How do I light my water heater?
Our 1999 RV was winterized when I bought it 2 months ago. Today I drained all the anti-freeze out and ran fresh water thru the system. But I figure out how to light the water heater? There's a wate...
Forum Discussion
tatest wrote:
That behavior is from failure to sense ignition. That you get a flame means you have spark, gas, air mixture. But if controller fails to sense ignition a few seconds after sparking, it will shut the gas off.
I would first check the ignitor/flame sensor, before giving up on the control board. An open circuit in the ignitor or its lead will prevent the sensing of the flame, yet the spark can jump a gap in the lead.
Been there, fixed it, on a couple different Atwwod water heaters.
Atwwod DSI models do not use a thermocouple to sense heat. They measure resistance across the spark gap to detected the flame itself. Discontinuity, or improper location of the gap, can cause failure to get the resistance measurement that says "yes, it ignited, there is a flame."
My understand is that the ignitor/flame sensor cuts off the gas if the flame doesn't start in a set period of time. That's not a problem with mine. The flame light right up and burns blue for a good 45 mins or so.
