Water heater not heating
For a long time, the water heater (a Suburban SW6D) in our Chinook Concourse worked just fine. Now it doesn't heat water at all. Here's the probable build up....
At the end of June we had a long trip planned. We brought the Chinook home and suddenly heard a loud hissing sound. By the smell of it, the propane was leaking out. I looked under it and there was a hose loose, flopping around. We called our storage place for advice and they said to turn the valve off, which we did. Since we had resolved the problem we elected to tuck the hose where it wouldn't drag on the road, then go ahead with the trip, though we knew it would mean cold showers.
The trip turned out to have many such problems. While having something else looked at in Amarillo, the service guy told us to try a propane place up the road for a repair. It was more about BBQ grills and such, but propane is propane, right? So we asked, they said sure they could fix it, and a young (18ish?) guy removed the hose, came back later, reattached it, and we refilled the tank. We were on our way to Albuquerque.
We broke down outside Moab and the Chinook sat in the shop for about four days because of the 4th of July weekend. Eventually we were on our way to Colorado.
I hesitate to include some details because I know it will turn into a shaggy dog story if I'm not careful. But I retrace my steps and ask, "Do we know for a fact that the propane was okay in Moab?" Because of the breakdown we stayed with a friend and so did not take showers etc. in the Chinook.
But checking with my better half, I guess we did have propane when we left. She remembers the strong smell of propane right when we arrived at her sister's in Colorado. I looked under the coach and sure enough the hose was off again. IIRC the first time, it came off at the tank and the second time it came off at a manifold at the edge of the coach, but I could have that backward.
So we had our RV place fix it. They did a drop test. I was/am a bit mystified about this because if I understand it right, that's checking for a leak. I never thought it was a slow leak---something caused the hose to come off twice. I told them that and they put one of those adjustable metal clamps on the end of it. Hmm.
I called them and told them that when I tried running the fridge we had nothing. And the water heater, nothing. But the meter shows full propane. So they did a drop test again. ??? I tried to explain that I didn't think we were losing gas, but that the gas wasn't getting to the appliances.
Since then I have had problems with the generator not providing power to the coach. I posted in here, got that resolved (circuit breaker) and it seems like maybe now the fridge may be working on propane. Still no hot water, though. Tonight I tried it and I heard clickclickclick such as you get when starting your burners on a stove with electronic ignition---it tried three times---but no joy.
The Mrs. thinks that when we got gas in A arillo, they didn't know we were going to Colorado and the altitude difference made it come off a second time. I thought they left plenty of room in the tank for such contingencies.
Any ideas? I saw a rubber bit that says push to reset but again, no joy. I don't see a circuit breaker etc.
Thanks in advance,
Dave
At the end of June we had a long trip planned. We brought the Chinook home and suddenly heard a loud hissing sound. By the smell of it, the propane was leaking out. I looked under it and there was a hose loose, flopping around. We called our storage place for advice and they said to turn the valve off, which we did. Since we had resolved the problem we elected to tuck the hose where it wouldn't drag on the road, then go ahead with the trip, though we knew it would mean cold showers.
The trip turned out to have many such problems. While having something else looked at in Amarillo, the service guy told us to try a propane place up the road for a repair. It was more about BBQ grills and such, but propane is propane, right? So we asked, they said sure they could fix it, and a young (18ish?) guy removed the hose, came back later, reattached it, and we refilled the tank. We were on our way to Albuquerque.
We broke down outside Moab and the Chinook sat in the shop for about four days because of the 4th of July weekend. Eventually we were on our way to Colorado.
I hesitate to include some details because I know it will turn into a shaggy dog story if I'm not careful. But I retrace my steps and ask, "Do we know for a fact that the propane was okay in Moab?" Because of the breakdown we stayed with a friend and so did not take showers etc. in the Chinook.
But checking with my better half, I guess we did have propane when we left. She remembers the strong smell of propane right when we arrived at her sister's in Colorado. I looked under the coach and sure enough the hose was off again. IIRC the first time, it came off at the tank and the second time it came off at a manifold at the edge of the coach, but I could have that backward.
So we had our RV place fix it. They did a drop test. I was/am a bit mystified about this because if I understand it right, that's checking for a leak. I never thought it was a slow leak---something caused the hose to come off twice. I told them that and they put one of those adjustable metal clamps on the end of it. Hmm.
I called them and told them that when I tried running the fridge we had nothing. And the water heater, nothing. But the meter shows full propane. So they did a drop test again. ??? I tried to explain that I didn't think we were losing gas, but that the gas wasn't getting to the appliances.
Since then I have had problems with the generator not providing power to the coach. I posted in here, got that resolved (circuit breaker) and it seems like maybe now the fridge may be working on propane. Still no hot water, though. Tonight I tried it and I heard clickclickclick such as you get when starting your burners on a stove with electronic ignition---it tried three times---but no joy.
The Mrs. thinks that when we got gas in A arillo, they didn't know we were going to Colorado and the altitude difference made it come off a second time. I thought they left plenty of room in the tank for such contingencies.
Any ideas? I saw a rubber bit that says push to reset but again, no joy. I don't see a circuit breaker etc.
Thanks in advance,
Dave
