{"id":4941,"date":"2016-09-26T00:00:13","date_gmt":"2016-09-26T07:00:13","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/learnbyblogging.com\/?p=4941"},"modified":"2016-09-23T23:32:06","modified_gmt":"2016-09-24T06:32:06","slug":"honeywell-water-heater-thermostat-woe-how-i-fixed-it","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/learnbyblogging.com\/?p=4941","title":{"rendered":"Honeywell Water Heater Thermostat Woe &#8211; How I Fixed It"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" width=\"560\" height=\"315\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/EjDjl-PpJv8\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><br \/>\nI heard a scream from my wife in the shower, &#8220;No hot water! No hot water! What&#8217;s going on?!&#8221; Not good. This was 10pm two days ago. My first thought was that the water heater pilot light went out, based on my past experience. What else could it be? I checked that AO Smith Gas Water heater in the laundry room right away. The water heater comes with a sophisticated, advanced Honeywell Water Heater thermostat\/valve that provides continuous monitoring of the water temperature and turning on and off the gas accordingly &#8211; all without battery. It uses a <a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Thermopile\">&#8220;thermopile&#8221; technology<\/a> that converts thermal energy into electrical energy. It&#8217;s composed of serveral thermocouples connected in series to create roughly 350 mV of energy. What a nifty device!<br \/>\n<a href=\"https:\/\/learnbyblogging.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/09\/Honeywell-Module.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/learnbyblogging.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/09\/Honeywell-Module-300x298.png\" alt=\"honeywell-module\" width=\"300\" height=\"298\" class=\"aligncenter size-medium wp-image-4952\" srcset=\"https:\/\/learnbyblogging.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/09\/Honeywell-Module-300x298.png 300w, https:\/\/learnbyblogging.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/09\/Honeywell-Module-150x150.png 150w, https:\/\/learnbyblogging.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/09\/Honeywell-Module.png 483w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>Except when it&#8217;s not working.<\/p>\n<p>I first tried resetting the module by turning it to off and re-start the pilot light by turning the dial to &#8220;Pilot&#8221;, holding down &#8220;Pilot&#8221; and push the spark igniter. The system kept coming back with 4 flashes. Based on the &#8220;Status Light Code,&#8221; it means &#8220;Temperature Exceeded.&#8221; It made sense as we had a heat wave recently. So I figured the system should reset itself once the over temperature condition goes away. I kept resetting the system without much success to get the gas burner to turn on again.<\/p>\n<p>I googled around and came across <a href=\"http:\/\/www.tylertork.com\/qna\/2013\/gasvalve\">this website by Tyler Tork<\/a>. Wow, so many people had the same problem dating back to 2013. The problem is that the microcontroller inside the unit remembers the last &#8220;over-temp condition&#8221; and would not forget it. The recommended fix is to disconnect everything from the module for an hour and let the power dissipated to &#8220;flush&#8221; out the memory.<br \/>\n<a href=\"https:\/\/learnbyblogging.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/09\/Honeywell-Module-Labels.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/learnbyblogging.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/09\/Honeywell-Module-Labels-300x129.png\" alt=\"honeywell-module-labels\" width=\"300\" height=\"129\" class=\"aligncenter size-medium wp-image-4955\" srcset=\"https:\/\/learnbyblogging.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/09\/Honeywell-Module-Labels-300x129.png 300w, https:\/\/learnbyblogging.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/09\/Honeywell-Module-Labels-768x330.png 768w, https:\/\/learnbyblogging.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/09\/Honeywell-Module-Labels.png 894w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>That sounded easy. I tried disconnecting it for 30 minutes. No go. 60 minutes: No go. I left it disconnected for overnight. Still no go.  I even flushed some of water out to get the sediments out as it&#8217;s a source of heat barrier that contributes to overheating. <\/p>\n<p>One of the people commented &#8220;shorting&#8221; everything on the little printed circuit board to really &#8220;short circuit&#8221; the memory cell, most likely the big capacitors. And that&#8217;s what I did, I figured I have nothing to lose as I would need to replace it if it didn&#8217;t work. So I removed the PCB (printed circuit board) from its housing by unscrewing the torx screw and snapping the PCB from the housing. Then I took a sheet of aluminum foil (an electricity conducting material) and touch all the various solder joints (silver-looking blobs) especially the big capacitors, which are the energy storage devices. See figures.<br \/>\n<a href=\"https:\/\/learnbyblogging.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/09\/PCB-Component-Side.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/learnbyblogging.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/09\/PCB-Component-Side-196x300.jpg\" alt=\"pcb-component-side\" width=\"196\" height=\"300\" class=\"aligncenter size-medium wp-image-4959\" srcset=\"https:\/\/learnbyblogging.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/09\/PCB-Component-Side-196x300.jpg 196w, https:\/\/learnbyblogging.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/09\/PCB-Component-Side-768x1178.jpg 768w, https:\/\/learnbyblogging.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/09\/PCB-Component-Side-668x1024.jpg 668w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 196px) 100vw, 196px\" \/><\/a><br \/>\n<a href=\"https:\/\/learnbyblogging.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/09\/2016-09-21-07.07.13.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/learnbyblogging.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/09\/2016-09-21-07.07.13-184x300.jpg\" alt=\"Honeywell PCB Bottom Side\" width=\"184\" height=\"300\" class=\"aligncenter size-medium wp-image-4958\" srcset=\"https:\/\/learnbyblogging.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/09\/2016-09-21-07.07.13-184x300.jpg 184w, https:\/\/learnbyblogging.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/09\/2016-09-21-07.07.13-768x1250.jpg 768w, https:\/\/learnbyblogging.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/09\/2016-09-21-07.07.13-629x1024.jpg 629w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 184px) 100vw, 184px\" \/><\/a><br \/>\nThen I put it back to its housing and put everything back to its original positions. Turn on the pilot and hit the spark lighter. I first saw the LED flashed 7 times, which means &#8220;Gas Controller Valve Failure.&#8221; Doesn&#8217;t sound good. Then I proceeded to dial it up to temperature setting A. Immediately, the burner turns on and we have a lift off! After a minute or so, the LED started blinking once and paused and blinking once again. This means &#8220;Normal Operation.&#8221; We&#8217;re back in business now. I just saved <a href=\"https:\/\/www.walmart.com\/ip\/Gas-Control-Water-Heater-Thermostat-HONEYW-NAT-GAS-CONTROL\/38470477?wmlspartner=wlpa&#038;selectedSellerId=795&#038;adid=22222222227026489833&#038;wl0=&#038;wl1=g&#038;wl2=c&#038;wl3=52591328231&#038;wl4=pla-84472108991&#038;wl5=9032135&#038;wl6=&#038;wl7=&#038;wl8=&#038;wl9=pla&#038;wl10=112562476&#038;wl11=online&#038;wl12=38470477&#038;wl13=&#038;veh=sem\">$110 (Walmart&#8217;s price)<\/a> for the module and enduring days of suffering through cold showers and complaints from my family members. Viva DIY!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>I heard a scream from my wife in the shower, &#8220;No hot water! No hot water! What&#8217;s going on?!&#8221; Not good. This was 10pm two days ago. My first thought was that the water heater pilot light went out, based on my past experience. What else could it be? I checked that AO Smith Gas &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/learnbyblogging.com\/?p=4941\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading <span class=\"screen-reader-text\">Honeywell Water Heater Thermostat Woe &#8211; How I Fixed It<\/span> <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":4963,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4941","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-tips"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/learnbyblogging.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4941","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/learnbyblogging.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/learnbyblogging.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/learnbyblogging.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/learnbyblogging.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=4941"}],"version-history":[{"count":16,"href":"https:\/\/learnbyblogging.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4941\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5305,"href":"https:\/\/learnbyblogging.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4941\/revisions\/5305"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/learnbyblogging.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/4963"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/learnbyblogging.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=4941"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/learnbyblogging.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=4941"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/learnbyblogging.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=4941"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}