Any help? First camper/trip issue with water heater.

pianotuna wrote:

way2roll wrote:

2oldman wrote:
Water heaters haven't had pilots for years..

Huh ? :h

Way2roll,

Even my 1987 had direct spark ignition for the fridge and water heater.

I must be missing something. The last 2 class A's we've owned had pilots for the WH. the switch to turn it on actually had to be held in the up position to light it and actually said "pilot lit" They were 2012 and 2013 respectively.

way2roll wrote:

2oldman wrote:
Water heaters haven't had pilots for years..

Huh ? :h

Way2roll,

Even my 1987 had direct spark ignition for the fridge and water heater.

I agree with Roger, probably a blockage (spiders etc). There is a brush made for cleaning BBQ tubes, about 1" diameter on a loong flexible handle. Run it through the propane burner tubes and then the chimney, follow up with some compressed air. A general cleaning and then try it.

Ken

The pilot light couldn't cover 1/3 of the thermocouple because of how small it (the flame) is. Is there an adjustment to make the pilot light larger, or a recommended area and way to clean?

2oldman wrote:
Water heaters haven't had pilots for years..

Huh ? :h

As requested:
It is a Skamper by Thor 2004. K160.
Not sure what the water heater is.

Most likely dirty orfices and/or miss positioned pilot light. The pilot flame should envelop the top third of the thermocouple. The pilot assy. needs to be positioned so that the pilot flame will ignite the main burner.

Water heaters haven't had pilots for years. I don't see anything shown in your profile.

You may want to provide more specifics, like what type of RV, what type of water heater etc.

Is your LP valve all the way open? Are your LP tanks full? Have you moved the slider to allow more/less air getting to the flame? Is the pilot free of spiders/insects? It's odd that the thermocouple would maintain the pilot if if it's not the right flame height, although it could be hitting it just right to provide enough milliamps. But it's even more odd that the small pilot wouldn't ignite the un-burned gas and allow a small explosion.

If you have LP, my guess would be either there is debris/insects/webs in the pilot or it's not getting enough air.

It sounds like something has built a nest in the chimney. Probably wasps or spider. Clean it out and it should be fine.

In the future post the make and model of appliances you are talking about as it makes it much easier for people to give good advice.