DSI Fault

[Foster RV 4 2]

Hi!!
Second trip out in our new Solitude 2930RL. After hooking up everything and running water through the faucets on hot to make sure the water heater had water I turned on the propane and set the heater to gas. I got a DSI Fault on the panel. If I turn off the gas switch and turn on the electric switch for the water heater the Fault goes away. What am I missing? I’m getting hot water on electric but I’d like to know why I’m getting the Fault. The Gas worked on the first trip.

[Cate&Rob]

The most common reason for a DSI fault is no propane. Is the tank on? Have you recently changed a tank which might have allowed air into the lines? Turn on the stove burners to purge any air from the lines and to confirm that there is propane in the supply line.

Rob

[TucsonJim]

DSI fault means that the gas did not ignite during start up. Here's how I'd approach it.

1. Light one burner on the gas stove and make sure it's burning with a nice high flame.
2. Light a second and third burner and make sure the flame on the first burner stays the same intensity. If it goes down substantially, the propane regulator is suspect. Note: running the stove for 60 seconds will help bleed off any air in the system too.
3. Leave one of the stove burners on, and turn on the gas side of the water heater. Give it time to cycle. If the burner on the stove goes way down or goes out, then once again, you probably have a gas regulator problem.
4. If the water heater lights, and the stove stays lit, it was probably just air in the lines. If the water heater did not light, turn off the gas switch for the water heater and wait 30 seconds. Then try again. Repeat up to three times. If the water heater does not light after the third time, then deeper trouble-shooting will be required for the water heater.

Let us know how it works out for you.

Jim

[Foster RV 4 2]

Rob & Jim

Thanks for the quick response.

Only thing I’ve done since the last trip is turn off the propane at the tank. I lit the stove after seeing the Fault however I did not leave it lit for any amount of time just wanted to be sure the gas was flowing.
As soon as the kiddos wake up from their nap I will be relighting the stove as Jim mentioned and see if that fixes it. I’ll post results later.

Jeff

[Foster RV 4 2]

Jim

Did what you suggested and still have an issue. I have an appointment with the dealer next week to check a few things so I’ll add this to my short list for them to check. Thanks for the suggestions.

Jeff

[Cate&Rob]

Jim

Did what you suggested and still have an issue. I have an appointment with the dealer next week to check a few things so I’ll add this to my short list for them to check. Thanks for the suggestions.

Jeff

Hi Jeff,
Please let us know what it takes to sort this out. This kind of feedback definitely adds to our "collective knowledge".
Rob

[ncitro]

Jim

Did what you suggested and still have an issue. I have an appointment with the dealer next week to check a few things so I’ll add this to my short list for them to check. Thanks for the suggestions.

Jeff

Assuming you have a Dometic/Atwood I’d bet it’s the board. My in laws and I both have the same water heater and our boards went out in the first two years. If you’re comfortable with a meter I can give you a few things to test, but I’ll all but guarantee it. I’d recommend a dinosaur brand replacement instead of the stock Atwood board, they have some additional lights to assist troubleshooting, and I think they are better made than the stock boards.

[TucsonJim]

Assuming you have a Dometic/Atwood I’d bet it’s the board. My in laws and I both have the same water heater and our boards went out in the first two years. If you’re comfortable with a meter I can give you a few things to test, but I’ll all but guarantee it. I’d recommend a financial brand replacement instead of the stock Atwood board, they have some additional lights to assist troubleshooting, and I think they are better made than the stock boards.

I've never heard of a "financial" brand. But I have heard of dinosaur boards.

Jim

[ncitro]

I've never heard of a "financial" brand. But I have heard of dinosaur boards.

Jim

Nice catch lol

[Tom in PGH]

We’ve had a similar, but different problem. We don’t use the propane to heat water, we always turn on the electric side, as the DW doesn’t like to “camp” without hookups. Over the past year and three months, I’ve gotten the DSI Fault light three times. It has always come on when I’m in electric mode, which makes no sense to me, as I know that it’s indicating a problem with the gas side. The problem is, when the fault light is on, it disables the electric. This past weekend, I was camping and turned on the water heater when I set up the trailer. I had hot water Friday night before bed. When I got up on Saturday to shower, I only had luke-warm water. Thinking that the outside faucet might have gotten bumped, I checked it first. No such luck. I went to the panel, and the DSI light was on. I turned the switch off, then on, and the light went out, and the water heated just fine on electric, like it has the other two times.

I had the trailer to the dealer last summer, to fix a couple of warranty issues, but they were not able to replicate the problem, so they couldn’t fix it. It seems odd that it only happens occasionally. We’ve had the trailer out for several extended trips, with many moves, set-ups and tear-downs (probably 25-30) , and it’s only happened the three times.

Any suggestions?

[ncitro]

We’ve had a similar, but different problem. We don’t use the propane to heat water, we always turn on the electric side, as the DW doesn’t like to “camp” without hookups. Over the past year and three months, I’ve gotten the DSI Fault light three times. It has always come on when I’m in electric mode, which makes no sense to me, as I know that it’s indicating a problem with the gas side. The problem is, when the fault light is on, it disables the electric. This past weekend, I was camping and turned on the water heater when I set up the trailer. I had hot water Friday night before bed. When I got up on Saturday to shower, I only had luke-warm water. Thinking that the outside faucet might have gotten bumped, I checked it first. No such luck. I went to the panel, and the DSI light was on. I turned the switch off, then on, and the light went out, and the water heated just fine on electric, like it has the other two times.

I had the trailer to the dealer last summer, to fix a couple of warranty issues, but they were not able to replicate the problem, so they couldn’t fix it. It seems odd that it only happens occasionally. We’ve had the trailer out for several extended trips, with many moves, set-ups and tear-downs (probably 25-30) , and it’s only happened the three times.

Any suggestions?

Do you have the Atwood/Dometic? If so there are two sensors that you might want to pull the connections off of and clean the contacts. They tend to get corroded. If that does not do it, the light is controlled by the board, I’d change it to see if that fixes it. They’re available on Amazon with a pretty generous return policy, I’d get one right before your next trip and see if it fixes it, if not return it. That said I’ve fixed three different Atwood’s, and all of them ended up needing a board. One also has a bad 110v relay, but also needed a board. It’sa good part to carry anyway.

[Tom in PGH]

It’s a Dometic. Where are the two sensors located?

The first time we had the issue, the trailer was only about a month old, so it’s probably not a corrosion problem. I’ll take a look at a replacement board.

Thanks

[ncitro]

It’s a Dometic. Where are the two sensors located?

The first time we had the issue, the trailer was only about a month old, so it’s probably not a corrosion problem. I’ll take a look at a replacement board.

Thanks

Picture below: You can see the one between the brown wires in the clear plastic. The other is internal to the water heater, but the red wires connect to it. Pull them off and check the contacts, maybe scuff them with a little sandpaper. You can see the board there in the top right, I like the Dinosaur brand replacements:

https://www.amazon.com/Dinosaur-Elec.../dp/B0130Y8I1K

[Foster RV 4 2]

Cate&Rob
So it turns out I missed one step after bleeding the lines as you suggested.
Reset the Heater by turning it off and on at the heater.
My Water heater has an off and on button on the front of the unit at the bottom left corner. Knew it was there because I turn it off when I'm in between trips just didn't know it was there to clear any fault codes.

Knowledge gained Lessons learned.

[Tom in PGH]

The same problem developed over the weekend. This time, there was power/heat on Friday night, then nothing for the rest of the weekend. I must have turned the power on twenty times, no luck. Nothing on AC power, nothing on propane. DSI Fault light always came on.

I called Grand Design on Monday morning, and they referred me to Dometic. After 97 minutes on hold, listening to a continuous ad loop, I moved from “Your position is number 4” to someone actually picking up the phone. 10 minutes later, they decided that it was probably the board, and I have one enroute. I hope that it gets here before the weekend, as we have a week-long trip scheduled for next week.

I’m going to order the Dino board as a backup, and it will probably arrive first.