Newbie needs help wife is mad!! No hot water.

[jrjorin]

Ok i recently bought a 2007 Fleetwood Dakota 29' and have never owned an RV or trailer before. My wife wants to take hot showers. I read where this thing has DSI hot water heater or something like that. There is a switch by the door that says Atwood. I figured out thats the HWH control. It has a lighting bolt and a gas flame with a red light in the center. My LP tanks are full but i cant get the stove to lite or the HWH.
I have found out that the leak detector needs to be working inorder to get LP. The green operating light does not come on. I have checked all the fuses in the fuse box and they are all good. Please someone help me out of the dog house.
Thanks from a newbie

[GaryKD]

Hi jrjorin,
Start with the simple solution first. Is the main valve, at the propane tank open all the way?

[TXiceman]

Propane detectors have been know to go bad.

You need to determine if the detector is operating and letting the gas solenoid operate. going to take a volt meter and some basic electrical knowledge to check out the circuit.

Next, are you getting the ignitor to spark at the water heater (not a hot water heater..don't need to heat hot water). Have someone turn on the water heater and you listen to hear if it is clicking.

If the rig has been setting with the gas off for a week or two or more, you may have air in the lines. first turn on the stove and light a burner to get gas into the pipes. Next you may have to cycle the water heater through several starts to get the line cleared and propane to the water heater.

Also, get out the manual on the water heater and read it's troubleshooting guide....DO THIS FIRST.

Ken

[Elkhartjim]

Best way to check if the detector is working...use a butane lighter without lighting it, just let the gas flow from the lighter. (of course close to the detector)

I'm glad that you know the difference in a cold water heater and a hot water heater Ken. I never understood why anybody would want to heat hot water.

[jrjorin]

ok thanks for the help. i was in the chat room earlier and they seem to think that eiter my battery isnt charged or i dont have one. they tell me that if the battery isnt working then the lp detector wont work right. i cant light the stove no lp flows anywhere. i read that if the lp detector isnt working it will shut off the flow. i did not receive any manuals with it when i bought the trailer.

[RustyJC]

With the vintage of your RV, you should have an excess flow valve at your propane cylinder connection. On my RV, when I turn on the propane at the cylinder, the excess flow valve allows limited flow into the lines to pressure them up. If the lines hold pressure, the excess flow valve opens up and allows propane to flow to the appliances. If not, the excess flow valve will not open. If nothing is working, I'd first check to see if I'm even getting propane (other than the limited flow past the closed excess flow valve) into the system.

Quote:

Now to the new style excess flow check valve on the Acme nut that connects to the DOT cylinder's OPD valve. It is really a simple device. Inside the Acme nut, there is a ball bearing check valve that almost shuts off momentarily when full pressure is released by opening the cylinder valve. You should hear a click at that point. It doesn't shut down completely, as that would negate its ability to detect leaks and excess flow from a leak or major line break, and no gas could flow. It closes just enough to allow a bypass of gas that is very slight, about 10 cubic feet or less per hour (cf/hour) flow, as opposed to the max flow of 200 cf/hour. The bypass gas goes into the propane system, and if there are no leaks or broken pipes, it backs up and builds pressure in the gas lines in the RV. When it equalizes on both sides of the valve, the valve opens to allow full pressure up to about a max of 200 cf/hour at 100 psi. Then if you were standing there, you would hear a second click. Using all of your propane appliances should not exceed 100cf/hour. If there is a leak or a broken pipe, the pressure can't build up and the excess flow valve doesn't open up all the way thus limiting the gas output to about 10 cf/hour, or less. It is important to note that propane, like gasoline vapor, has narrow ignition requirements as far as air fuel mixture is concerned. So if you lit the leak (Don't try this at home!) it would show a flame at the leak in the air, but the concentration is too high in the line for it to ignite. In other words the fire can't run up the line to the cylinder or tank to ignite it. Want to see it in action? Watch your gas range work. Why doesn't the flame travel up the tube it comes out of to the burner? Same thing.

Rusty

[jrjorin]

well i have more info i checked and found where a battery should be but it wasnt there. so i bought a battery and now the lights stay on when i turn the 30amp off. but the lp detector still doesnt show a green light showing its operating. just for info its a 2007 fleetwood dakota 29'.
i have the tank turned on , it is selected with the selector switch, the atwood switch by the door with the lighting bolt and the gas symbol are both turned on. i get no lp flow to the stove.

[RustyJC]

See my post #6 above. Were any of the burners turned on on your stove when you opened the propane valve at the cylinder? If so, the excess flow valve won't open. The propane system has to pressurize and hold pressure before propane will flow to the appliances.

Rusty

[jrjorin]

nope no valves were open. my question is why doesnt the lp detector have the green light showing its operating?

[RustyJC]

Let's work through this logically. Is the sight glass on your propane regulator showing green or red?

Rusty

[jrjorin]

dont know where the site glass is. like i said i am a newbie. what should it be? red or green?

[RustyJC]

Follow the rubber hose from your propane cylinder's shutoff valve. It should go to the switchover valve/regulator assembly where you select which cylinder you're drawing from. On top of the switchover valve should be a sight glass that's either displaying a red or green band. If it's red, you don't have a pressurized propane system at that point.

OK, there are some assumptions in the statement above. Just to be clear.

1. Close the shutoff valves on both propane cylinders.
2. Point the switchover valve handle at the cylinder you're going to be using.
3. Open the shutoff valve on that cylinder.
4. You should hear 2 clicks (see post #6) a few seconds apart, and the sight glass should turn green.

Rusty

[jrjorin]

ok i turned off both tanks then turned the one on that has fuel in it and the site glass stays red..

[RustyJC]

Just to confirm, the large part of the handle of the switchover valve was pointing toward the port/cylinder with fuel when you ran this test, right? In other words, if you're using the cylinder on the right (specifically, the right port on the switchover valve as you view it from the front), the handle should be at the 3:00 position. If that is indeed the case, the red sight glass would indicate that you're not getting propane from the cylinder to the propane system. The most likely causes are:

1. The cylinder is empty.

2. There's a leak in your propane system that isn't allowing the excess flow valve to open (again, see post #6). Check the rangetop and oven knobs to ensure that all are in the OFF position.

3. The pressure regulator is defective or misadjusted.

For the safety of you and your family, if your troubleshooting leads you to either 2. or 3. above, you should have a qualified RV technician check out your LP gas system.

I've never owned a 5th wheel where there's a direct connection between the LP gas detector and the LP gas system - in fact, when my wife poisoned the LP gas detector with spray Lysol on our previous 5th wheel, I had to cut a power supply wire to shut it off (that may be why your green light isn't coming on). The LP system continued to work just fine afterward.

As an aside, doesn't your water heater have an electric heating element? Most do, with the switch located (in the case of our non-Fleetwood RV) in the same closet with the water heater LP gas control switch.

Rusty