# Water Heater In Gas Mode



## Auggie2337 (Apr 23, 2006)

Howdy,

Great site. Had 28RSDS delivered from Lakeshore in late May. Great price, but they make up for it with their lack of service.

Anyhow, 1st question for all you educated outbackers. When we use the water heater in gas mode it tends to cycle off and on and sometimes tends to shut down without heating a drop of water.

Upon investigation, I opened the exterior vent cover and restarted the process. Seemed to work okay, until I tried to close the cover. The flame began to flicker and sputter, if that makes sense, and then eventually shut down. I also noticed that it appears that the sheet metal venting or duct work was crammed into the compartment and door would not shut if it wasn't for the spring loaded toggle. Is it not venting properly?

I don't want to operate the water heater with the exterior door open, but it would be nice to have hot water.

Thank you in advance for your anticipated suggestions.


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## TrainRiders (Jan 10, 2006)

We had a similar problem with the HW heater on our 21RS. The burner would kick on and go for a few seconds and then blow out. After it did this 3 times, the DSI fault light would come on and I would have to recycle the switch to get it to try again.

I found that by adjusting the mixture by rotating the sleeve on the burner tube, that I could quiet the burner roar and get it to stay on. I think it the mixture was too lean which was causing it to blow itself out. Also check that there aren't any obstructions in the burner tube or exhaust pipe which might be messing up the flame as well.


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## HootBob (Apr 26, 2004)

Spiders love to build nest in the tubes
But I think you need to make an adjust the flame
it should tell you in the manual how to set it properly

Don


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## CamperAndy (Aug 26, 2004)

When adjusting the air slide you can tell if it is too rich because the flame will start to show yellow.


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## cookie9933 (Feb 26, 2005)

Auggie2337 said:


> Great site. Had 28RSDS delivered from Lakeshore in late May. Great price, but they make up for it with their lack of service.
> 
> [snapback]121331[/snapback]​


To be fair to Lakeshore, if you took your Outback to them for service, they would take care of you. Also, the Sales and Service Departments at any dealership are each expected to be profitable. Sales doesn't generate "extra" profit to be given back to the customer as service. Theoretically, no dealership provides much service out of their pocket, except for goodwill (freebies) to keep up customer satisfaction, such as when a dispute arises. Customers pay the service department for non-warranty service and the manufacturer pays for warranty work. Hope you enjoy your new trailer very much.

Just MHO, 
Bill


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## bill_pfaff (Mar 11, 2005)

Spiders

I put a moth ball or two in the compartment to keep them out.


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## PDX_Doug (Nov 16, 2004)

bill_pfaff said:


> I put a moth ball or two in the compartment to keep them out.


Now that's an interesting idea, Bill.








Do the moth balls stand up to the heat from the burner? I would think they might be rather flammable?

Happy Trails,
Doug


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## Oregon_Camper (Sep 13, 2004)

bill_pfaff said:


> Spiders
> 
> I put a moth ball or two in the compartment to keep them out.
> [snapback]121559[/snapback]​


Is this something you do year round or just over winter storage months?


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## bill_pfaff (Mar 11, 2005)

Sorry guys,

I'm having access problems and didn't know until just now that anyone has responded to my mothballs. I'm trying to figure out how to function without the email notice as I'm not getting them on a regular basis. It's like hit and miss. Problem is I can't figure out how to realize responses by just working off the site. This is all very distressing.

Anyway. I don't put the mothballs in over the summer, just the winter. Using the TT during the summer takes care of the little critters.


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## ARzark (Aug 9, 2005)

johnbartlow said:


> We had a similar problem with the HW heater on our 21RS. The burner would kick on and go for a few seconds and then blow out. After it did this 3 times, the DSI fault light would come on and I would have to recycle the switch to get it to try again.
> 
> I found that by adjusting the mixture by rotating the sleeve on the burner tube, that I could quiet the burner roar and get it to stay on. I think it the mixture was too lean which was causing it to blow itself out. Also check that there aren't any obstructions in the burner tube or exhaust pipe which might be messing up the flame as well.
> [snapback]121335[/snapback]​


Have the exact same problem with mine! Adjusting the burner tube does the trick!
I have noticed that depending on altitude I have to readjust sometimes. I just shrugged it off as "one of those things" but I never had this problem on our old 28bhs


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## Sierrab24r (Apr 2, 2006)

I noticed this summer that it sometimes took several tries to get the burner for the water heater to stay lit. An RV dealer told me that I probably needed to blow out my burner tube. I mistakenly blew out the burner can (the part that the burner tube attaches into) rather than the the burner tube. My problem persisted but the water heater _WOULD_ eventually light. Two days ago I noticed that there was soot at the exhaust from the water heater and that the soot extended up the side of the trailer. I opened the access door and saw that the burner flame was yellow rather than blue. I removed the burner tube assembly. Just four 1/4 inch screws and one spaded terminal for the ignition needed to be removed. When I looked into the tube I found one dead moth!! I removed the moth, reassembled the unit, and it fired up first try with a nice blue flame. Total time expended was less than 15 minutes. I might have to consider the mothballs mentioned earlier as a preventative during the months the trailer is not used. Thumbs up to outbackers.com again!!


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