Water Heater Problems

[SMarquez]

I have an Atwood water heater that has been acting up for a while now and I hope you can help. It is a pilotless unit if that makes a difference. When I first turn the WH on it takes a couple attempts to light and everything is fine. After 6-7 hours it shuts off and I get the red light at the switch and it won't relight. Once in a while it will try but it seems to struggle and will back fire with a nice POOF that is a little alarming bit doesn't ignite. If I shut it down for a couple hours it will light up like normal. I have taken to just shutting it off when we're not using it but I hate when my stuff doesn't work as designed. I took an air hose to it and got some dust and fine dirt out of it but I lit it up left it on evernite and it shut itself off again. I'm thinking it may be the igniter, maybe it is intermittent or are they a good or bad function only?
Thanks.

[SMarquez]

garym114 wrote:
Try checking the burner, should do it each season.
https://yourfulltimervliving.com/rv-resources/rv-water-heater-troubleshooting-simple-maintenance-wil...

I went through all this tonight. Like I said, it works fine for the first 6-8 hours or so then shuts off. I shut it off for a while and then it works again for another 6-8 hours. I guess a better description is that it is not cycling like a regular heater.

[SDcampowneroper]

Whats your altidude? Altitude makes a difference in % of air to gas mix, so a lean or rich mix will cause mis fire. When it does light what does it sound like look like?
A roaring flame is lean, lazy lean, quiet, yellowish. Clean blue with slight rumble is proper.
We have had to adjust the air intake (with tape over a bit of the intake) at low altitude to stop flame out from low mixture.

[garym114]

Try checking the burner, should do it each season.
https://yourfulltimervliving.com/rv-resources/rv-water-heater-troubleshooting-simple-maintenance-wil...