# Big Water Heater Problems



## Insomniak (Jul 7, 2006)

We're camping right now at our usual place in the mountains near San Diego. Got here yesterday just in time for rain, high winds and the possibility of snow this weekend. Since our last couple of trips, I've been assuming that our water heater isn't as good as our last because we keep running out of hot water. Now I've noticed that the "fault" light on our control panel is coming on a lot when the water heater is running on propane. Stood next to the heater and it runs for a few seconds, then the flame goes out. The igniter ticks and the flame usually re-lights, but sometimes it doesn't and goes into fault mode. A couple times, it didn't light but the gas was still hissing and when it did light there was kind of a big "boom". Just a bit scary to say the least. At other times it seems like the flame isn't very robust and it makes kind of a blub-blub sound. Our tanks are full and the other propane appliances are working fine, including the furnace.

I poked around the heater a bit and made sure the wiring connections were good, and that the igniter / flame sensor rods were in the path of the flame. Checked the gas valve and fiddled with the adjustment screws that I could find without any real difference in the flame. Tomorrow I think I'll pull out the burner assembly and make sure there are no blockages. I'll also take a look at the gas line to make sure there's good flow. If anybody has any ideas, please let me know. It's still under warranty, so this will probably end up at the dealer unless it's something simple and easy to fix.

Not sure if it means much, but we're at about 4,500 feet with temps in the upper 30's to low 40's with winds of 20-30mph usually blowing right at the water heater. I don't think much wind is actually getting at the flame, and it usually seems to have a nice blue color.


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## CamperAndy (Aug 26, 2004)

Your location, the temp and altitude can have an impact as your propane dealer may give you blended propane that may have a significant portion of butane in it. Butane has a higher boiling point so it does not like cold weather. Also you may have oil contamination in the gas valve, the oil could have come from the Propane tank or more likely from the black iron pipe if it had cutting fluid contamination in the pipe that Gilligan did not clean out prior to assembly. I would suspect that that this will require pulling the gas valve and inspection the inlet for contamination. Easy enough to do but since it is under warranty you may want them to handle it.


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## ifd22 (Jan 18, 2012)

Make sure the burner tubes are free from any obstructions. a spider web, and or a dead bug in the burner tube is often the cause.


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## kmsjs (Apr 14, 2008)

I think your big problem is the wind. I live and camp in Colorado, and I often camp at 10,000 feet with no problems (but we might have a different propane blend), but when it is windy, the water heater will not stay lit. I have had to create a small shield to keep the wind out of the water heater a couple of times, once I did this, I had no problems. If you can find a way to cover the vent without blocking it, and you are able to keep the wind from directly blowing in the water heater, you should not have any problems. One way I've done this is to park my bike on that side, and cover it with a tarp or blanket. Once I did this, I had no issues, except for not being able to ride my bike. But it was cold and windy, and I didn't really want to ride it anyway!


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## hautevue (Mar 8, 2009)

X2 kmsjs above. We had the same problem (turned out to be wind) on a trip across country from Baltimore to Seattle. At a campground in the windy midwest, an experienced owner told us about the wind issues, and we put cardboard around the vent area to cut way down on the wind swirls without blocking the vent. Solved the problem.

Scrap cardboard and duct tape (you always carry a roll of ducttape, right?







)
and we had hot water!


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## Boomer (Jun 10, 2009)

Except for a non robust flame, it sounds like a "Flame Rod" issue. I am not sure what your hot water tank uses to confirm there is a flame, but I am assuming a flame rod. If it is weak or dirty it may only detect a flame sometimes, and intermittantly shut off. A heavey wind may also push the main flame away from the rod enough that the HWT thinks the flame has gone out and shuts off the gas. If it is like a lot of furnaces, it will try to light a flame about 3 times and then time out or "Fault" and you have to reset. I have had to clean or replace many of these in my time.

Boomer


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## Insomniak (Jul 7, 2006)

I was thinking wind also, but in retrospect this has probably been happening for some time, even when there has been no wind. We just never noticed the fault light. The propane we're using was purchased from the campground, so it's local to these mountains. The sparker (flame sensor?) is clean and directly in the line of fire. I'll look for spider webs today, but the trailer is only about 9 months old and is stored in the concrete jungle of Los Angeles. Not common for us to have problems with critters.


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## Scoutr2 (Aug 21, 2006)

Boomer has a good point. If the flame sensor gets coated with even a light film or deposits from dirty or "rich" burning, it may not be sending those couple of milliVolts to the control board, so the controller may think the flame has gone out.

But altitude, propane quality, temperature, system contamination, spider webs - all or in combination - could also be your problem. Just try to eliminate these possible causes one at a time - starting with the easiest - and hopefully you will get it working again.

But if it is under warranty, I'd give them a call and see what they can do to help you out.

Mike


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## Insomniak (Jul 7, 2006)

Pulled out the burner and it's completely clean - no spider webs. Poked a wire through the gas orifice and it was open as well. Our neighbor and I were standing there scratching our heads and the only thing I could think of was to clean the flame rod with a little sandpaper. The neighbor said not to do that because there may be a protective coating and the rod could rust if I remove it. Put it back together and it wouldn't light at all. Bent the sparker / flame rod closer to the second (ground?) rod and it lit right away. It's possible that the wind was blowing just right and knocking out the flame and there wasn't a good enough spark to get it going again. Would explain the accumulation of gas and backfiring out of the burner tube. We're done for today though, it's raining and the girls are waiting impatiently for snow!!


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## outback loft (Sep 22, 2008)

I had a similar problem with my Dometic water heater. The ignitor rod/ thermocouple was just far enough away to shut the gas and try to re-ignite. I was also seeming to get this problem when I had a wind blowing on that side of the trailer too, but a quick bend of the ignitor/thermocouple it solved the problem right away.


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## Insomniak (Jul 7, 2006)

outback loft said:


> I had a similar problem with my Dometic water heater. The ignitor rod/ thermocouple was just far enough away to shut the gas and try to re-ignite. I was also seeming to get this problem when I had a wind blowing on that side of the trailer too, but a quick bend of the ignitor/thermocouple it solved the problem right away.


After simply bending the ignitor/flame sensor rod closer to the ground rod, we had no more problems for the rest of the weekend. It looked to me like the top rod was always in the flame and was red, but maybe with the wind blowing, it just wasn't in the flame far enough. With the two rods a bit too far apart, there wasn't a good spark to re-light the flame and it was faulting.

I'm assuming that the gizmo that I'm referring to is actually what I believe it is. There is only one wire attached, and that connects to the top rod in this little assembly. The bottom rod is just attached to the frame of the assembly, so I believe it's a ground for the spark to jump to. What I'm not certain about is whether the top rod also doubles as a flame sensor. I don't see any other way for the heater to know if the flame is present or not. Maybe someone with more knowledge of these things can help clue me in?


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## Scoutr2 (Aug 21, 2006)

Insomniak said:


> I had a similar problem with my Dometic water heater. The ignitor rod/ thermocouple was just far enough away to shut the gas and try to re-ignite. I was also seeming to get this problem when I had a wind blowing on that side of the trailer too, but a quick bend of the ignitor/thermocouple it solved the problem right away.


After simply bending the ignitor/flame sensor rod closer to the ground rod, we had no more problems for the rest of the weekend. It looked to me like the top rod was always in the flame and was red, but maybe with the wind blowing, it just wasn't in the flame far enough. With the two rods a bit too far apart, there wasn't a good spark to re-light the flame and it was faulting.

I'm assuming that the gizmo that I'm referring to is actually what I believe it is. There is only one wire attached, and that connects to the top rod in this little assembly. The bottom rod is just attached to the frame of the assembly, so I believe it's a ground for the spark to jump to. What I'm not certain about is whether the top rod also doubles as a flame sensor. I don't see any other way for the heater to know if the flame is present or not. Maybe someone with more knowledge of these things can help clue me in?
[/quote]

I believe you are correct on all points.

Mike


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