Suburban water heater

Define extreme weather...

Outside temps? When it gets cold propane does not flow well. So its possible your seeing a low flow situation. That or water is freezing in the regulator.

Too cold, or frozen lines also.

Johno02 wrote:
Too cold, or frozen lines also.

2x.

And to think, there are some forum members that do not believe propane lines / and / or regulators freeze up in the winter months!

I forget who it was who recently said they didn't believe it, and wanted evidence that this was more of a common problem. So, whoever that was, here's another one having propane gas problems!

Usually it's the furnace that stops heating because either the regulator or the lines themselves are frozen. The freezing IS caused by H2O (water vapor) that condenses and causes a freeze. It don't take much ... usually at the regulator.

Extreme cold could cause an already almost empty tank of propane to loose what little pressure it has left too.

Funning having lived with propane most of my life I never saw propane freeze, even in the worse conditions. I've also camped in very cold weather and all was fine. Just don't understand this when I have not seen it. We've also ran pickups on propane that had to run in all weather. No problem. I also have a surburban hot water heater and have had problems. Was not from freezing. I've changed several things and it works great now. Don't mean to argue, just my experiences

Thanks for all your inputs. By the way, a neighbor has the same heater I have and began experiencing the same issue I have as the freezing rain arrived.

franxpace wrote:
Thanks for all your inputs. By the way, a neighbor has the same heater I have and began experiencing the same issue I have as the freezing rain arrived.

Now that you have added the 'Freezing rain' info.,....

Spark electrode is getting wet, grounding out and therefore NOT lighting propane or NOT being able to transmit 'flame proving' signal so it doesn't stay lite.

Check for water getting in thru upper lip on door panel, via exhaust vent/shield or blowing in around door panel

Evidence would be WET area on/around spark electrode/burner area etc.

I'm wondering if you have pure propane or perhaps a mixture of propane and butane. Pure propane will not exhibit the problem your experiencing. Freezing does affect the flow of butane. I ran into this problem a few years ago around Thanksgiving time when visiting our daughter in Michigan just North of Detroit. It got down to about 15-20 degrees F. Tank would get down to about 1/4 full then the furnace would shut off. Confirmed I had a mixture of propane and butane from folks who were filling my tanks. Went to a different location to fill the tanks with pure propane and problem was solved.

Good to know, guys. I will check out all your ideas. My neighbor and I both are both befuddled. The area inside the heater is dry. No moister seems to be in the compartment. We get propane from different suppliers. Thank you all for your input and help. Appreciate it.