85 Taurus having duo therm and hot water problems

[tdmason]

Hello All!! I am new here and am looking for some answers hopefully. We have a 85 Terry Taurus who has always worked just fine until the past three weeks. It has a Duo Therm 30,000 inside BTU and 21,300 outside BTU furnace in it. It always worked fine and then just stopped. The pilot lights but the burner never ignites. The blower also works. We know that the valve is bad as it keeps dumping gas all of a sudden so is that something that can be fixed or is our unit shot? Also the hot water heater quit the same day to make matters worse. The pilot light will light on it and when you turn the knob on the on position, the pilot just goes out. We have replaced the therma couple on it but that is it. Any ideas on any of this or let me know if you need more infomation.

[QuietWater]

Sounds to me like you don't have enough pressure in the propane tank to fire the burners. Might not have anything wrong with the appliances. Are you sure your propane tanks are full. Are you sure they didn't put in butane instead of propane. Just thinking out loud.

[davidjb]

might be regulator at tanks

[tdmason]

Oh, forgot to add that we did switch out the regulator at the tanks too and that didn't work either. Both talks are brand new and full. The stove and oven will work and that is the only other thing on propane as the fridge is electric now. I was googling some things and saw where the sail switch? sp? not positive what that is. We have taken the furnace out and cleaned it out really well and it still does the same thing. We are stumped???

[RedneckExpress]

Are these cylinders or mounted tanks? If they're cylinders, the flow safety valve is likely closing. Take a soft tipped tool and with the hose disconnected and the valve open, massage the spring mechanism in the center of the valve in, it should burp some propane.

I had to do this repeatedly after getting my cylinders filled when they were new.

[Wallaby Dan]

The clue to the tank pressure is the stove working. Have you made a recent trip and maybe pinched the fuel line? I am also wondering if maybe the line is not getting enough propane to light it yet. When i don't fire up my furnace during the summer it has to fire up about three times in the winter to get the furnace to light. I remember that on my water heater that when it is really cold outside that it would take a longer time to get the burner to fire up. You may have a bad sail switch on the furnace. check with a ohm meter. Check out for the high tension wire that sends the spark on the burner to light the furnace. Start there and let us know what happens. Dan

[ronspradley]

If both the furnace and water heater quit at the same time, I would look for something that is common to both. In other words, I would not look at the sail switch on the furnace. Possible but not probable. I do not know enough about the specifics of both the furnace and water heater to diagnose for you, but I bet others here on this forum do. Good luck.

ronspradley