Suburban water heater SW6DE experiencing erratic issues lighting. New trailer on our 2nd trip, but not sure if it's a new issue since I possibly just didn't notice it on our 1st trip. Click-click-click then a loud whoosh sound like a large pocket of propane lighting up, but water heater doesn't light, then click-click-click nothing or maybe lights as it should. Seems to take a few tries to light successfully.Once it finally lights it seems to work fine, but the loud whoosh and even seeing the door on the outside of the heater move from the propane flare up is very concerning. At first I thought it might be due to high winds, but the same thing happened other times with no winds.Will take it to the dealer to check it out under warranty, but hoping maybe something obvious that I'm missing.

just me ,I would not fool with it ,and I,d stop using it. you could start a fire. take it back to your dealer. but theres things that the people in the know might chime in to help you out.

Open the cover and try it. Mine did the same thing. I drilled a few holes along the lower-left of the cover. Problem solved.While it isn't right, it worked. I visited a local parts and repair shop one the issue and two guys said that it was a 'common' problem on the suburban.While on the road I had learned that it consistently worked fine with the door open, but it was a 50/50 with it closed. I had cut and bent the bottom corner to allow more fresh air in, and then replaced with a new cover and added the holes for a cleaner look after the trip.

If you shut off your propane bottles, then turn them on when you get to the campsite, the slight pressure loss can cause a pocket to make the gas valve hesitate causing irregular pressure. Once the line is fully pressurized then the valve will provide continuous operation. Most time a quick light of a stovetop burner will allow the pressure pocket or air gap to pass and then you will have full pressure to the gas valve at the water heater. Try this next time, or before going to a dealer.

boogie_4wheel wrote:Open the cover and try it. Mine did the same thing. I drilled a few holes along the lower-left of the cover. Problem solved.While it isn't right, it worked. I visited a local parts and repair shop one the issue and two guys said that it was a 'common' problem on the suburban.While on the road I had learned that it consistently worked fine with the door open, but it was a 50/50 with it closed. I had cut and bent the bottom corner to allow more fresh air in, and then replaced with a new cover and added the holes for a cleaner look after the trip.Interesting...I had opened the cover to see if any obvious issue, but hadn't tried it with the door open.

wrgrs50s wrote:If you shut off your propane bottles, then turn them on when you get to the campsite, the slight pressure loss can cause a pocket to make the gas valve hesitate causing irregular pressure. Once the line is fully pressurized then the valve will provide continuous operation. Most time a quick light of a stovetop burner will allow the pressure pocket or air gap to pass and then you will have full pressure to the gas valve at the water heater. Try this next time, or before going to a dealer.I always prime the propane lines before a trip by lighting the stove, and when I noticed this issue we'd already been using the stove, refrigerator, and water heater (hadn't noticed this issue before, but may have been happening) on propane for a couple days so I'm pretty sure there was no air in the propane lines.

Erratic water heater lighting | Good Sam Community

14 Replies

fischer
Explorer
Jun 02, 2018
The heater has a 2 year warranty look up a autherised dealer it will be faster. The dealer has to call them any way.
fischer
Explorer
Jun 02, 2018
The heater has a 2 year warranty look up a autherised dealer it will be faster. The dealer has to call them any way.
jodeb720
Explorer
Jun 02, 2018
I have this same problem - or at least used to. I found if it didn't like on it's own, I'd disassemble the unit, blow out the rust inside burner tube as well as blow out all the other tubes and the reassemble and it just "works".

I've looked for spider webs, ran brushes through the mixing tube, but it just returned for a number of years. It's not happened now (in the last 2 years) and it's 2010 water heater.

I've also insured my gas is on before I leave the house, light the stove and burn them clean. Heck. Since my wife hates the smell of the heater burning off dust, I fire it up before we leave as well. So it's not a gas problem - and yes, the gas is on for the fridge on the road as well.

Josh
theoldwizard1
Explorer II
May 30, 2018
You are lucky it lights !

My daugther's Jayco had intermittent "no-light" on the water heater from the day it was delivered. More like "never lights" ! Several trips back (including one with a $90 service charge because "adjustments" are only have a 90 day warranty) to the dealer and they gave up (especially when in season repair times was more than 2 weeks).

My son-in-law bought new thermostats at Camping World, but they sold him the wrong ones ! I order new thermostats online, but decided just to clean the face of the thermostats and the part of the tank they touch with some Scotch Bright and Brake Cleaner and re-assemble.

Still intermittent but at least 75% of the time it lights. When they notice the "did not light" indicator they just cycle the switch in the TT and it almost always lights the second time.
bigorange
Explorer
May 30, 2018
Thanks for all the ideas. Still under warranty and I have to take it in for a different issue so i’ll Have the dealer look at this too. I’ll post result here if anything definitive.
GASMAN6674
Explorer
May 30, 2018
The whoosh you describe is delayed ignition. Gas is accumulating then finally lights. If you don't want to go back to the dealer then check the manual and verify position of the igniter, it is probably too far away from the burner. Adjust as needed. Good luck
Hondavalk
Explorer II
May 30, 2018
kampinguru wrote:
maybe spider webs in the venturi tube. I just had a similar problem and took the compressor this past weekend and blew everything out well. Runs great now with no issues.

Same thing here but won't clear with compressed air so I removed it and cleaned it out.
kampinguru
Explorer
May 30, 2018
maybe spider webs in the venturi tube. I just had a similar problem and took the compressor this past weekend and blew everything out well. Runs great now with no issues.
HadEnough
Explorer
May 30, 2018
I had a pretty similar experience and ended up replacing the log solenoids to fix it.
bigorange
Explorer
May 29, 2018
wrgrs50s wrote:
If you shut off your propane bottles, then turn them on when you get to the campsite, the slight pressure loss can cause a pocket to make the gas valve hesitate causing irregular pressure. Once the line is fully pressurized then the valve will provide continuous operation. Most time a quick light of a stovetop burner will allow the pressure pocket or air gap to pass and then you will have full pressure to the gas valve at the water heater. Try this next time, or before going to a dealer.

I always prime the propane lines before a trip by lighting the stove, and when I noticed this issue we'd already been using the stove, refrigerator, and water heater (hadn't noticed this issue before, but may have been happening) on propane for a couple days so I'm pretty sure there was no air in the propane lines.