Forum Discussion
You would have to install a newer Atwood Direct Spark Ignition (DSI) water heater. With a DSI heater there is no pilot. Instead it uses an electrical igniter that only comes on when it's time to heat the water.
Please accept my humble obeisances.
happy, healthy and safe holiday season.
we got an older camper with this identical manual light water heater control Atwood/robertshaw. We would like to know, if the none ignitor models, turns off and on, automatically?
thanking you all in advance. God bless you all and your linage, for sharing your knowledge from your experiences.respectfully and your well wisher
shakti
- Nvr2loud hit the nail on the head. It is blowing itself out when it reaches temp. I'll try to clean it up some and see if that fixes it. If not, I guess a Hott Rodd is the way to go. We do not camp off grid.
- I have that water heater... it really sucks. The pilot easily blows out when the main flame shuts down (water temperature reaches setpoint). I have to sand the flame sensor a little bit before every trip.
I just installed a Hott Rodd into the drain plug port on my unit. Tested it at home, works great. My first trip out this weekend coming.. hopefully I will have hot water! I do not use the propane water heater often since it is a PITA to manually light it, and then it sits there wasting propane the entire trip keeping the water hot. I would love a propane / electric model with an inside ON / Off switch. - As stated above, blow out the burner tube etc with compressed air. Also, take a small brush to the pilot orifice and get crud off of it. I believe there is a flame adjustment for the pilot if I'm not mistaken. I used to light my old one with my propane turbo torch which I always carry with me. Works great.
Cantdrive55 wrote:
Thanks for the help with this. I finally got the trailer out and camping. While sitting in my yard I was able to light the water heater and it ran fine. When at the campground, we hooked everything up and lit the pilot. The heater took right off. It sounds like a jet plane when running but other wise it worked fine, I thought. About 15 minutes later I go out and cannot hear the jet plane any longer so I take a look and it's out. I re-light and back normal for another 15 minutes. I turn down the temperature setting a little and watch it this time. With the main cover open, it never goes out but when I close the cover, the whole thing including the pilot goes out after a few minutes. I checked for air restrictions, there are none. Everything is clear. Why will it only run when the cover is left open? (there were no leaks and the lines were purged of all air)
Humm,,, Don't know for sure. I think the first thing I would do as take a tank of compressed air and blow everything out. 15 minutes is almost enough that you might be getting the water up to temp and then it is shutting off normally. However, the pilot should stay lit. I have seen cases where when it shuts off it goes "poof" just a little and maybe that is blowing your pilot out. Blow through everything with compressed air and try again. P.S. Don't blow air down into the orifice. You may damage the controller if you do that.- I have the same one and Caveman Charlie has it right thats how I light mine, works great.
- Thanks for the help with this. I finally got the trailer out and camping. While sitting in my yard I was able to light the water heater and it ran fine. When at the campground, we hooked everything up and lit the pilot. The heater took right off. It sounds like a jet plane when running but other wise it worked fine, I thought. About 15 minutes later I go out and cannot hear the jet plane any longer so I take a look and it's out. I re-light and back normal for another 15 minutes. I turn down the temperature setting a little and watch it this time. With the main cover open, it never goes out but when I close the cover, the whole thing including the pilot goes out after a few minutes. I checked for air restrictions, there are none. Everything is clear. Why will it only run when the cover is left open? (there were no leaks and the lines were purged of all air)
- Looks like the same one as in our old Zinger—very manual. Don’t try to light without water in the heater—the tube will scorch and can affect the taste of the water. The knob turned all the way counter clockwise is off. Turn all the way clock wise into a spring back position while holding a long butane lighter in the tube. If the pilot lights it should be a small blue flame. Hold the knob against the spring 15 seconds longer, then release. If the pilot stays lit, you’re good to go. Turn the knob back to where the indicator on the knob and on the base of the gas valve line up, about ½ half way back. The main flame should light in this position. If the pilot won’t stay lit you most likely need a new thermocouple. If that happens, PM me, and I’ll see if I’ve got an old one that I no longer need, and I’ll send it to you. The thing that I liked about this heater that we don’t get with our current spark start one is adjustable temperature. That’s the lever on the back of the gas valve and it looks like it is set to most cold. As I recall, hotter is to the left. You may have to move it to the left to get the main flame to come on.
- Thanks all for the help. The label is helpful but doesn't address actually lighting the pilot. The books the previous owner gave me said it had an electronic ignition but after looking at it I knew that wasn't the case. Since this is my first trailer I wanted to be sure I had it right before trying for the first time. I'm not trying to spend $$ fixing things that I break. A new battery and 2 tanks of propane is enough $$ for now.
