How do I light my water heater?

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.

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."

Got back to working on the water heater again today. Ran the heater for 45 mins. then pulled the relief valve on the water heater. Water came out warm but not hot. I could hold my hand under it as it drained.

So do you think I need a new thermostat or what?

I only have a bathroom faucet, Shower faucet, and a galley sink faucet. Don't have any outside shower on my coach.

JimMartin wrote:
can I leave the water heater on for extended length of time? Like 24 hours?

Ours is on whenever we are living in the coach, however we turn it off before we travel and turn it on when we stop.

If ours is left on while traveling it often blows out and restarts repeatedly and/or it attempts to restart and locks out.

Mel
'96 Safari, 10gal LP only Suburban WH

RJ 2003 Tradition 40 wrote:
Now that the heater appears to be running normally, make sure your outside shower (sprayer) in the water bay has both valves turned off. If both of these valves are opened, you will never know it and you will have the exact symptoms you're describing. With both valves opened, cold water will mix with the hot and produce lukewarm water at all faucets.

That is a pretty common cause. Also, make sure your hot water bypass valve is completely closed (edit nevermind, I just re read where you had reported it was closed).

It sounds like the hot water heater is doing it's job but you are getting cold water mixed in with its output. To test, go to the hot water heater and carefully open the pressure relief valve on the top. The water should be very hot coming directly out of the tank.

If the water is indeed hot and none of the shower fixtures was on with the cutoff just engaged on the nozzle, then you have to start looking for the plumbing problem.

Now that the heater appears to be running normally, make sure your outside shower (sprayer) in the water bay has both valves turned off. If both of these valves are opened, you will never know it and you will have the exact symptoms you're describing. With both valves opened, cold water will mix with the hot and produce lukewarm water at all faucets.

OK, So the heater runs for 45 minutes and then shuts off, the water only luke warm. I ran the hot water for about 10 minutes and still only luke warm water. After running it for 10 minutes or so the heater comes back on. But still the water doesn't get very warm.

So, I had plenty of gas, the fuel on the water heater burns good and blue, By-pass valves are open, Now what??

I have a 1999 32v south wind and i had to make sure the gas sensor was turned back on after winter, Now I leave it hooked up all the time.

remdog*1 wrote:
Make sure your by-pass valve has been opened to hot water heater and that you have water in tank, if you don't it will not fire up.

This happened to me with first camper

Yes it's open. I can hear the water filling the tanks.

The number one culprit for HW problems is cobwebs. Throughly clean the burner tube, make sure the electrode is in path of gas. A baby bottle brush works great for cleaning the burn tube. Clean all connections.
On the inside of exterior compartment door should be printed instructions. Note the reset of regulator and safety valve section.