Suburban hot water heater won't stay lit

westend wrote:
Suburban 6 gal manual

Figures 14 and 16 on page 6 of the manual depict the thermocouple and position. The sensing end should be in the center of the pilot flame.

Thank you very much!

Suburban 6 gal manual

Figures 14 and 16 on page 6 of the manual depict the thermocouple and position. The sensing end should be in the center of the pilot flame.

Thanks for the help. The burner tube is the large tube with what appears to be a small brass orifice in it?

Best place to purchase the thermocouple? Where is it located in the heater?

If anybody knows where I can download a manual that would help. Sorry about all of the questions, I am mechanically inclined but a complete dummy when it comes to RV systems.

Take out the burner tube and clean the tube and orifice. You will have to detach the pilot line and thermocouple bracket to do this. While you have the thermocouple exposed, sand it lightly with emery cloth until bright. Tighten all back together, position the thermocouple in the pilot flame path, and light the heater. Usually, this gets everything working. At worst, you have a bad thermocouple and now have the procedure down to replace it. IIRC, they sell for around $10-$15.

Sounds like a faulty thermocouple.

If replacing thermocouple doesn't solve problem then it is the gas control (gas valve).

Hopefully just the less expensive thermocouple.

Mine does not stay lit either so I got a heating rod to make it electric so I do not need to worry about it and we do not camp without elect but if we did I am not sure what we would do but we will cross that bridge if it comes up in the future.

I forgot to mention that the pilot flame looks nice and blue, it appears okay to my untrained eye, looks like you would expect a pilot flame to look light. If I leave it sit with just the pilot on, the pilot will go out within 10 minutes.

The heater and cook top work as they should.