# Dsi Flt? I Have Gas Issues And My Water Heater Is Haunted!!!



## Outback Kara (Sep 19, 2009)

I've jumped into RVing head first! We bought our first trailer (2010 210RS) close to a month ago and have been living in it while my husband is building a house for a friend in "downeast" Maine. I really love it, and our family of three seems to do pretty well in this size trailer. We did buy the 4" foam topper for our king slide, which made a huge difference in warmth and comfort, and I put the velcro strips under the dinette seats which saved my sanity from having to constantly readjust the seats. However...

About a week ago I noticed on the water heater switch panel between the gas and electric switches a light came on for "DSI FLT". I had never seen this light on before and quickly called Lakeshore (who we bought the RV from). The guy in service told me that, "that just means that the water heater is working" - I'm going to give him the benefit of the doubt and suggest he just didn't hear my question correctly because that most certainly was not what that meant. I did read somewhere that this is a water heater fault and that you can try to bleed the gas lines by turning on the stove for a minute and reswitching on the water heater - this seemed to temporarily fix the problem until a couple of days later. We had been gone and upon returning the trailer smelled of propane (my dh kept thinking I was being too sensitive in smell) so I opened a window to breath in some fresh air, after sitting there a minute I saw a nice blue explosion off the side of my trailer. We quickly switched off the water heater and vowed to call Lakeshore back first thing in the AM. This time I had my dh talk to the guy in service (my dh is pretty handy with plumbing, electrical, you name it) and the guy told him that it could be a cobwebb causing the problem so my husband cleaned all the parts and again it seemed to work again for a couple more days. Then again last night I started to smell that yucky propane smell again. I've switched off the the water heater again and am waiting for my dh to take a look at it yet again, but I'm incredibly frustrated. The problem always seems worse after we've refilled the propane tanks - like a day or so later (since we're living in them fulltime and it's been cold we've refueled twice). Last night the smell was strong under the sink, not close to the water heater - so on opposite sides, but it had the same DSI FLT issue.

We are 2 hrs away from the closest Outback service center, which under the time crunch my dh is under in getting this house dryed in before we all freeze to death, is difficult to find the time to take a full day (or more) to get resolved.

If you've made it this far, can you help me with a few questions?

This is a brand new trailer, is this normal? Is it normal to smell propane, even faintly inside the trailer?

Has anyone experienced this type of problem before, with the DSI FLT light?

Does anyone know a good way to self (or husband) diagnose this problem?

Am I going to blow up?

I should mention we are on a 15v power connection only because we are currently at our friends rental property and we're trying to conserve as much electrical juice as possible (they're off the grid and are solar powered) so anything that can be propane must be, or I'd try switching on the electrical switch.

Thanks for humoring me by reading (and hopefully) responding to my post! Stay tuned on how we manage not to completely freeze in our trailer (I'm a Georgia girl, and Maine's fall is a cold Georgia winter!)


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## ORvagabond (Apr 17, 2009)

hmmmm....my understanding is the water heater will not run on a 15 amp circuit so you must use propane rather than electric. When we are in this mode the light come on when the water heater fails to ignite...so we sometimes have to resatart up to 3 times. Our dealer actually walked us thru this. My trailer is put up for the winter so am not sure this is the ligght you are referring to.


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## Ghosty (Jan 17, 2005)

I am assuming you did mean to say 15VOLTS and not 15AMPS .... call KEYSTONE .. does not have to be a local OUTBACK dealer that fixes it ... can be any KEYSTONE or ATWOOD service provider ...

Tell them that you fear for your safety and that you have already seen blue propane explosions etc etc,....they will have someone out that day...

Trust me - the fear of a liability lawsuit will far outweigh what it cost them to get someone out to see you...


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## outback loft (Sep 22, 2008)

There is a good chance that the ignitor/safety strip is not close enough to the flame. I had this issue with my trailer as well. Most times the water heater would light with no issues, but sometimes it would try three times, then POOF, a backfire and the DSI FLT light would come on. I first bent the ignitor in a little closer. It was better, but not fixed, I then bent it in a little more, and it is now perfect.

I have a dealer that is right down the road from me, but they are useless when it comes to tech stuff. So I do any repairs myself and submit bills for parts to the warranty company. They have been good with reimbursing me for any parts, but cannot reimburse me for my time since I am not a dealer. I dont care I get the parts at cost anyway. and get reimbursed the retail price.


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