the inside. Where the electrical terminations are. Another fun fact is that we call them terminations where two pieces of metal touch and create a connection. A termination in the sense does not mean that we have destroyed the connection between two points of contact. Dielectric-Greece and anti-seize which is conductive by the way are both insulators. Fun fact auntie's are only conductive because they have metal particles in them but they are not used as a conductive Grease. 846 is an electrician's Greece. A fluid or a grease must practically fulfilled three or four things depending on application. One it must act as a lubricant. Two it must typically act as a heat transfer. Three it must act as a detergent and in the case of electricity instead of washing away rust or corrosion per se it in actuality washes away the presence of static electricity build up. And 4 it must act as a coating in order to keep materials or metals safe from the environment so as to not rust or corrode. Think about your car and ask if water fulfills all four of those requirements for your cooling system and Bob's your auntie.

If your water is already hot then you don’t need to heat it, therefore what you need is a cold water heater. Hot water heater….how about “water heater”? Lol😅 Thanks for the informative video, however. 😊

Can I send you a photo?

Great job. Same heater on 2016 Bambi FC, all red wires melted. Thoughts?

My heater will trip GFI outlet when electric turned on and element seems to test good.

Forgot to mention adding the screen door aluminum protectors so the dogs don’t tear up the screen.

Love my 2013 Sport also. Going to upgrade the sink for a slightly deeper and bigger one and add soft start to the A/C to use with my portable Bluetti 200Max solar power station. Relamped all the interior lights with LED bulbs, added plastic stacking storage containers for folded clothing in the closet and my three dogs use the under bed storage as their dog den!

You move the camera around too much and too fast....use a camera tripod ...

that's crazy, for the crazy money they ask for these trailers they should be the rolls royce of trailers.

Thanks for the tips! Mine needed a new panel as well.

I just called a shop & the gal told me start with 12 v battery..... I believe it's bad

RVs are for suckers.

POI....There really isn't anything special about an Airstream except the fuselage...semi-monocoque with an aluminum skin , all accoutrements are standard RV fare.

I imagine that 10 years of summer travel and that thing would be junk.

Wow. Saved me significant trouble and money! Water heater wouldn't ignite on a used Lance 2285 I brought up from Florida. Found a bit of corrosion on the igniter fuse (?). Dipped it in baking soda & water. Fired up! Many thanks!

You bought an 80 thousand dollar Airstream that can't go down the road without it falling apart and you say it's a still a good trailer..? I got a really nice car to sell you.. Cheap!!

Sad to hear when one pays a very high premium for the Airstreams, buy a used one with all the depreciation factored in.

Great video! I just purchased a '95 Prowler with a heater that looks the same. It's a GC6AA-7. Almost the same. I looked at a manual and it said the C stands for combo Gas/Electric. The AA refers to element type. Does that mean it should also be able to heat on electric only, or does that just refer to an electric spark? I have a battery cutoff switch coming this week and will be troubleshooting the heater hopefully this weekend.

And you still started the video with, "this is a really great trailer". I'd hate to see what a bad trailer is.

Thank you so much Touring Treadwells. I got lucky and did not have to replace the circuit board. My thermal couple was bad and she fired right up. Seriously appreciate your skills.

This was so helpful thanks so much

Help me understand how this $50k trailer is great with so many problems and poor craftsmanship all around. It’s crazy.

GOSH!! If Airstream is the best of the best, I'd hate to see what problems other RV's have! 😮

broken from abuse just look at the outside corner.

)

Should look into black series campers next time !!!!

I have an Atwood unit that will fire and after a few minutes the burner will cycle down to what seems to low flame. After 30 minutes still had cold water. Help!

Question- I have the same set up. I flip the switch and run out to hear clicking, smell propane but nothing else. It does this 3 times and the Ted fault light comes on. I’ve done this process over and over. I smell and heat propane coming out but no spark or anything.

What exactly was it doing? Mine won’t stay lit. So I don’t think it’s the circuit board.

👏👏👏👍

… so we can put a pig’s heart in a human but we can’t quite seem to figure out how to build a reliable travel trailer? OK, got it. Unreal.