Water heater not heating

[DandD2015]

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

[DandD2015]

sonora wrote:
Is it possible for you to take and post a picture of the hose where it keeps coming off?

I'll try. We have it in storage but hopefully I'll get up there in the next couple days.

westend wrote:

The tank is under the vehicle so its design is such that I don't open valves, though there is an emergency cutoff.

You stated in previous posts that you have opened or closed a valve. In one post you state that you don't know which way to turn it to open it.

I'd suggest to take your problem to an RV service garage or call a mobile technician proficient in propane systems. Ask him to show you how the service valve opens and closes. Mark an arrow on the valve so when you forget which direction to turn, it is clearly marked.

I sent a video to the RV people, showing it go clickclickclick. We got a reply today. The tech apologized for not telling us that when he works on something with gas, he turns the gas off before returning it to its parking space. I guess a lot of people leave the thing parked for six months at a time, so why give it a chance to slowly leak? We're atypical, though: 17 trips and 16,000 miles in one year, and we're not retired.

So my guess that it was possible that it was off because they'd forgotten to turn it back on was kind of a right answer for the wrong reason.

He also said that it was possible that air had gotten into the line and said if we ran the gas awhile through the burners, we could get it running again. He had brought it into the shop and done all that and said the water heater now works, as does the refrigerator and the heat.

He said if I can get up there before they close one night he will walk me through the whole thing. So we'll get it all cleared up soon enough.

Thanks again to all who posted!

[westend]

The tank is under the vehicle so its design is such that I don't open valves, though there is an emergency cutoff.

You stated in previous posts that you have opened or closed a valve. In one post you state that you don't know which way to turn it to open it.

I'd suggest to take your problem to an RV service garage or call a mobile technician proficient in propane systems. Ask him to show you how the service valve opens and closes. Mark an arrow on the valve so when you forget which direction to turn, it is clearly marked.

[sonora]

Is it possible for you to take and post a picture of the hose where it keeps coming off?

[DandD2015]

westend wrote:
I'd try this: Turn off valves on both (or single) propane tank/cylinder. Wait five minutes. Very slowly open service valve. Light stove top and let run. Try to start water heater.

It sounds like you have a mish-mosh of hoses and connections. There shouldn't be a hose clamp in the mix. The best situation is to have solid metal pipe/tubing to all appliances. A hose between a removable cylinder and the rest of the gas lines is perfectly acceptable.

A change in elevation won't effect any gas line attachments. There is a regulator between the tank/cylinder and the rest of the gas plumbing.

It may be that you are opening the service valve too fast and the cylinder's OPD is closing delivery or the same with a safety type hose.

Thanks for the post.

The tank is under the vehicle so its design is such that I don't open valves, though there is an emergency cutoff.

The clamp came into the equation here in Dallas. First, we had one end come off. We secured that and drove west. In Amarillo the kid took the whole hose off, disappeared, and came back with same hose, reattached it. Then it detached at other end somewhere between Moab and Colorado.

When we came back they did drop test---I don't know why, except that we lost gas, but if one end of a hose comes off I have a pretty good idea how it was lost. I said uh, no, we're wondering why the hose keeps coming off. Should it be held on with a clamp or something?

So I guess they thought that was a good idea. I'm no mechanic and I didn't insist, but they must not have seen a problem with it or had a better idea.

Edited: its, not it's

[DandD2015]

newman fulltimer wrote:
i am going to go out on a limb here but did you ever open the propane valve at the tank?Another thing to check is your o2 sensor to see if it is tripped or off because it controls a valve on the tank as well

Thanks for the post.

I meant to add that in above post but will address here. Yes, when we couldn't get hot water (Labor Day weekend) we switched the valve back and forth, trying it in each position more than once, thinking maybe they hadn't turned it back ON after their testing etc. No joy.

Not sure where the O2 sensor is etc. This tank is under the couch behind the driver's seat.

[DandD2015]

Old-Biscuit wrote:
Your water heater made 3 attempts at lighting off.....no main flame occurred so it 'locked out' (stopped trying and RED light came on)

The push to reset is a manual reset of the High temp t-stat. If it didn;t resetting nothing would have happened...no clicking etc. When high temp t-stat opens it shut down all operation.
SO that is NOT the problem

Problem is there is not enough propane in the line to water heater and no flow
YET!!

Need to try water heater again.
Let it click click click even if it locks out.

Then again.until flow is established thru line at water heater.

Hint......light off all stove top burners on HIGH and let them burn a minute then try water heater while stove top burners are still on (this will place a demand on Propane Regulator and establish flow thru system.)
Provided flames on burners are nice and strong/steady and blue.

AND change in elevation is NOT the issue either.

Try and post back

OK, will try, thanks.

By the way in the interest of brevity I skipped one thing. When we came back from that trip, we got them to take a look at the unit. They did the drop test and we didn't take another trip till Labor Day weekend. The LP indicator showed full, still does.

So we head out, get to where we're going and...no hot water. The light came on as always, but the water wouldn't heat. So when we came back we told them again. So they drop tested it again. They said they couldn't find a problem. Great.

When I try the fridge on gas, it tries, then says CHECK. Shut it off, start it again and it stays on GAS. I haven't run it long but it seems to cool.

[RJsfishin]

Quote:
-something caused the hose to come off twice.
------------------------------------------
Well that's for sure. That would bother me
A propane hose doesn't just "come off"
If installed correctly, it has to get ripped off !!

[westend]

I'd try this: Turn off valves on both (or single) propane tank/cylinder. Wait five minutes. Very slowly open service valve. Light stove top and let run. Try to start water heater.

It sounds like you have a mish-mosh of hoses and connections. There shouldn't be a hose clamp in the mix. The best situation is to have solid metal pipe/tubing to all appliances. A hose between a removable cylinder and the rest of the gas lines is perfectly acceptable.

A change in elevation won't effect any gas line attachments. There is a regulator between the tank/cylinder and the rest of the gas plumbing.

It may be that you are opening the service valve too fast and the cylinder's OPD is closing delivery or the same with a safety type hose.

[newman_fulltime]

i am going to go out on a limb here but did you ever open the propane valve at the tank?Another thing to check is your o2 sensor to see if it is tripped or off because it controls a valve on the tank as well

[elkhair]

Old-Biscuit wrote:
Your water heater made 3 attempts at lighting off.....no main flame occurred so it 'locked out' (stopped trying and RED light came on)

The push to reset is a manual reset of the High temp t-stat. If it didn;t resetting nothing would have happened...no clicking etc. When high temp t-stat opens it shut down all operation.
SO that is NOT the problem

Problem is there is not enough propane in the line to water heater and no flow
YET!!

Need to try water heater again.
Let it click click click even if it locks out.

Then again.until flow is established thru line at water heater.


Hint......light off all stove top burners on HIGH and let them burn a minute then try water heater while stove top burners are still on (this will place a demand on Propane Regulator and establish flow thru system.)
Provided flames on burners are nice and strong/steady and blue.

AND change in elevation is NOT the issue either.


Try and post back

Hey Old-Biscuit,
Thanks so much for your FIX! We're trying to get ready for a trip & our water heater wouldn't light either. I tried cleaning the gas orifice, adjusting the burner air intake, etc. etc. I was planning on starting to clean all the electrodes 1st thing in the morning, or call the guy who used to work on our rig, or (God forbid) look for a mobile RV service guy..... then I remembered RV Net & found your post.

Perfect! Turned on all 3 burners on cooktop, clicked & clicked the dickens out of the electrodes trying to light off the gas flow (the flame, when I saw it 'trying,' but not catching earlier was a nice clean blue) and finally it caught - hooray!
I don't think I was gonna sleep, but, thanks to you, I'm a happy camper. Hope I can return the favor someday. All the best,
elkhair aka Bill

[Old-Biscuit]

Your water heater made 3 attempts at lighting off.....no main flame occurred so it 'locked out' (stopped trying and RED light came on)

The push to reset is a manual reset of the High temp t-stat. If it didn;t resetting nothing would have happened...no clicking etc. When high temp t-stat opens it shut down all operation.
SO that is NOT the problem

Problem is there is not enough propane in the line to water heater and no flow
YET!!

Need to try water heater again.
Let it click click click even if it locks out.

Then again.until flow is established thru line at water heater.

Hint......light off all stove top burners on HIGH and let them burn a minute then try water heater while stove top burners are still on (this will place a demand on Propane Regulator and establish flow thru system.)
Provided flames on burners are nice and strong/steady and blue.

AND change in elevation is NOT the issue either.

Try and post back

[DandD2015]

Thanks for the reply, agesilaus! I just looked it up on Wikipedia. The difference in elevation between Amarillo and Silverthorne is 5430 feet. But I thought they allowed lots of space for that.

[agesilaus]

I don't know what the problem is but the change in altitude wasn't it. You need to get someone who is knowledgeable and willing to spend the needed time on the system to check it out starting at the cylinder and ending at the stove/hot water heater ect.