Water Heater Going Out on Gas

nemo45

Well-known member
Anyone had a problem with the water heater lighting and then going out in a few seconds on gas. It works fine one electric. I thought maybe there were cobwebs etc. in burner tube, I had that happen before in another unit, so I took it off and cleaned the inside with a tube brush. Put it back together and same thing. Its still under waranty but if its something simple I can take care of it.
 

SmokeyBare

Well-known member
Check to see if propane gas is flowing properly. You can do this at the stove burner. If it stays burning for a couple minutes, the gas is flowing through the tank valve and through the propane regulator correctly. If the burner has a low flame and will not provide a high flame, shut down the burner and head out to the propane tank. By shutting down the tank valve, disconnecting the gas lines from the tanks, and then reconnecting the lines and slowly opening the valve again... usually solved the flow problem.

Try shutting down the switch for the gas side of the hot water tank, giving a little time to reset the computer board, and then try it once again. Sometimes the gas lines to the hot water tank have air in them. By first running the stove burner helps getting the air out and gas flowing. By turning off and letting the system to re-set, allows the gas to finally reach the burner of the hot water tank.

If none of this works... time to call your dealer perhaps?

Good Luck
 

Rickhansen

Well-known member
The ignitor doubles a flame rod. The flame rod senses the presense of flame as a feedback to the gas valve controller. Make sure it is clean and into the blue part of the flame. Assuming you have a Suburban or Atwood water heater, your owners manual or service guide for your water heater gives a pretty good picture of how this needs to be adjusted to work properly.
 

nemo45

Well-known member
The water heater is a 12 gal. Suburban. I switched to the other tank and the heater lit and ran until it cycled but it would not relight when the thermostat called for it. I then reset it and it lit again and ran till it reached temp. again and then again it would not relight. Back to the original tank and the water heater lit and then went out in about seven seconds and it makes a churping sound as the gas is going out. So it looks like I have two problems 1) a bad LP tank or valve and 2) something wrong with the heater itself. I called Heartland customer service and they got ahold of a local (Donna, TX) RV repair and they are coming to look at it tomorrow. We are full-timers and that is much better than pulling up stakes and taking the rig to the dealer here. I will have to pay for the service call, but parts etc. will be covered. I'll keep you all posted on the outcome. However, I can state right now that Heartland dealer service was very responsive to my problem and got the ball rolling right away.
 

nemo45

Well-known member
Okay, here is the story guys. The check valve on the water heater (cheap plastic) was leaking and spraying a mist of water on the control board for the water heater which had fallen to the floor. It was just taped to the back of the water heater. When the technician moved the water lines to look for the leak the check valve snapped in half. We dried everything up and I got out the air compressor and blew the water off the control and the tech installed it and its working fine. He connected the control board to a drain pipe runnibg near the heater with wire ties to keep it from falling to the floor again, as simple fix that could be done at the factory. As for the churping noise from the LP tank, the tech moved the pig tail from the churping tank to the other and the churping noise went there, so he replaced that pig tail. Still churped. Next he is going to replace the regulator, when he gets one in. I understand Heartland has quit using the cheap plastic check valve on the water heater now, also. Let me add again how great Heartland's customer service, not dealer service as I stated before, has been through this whole thing. Cross Country Mobile RV Service here in the Rio Grande Valley has been great too.
 

nemo45

Well-known member
Update on Water Heater problem: About a week after Cross Country Mobile RV Service was here and fixed my water heater we started having the same problems with the heater. So I opend the side of the basement the water heater is on and started pulling out the storage bins we have there and discovered water on the floor again. After drying the floor off I opened the wall to the water heater and discovered a stream of water that began it seemed right under the water pump but I could find no leaks on the pump. Searching above the pump with a flashlight I discovered a pinhole leak in the 1/4" line going to the ice maker about a foot from the shut off valve, it was spraying water right below the area beneath the water heater control which I guess was enough moisture to cause the problem. I cut out the area with the leak and used a nylon quick compression fitting to connect the new tubing to the existing tubing and then reconnected it to the valve. This was the second leak we had in the tubing to the ice maker the other one was outside the camper before the line went in to the back of the refrig. Just wondering it heartland got some inferior tubing, although we did have this happen once on our refrigerator in our house. Anyway, I sure hope this is the end of the leaks in the basement.
 
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