Hot water heater not burning right
When I light my hot water heater it stays orange and does not get the blue flame that it should, Any idea on the cause and how to diagnose this? RV places charge an arm and a leg here so I hope I can...
Forum Discussion
I would say that if the flame is all orange, there are contaminants in the air or fuel.
That said, there may be a slight orange or red tint in a normal flame usually in the form of streaks. This is caused by dust particles in the air and cannot be eliminated if the air quality doesn’t change. It does not denote any sign of insufficient air supply.
Folks assume that a tank of propane has pure propane in it, but usually it will have small amounts of some other gases that shouldn’t be a problem getting a good flame 99% of the time. Also, let’s assume that you just changed the tank? A tank that wasn’t purged properly could still have contaminants in it that can affect the colour of the flame.
So is it the fuel or air? If it was the fuel, the stove top burner would have an orange flame when the gas from the new tank reaches the burner. If it was the air I would assume that I would notice dust in the air, but maybe not? Could even be CO gas in the air from a vehicle near by running. You don’t mention that this heater is in a motor home? It will also help the members if you let us know the make and model of the HWT.
Good Luck
That said, there may be a slight orange or red tint in a normal flame usually in the form of streaks. This is caused by dust particles in the air and cannot be eliminated if the air quality doesn’t change. It does not denote any sign of insufficient air supply.
Folks assume that a tank of propane has pure propane in it, but usually it will have small amounts of some other gases that shouldn’t be a problem getting a good flame 99% of the time. Also, let’s assume that you just changed the tank? A tank that wasn’t purged properly could still have contaminants in it that can affect the colour of the flame.
So is it the fuel or air? If it was the fuel, the stove top burner would have an orange flame when the gas from the new tank reaches the burner. If it was the air I would assume that I would notice dust in the air, but maybe not? Could even be CO gas in the air from a vehicle near by running. You don’t mention that this heater is in a motor home? It will also help the members if you let us know the make and model of the HWT.
Good Luck
