I believe we may have ruin our hot water heater. We are new to RVing and we have a 5er. We were not aware of a bypass for the heater and tried to light it thinking there was water in it because the water was coming out of the hot water facet. How back it this? It will not light and we can't figure out why. Any info appreciated

Inasmuch as it did not light, I do not think any damage has been done. You did not tell us much about your heater. Is it gas only, manual or automatic light? Is it both gas and electric, or is it a tankless? If gas (LP), make sure the tank is not empty and turned on. Try lighting a stove burner to test. A little more detail would help with the problem solving.

It is a Suburban 10 gallon both gas and electric and automatic, we did light a stove burner and it lit, we filled the tanks. There is a switch that says water heater and another that says reset, in the 5er and there is an on, off switch in the hot water heater compartment.

The ON/OFF switch (lower left corner outside compartment) is for the Electric Element. IF you did not turn that switch ON when you had no water the electric element will be OK. The Switch inside 5vr is for the propane side. IF you turned it ON when you had no water......the propane probably fired off BUT tripped due to tank getting hot.The RED light is a fault light....telling you that a trip has occurred and you need to reset. Turn all switches OFF, in outside compartment above gas valve is a rubber cover with 'Push to Reset' buttons on cover.Push them.......they reset high temp t-statsLeft side is for electric element & right side is for propane (if tripped you will feel them reset)Water heater tank bypass valve closed...water in WH tank THEN turn on to heatGood luck!

I believe we may have had the electric switch on, will it hurt it, how long does it take to hurt the heater if the electric is on without water?

Old-Biscuit wrote:The ON/OFF switch (lower left corner outside compartment) is for the Electric Element. IF you did not turn that switch ON when you had no water the electric element will be OK. The Switch inside 5vr is for the propane side. IF you turned it ON when you had no water......the propane probably fired off BUT tripped due to tank getting hot.The RED light is a fault light....telling you that a trip has occurred and you need to reset. Turn all switches OFF, in outside compartment above gas valve is a rubber cover with 'Push to Reset' buttons on cover.Push them.......they reset high temp t-statsLeft side is for electric element & right side is for propane (if tripped you will feel them reset)Water heater tank bypass valve closed...water in WH tank THEN turn on to heatGood luck!Wow!!! Old Biscuit you took the time to prepare an outstanding, detailed reply. Nicely done !!

Water heater won't light | Good Sam Community

17 Replies

robogobucks
Explorer
May 09, 2015
Wow we tried the electric on the water heater (after we let it cool down) just in case we did not burn up the element and it worked. Woo Hoo
sodajerk
Explorer
May 08, 2015
Thanks for posting the fix. It will help others with similar problems.
robogobucks
Explorer
May 07, 2015
Well, when I got home I tried starting the heater, it would not start, it did one time and stayed lit got several seconds. I decided to check all the connections, and the one with the orange cover was not connected, after connecting it it lit. Thanks again to all
robogobucks
Explorer
May 07, 2015
Thanks to everyone for your feedback I will let you know how it goes
Road_Runners
Explorer
May 07, 2015
It sounds like you have rust in the propane burner. If you have access to an air compressor, try blowing the rust out. Nine times out of ten this works.
robogobucks
Explorer
May 07, 2015
We have pushed the reset buttons but they don't seem to work, do they pop out when they need reset?

Gjac, That is exactly what is going on
robogobucks
Explorer
May 07, 2015
We will need to replace the element, but now we cannot get the gas to pilot to stay lit for the gas help

Sorry about the repost, didn't see the other so I thought I forgot to hit post
Gjac
Explorer III
May 07, 2015
Post what you are seeing. Does the LP make a clicking sound, the flame comes on for a short time then shuts off?
Chris_Bryant
Explorer II
May 07, 2015
Odds are the LP limit switch tripped- make sure to press both reset buttons shown on OB's picture.
robogobucks
Explorer
May 07, 2015
Old Biscuit
I do believe we will need to replace the element.Now we can't get the gas to light. We are having a heck of a time. Hope someone can assist