Forum Discussion

Griz14's avatar
Griz14
Explorer
Aug 17, 2016

Gas Water Heater Issues

My gas DSI water heater doesn't always re-light. Most of the time it'll light when first turned ON, but if left ON it sometimes has issues re-lighting. What could be causing an issue like that?

Thanks,

Griz14
  • I ran 3 test runs and all of them worked fine. So for now anyway I am calling it good. I think the problem might have been the little gas line hole in the burner having some curd in it. Anyway Thanks for all the help.

    Griz14
  • 07...could be anything . Do as suggested to rule out the obvious , then a new circuit board. My guess because of the symptom , if it lights initially then tries to re-light and if you have ...... the 'DSI-flt' indicator is illuminated at the off/on switch, its probably the board.
  • I checked out the position of the igniter and that looks good. I took the burner off and cleaned it although it looked pretty clean. I did clean the tips of the igniter and ground probe. After re-installing everything I started it up and it worked fine. Today I plan to run it all day to see if it will re-light on its own.

    Griz14
  • hohenwald48 wrote:
    I just had to reposition the spark gap on mine. The factory had it set right on the edge of the gas stream. It wouldn't light half the time. Moved the gap over nearer to the center of the gas stream and no more problem.


    Thanks...I'll check that out.
  • I just had to reposition the spark gap on mine. The factory had it set right on the edge of the gas stream. It wouldn't light half the time. Moved the gap over nearer to the center of the gas stream and no more problem.
  • 2oldman wrote:
    You have no profile so we don't know how old it is. It's probably just dirty.


    This is a Suburban DSI water heater in a 2007 Arctic Fox. I agree with most I need to do some maintenance I was just hoping to be pointed towards a common issue. Maybe it just needs a good cleaning of the burner and igniter. I'll start with that.
  • Spark electrode....

    Dirty
    Not positioned directly in flame
    Spark Gap
    Ground screw not tight/clean
    Ceramic tracking to ground
    Dirty/loose/poor connection/contact on high tension wire
  • Start with the basic maintenance outlined in the owner's manual. Clean the burner and chimney.
  • You have no profile so we don't know how old it is. It's probably just dirty.
  • Brand? Model?
    Generally speaking if you a DSI it has a small control board mounted at the end of a red wire. Could be a board failure, a bad wire, a bad ignitor, or the ignitor air gap is too wide.