water heater flame fades out

SCVJeff wrote:
OP- What's the year and make of the RV ? There were several years of both ITASCA and Winnebago units that exhibited this exact problem from air starvation. Some did it, others not, and there was no reason why.

It's a 2007 Itasca Suncruiser. What is the solution?

control board. Sensor ID that is is lite to the board, if the board is not working then it just turns off the valve. I installed a new unit, it lite 1 time and the board went out.
Warranty

gatorcq wrote:
control board. Sensor ID that is is lite to the board, if the board is not working then it just turns off the valve. I installed a new unit, it lite 1 time and the board went out.
Warranty

The gas valve makes a "thunk" (noise of closing) after the flame peters out. After a few seconds, it attempts to relight and is often a weak flame or fails.

23hotrodr wrote:

SCVJeff wrote:
OP- What's the year and make of the RV ? There were several years of both ITASCA and Winnebago units that exhibited this exact problem from air starvation. Some did it, others not, and there was no reason why.

It's a 2007 Itasca Suncruiser. What is the solution?

I'm assuming that your WH is BEHIND a coach door, correct ? I looked around for 2007 Suncruisers and they appear to have the same behind the coach door access that mine does.

The good news is that you also have a slat punched into the outside door. The bad news is apparently Winnebago and Atwood never got together on this because its the vent to nowhere except a closed Atwood door.

On mine I punched 3ea. 3/4" holes into the Atwood door, making sure they align properly with the coach door when closed.

Second (and believe it or not, this is the Atwood fix) I removed the weather stripping from the bottom of the Atwood door, then bent out the center of the door toward you.

This will fix the problem nicely. As I said above, some have this problem, others not. When mine was new I had it in the shop and they literally swapped out everything but the tank itself, although I believe they were the ones that bent the door out, I finished it with a deeper bend. I finally left and figured out the missing vent holes myself. Sans bending the door I have heard of others punching holes into the bottom of the tank just behind the door, but my bent door works fine.

Good luck

BTW- I'm assuming that leaving the doors open lets the WH operate properly?

PS- While you're in there, burnish all of the various metal pieces from the chassis to the burner assy.. Any corrosion between those two will cause anything from intermittent flame to none at all. I'm the proud owner of a replacement control board when mine died hours before heading to Quartzsite.

Heres a shot of the door with the bend and the vent holes. I've since installed copper screen on the holes.

23hotrodr wrote:
... The gas valve makes a "thunk" (noise of closing) after the flame peters out. ....

That tells you that the flame sensor and probably the control board are working as they should. Loss of flame causes the control board to release (shut off) the LP valve. That narrows it to a flow or mixture problem.

Gene&Ginny wrote:

23hotrodr wrote:
... The gas valve makes a "thunk" (noise of closing) after the flame peters out. ....

That tells you that the flame sensor and probably the control board are working as they should. Loss of flame causes the control board to release (shut off) the LP valve. That narrows it to a flow or mixture problem.

yep.. It's starving for air, flameout, valve closed

SCVJeff wrote:

23hotrodr wrote:

SCVJeff wrote:
OP- What's the year and make of the RV ? There were several years of both ITASCA and Winnebago units that exhibited this exact problem from air starvation. Some did it, others not, and there was no reason why.

It's a 2007 Itasca Suncruiser. What is the solution?

I'm assuming that your WH is BEHIND a coach door, correct ? I looked around for 2007 Suncruisers and they appear to have the same behind the coach door access that mine does.

The good news is that you also have a slat punched into the outside door. The bad news is apparently Winnebago and Atwood never got together on this because its the vent to nowhere except a closed Atwood door.

On mine I punched 3ea. 3/4" holes into the Atwood door, making sure they align properly with the coach door when closed.

Second (and believe it or not, this is the Atwood fix) I removed the weather stripping from the bottom of the Atwood door, then bent out the center of the door toward you.

This will fix the problem nicely. As I said above, some have this problem, others not. When mine was new I had it in the shop and they literally swapped out everything but the tank itself, although I believe they were the ones that bent the door out, I finished it with a deeper bend. I finally left and figured out the missing vent holes myself. Sans bending the door I have heard of others punching holes into the bottom of the tank just behind the door, but my bent door works fine.

Good luck

BTW- I'm assuming that leaving the doors open lets the WH operate properly?

PS- While you're in there, burnish all of the various metal pieces from the chassis to the burner assy.. Any corrosion between those two will cause anything from intermittent flame to none at all. I'm the proud owner of a replacement control board when mine died hours before heading to Quartzsite.

Heres a shot of the door with the bend and the vent holes. I've since installed copper screen on the holes.

I always thought it was strange that there wasn't any holes or louvers behind the slot in the outer compartment door. The outer compartment door also makes the thing a royal pain to work on! They didn't provide anything to hold up the door and it will only open out to 90 degrees when the slide is out. I use an adjustable lenth painter's pole to prop it open

I'll have to make some of your modifications to get it more air. I really had problems when we were out in the Black Hills last week. The air is a lot thinner there than it is here at 700 feet.

Thanks for all the help. -- Mick