Water heater

[Hudson14]

Have a 2004 prowler and replaced the gas control valve and thermocouple and the gas regulator at the tank but the water heater still won't stay lite longer than 3 minutes. Pilot light stays on but main burner won't for long need help!! Thanks

[birddog2you]

Just a guess on my part but my water heater won't run on gas unless I have the electric switch turned off. I have one switch inside that must be on and another switch on the heater in the off position. Hope it works out for you.

[Old-Biscuit]

You don't state WHICH water heater

Here is Atwood WH guide....Pilot starts on pg 6 plus
http://www.atwoodmobile.com/dealer-m...atermanual.pdf


Here is Suburban WH guide....Pilot starts on pg 6 also
http://hometips.me/Mar/Suburban_Wate...ice_Manual.pdf

Pilot Flame heats thermocouple...thermocouple generates milivoltage that holds magnet open (which keeps pilot flame lit)
Main flame lighting and then going out.....dirty orifice, gas tube not aligned (gas bouncing down tube vs going straight down center results in incorrect air/fuel mixture, flame spreader not aligned etc
See pilot wh guide





FYI......

Both Atwood and Suburban combo (electric/propane) can be turned ON at same time........fastest recovery
Atwood (since 2004) use same set of t-stats...so both electric & propane turn on/off at same time
Suburban uses separate sets of t-stats so electric/propane MAY turn on/off at different times but will be close....within manufacturing allowances +/- few degrees

[Hudson14]

Originally Posted by Old-Biscuit

You don't state WHICH water heater

Here is Atwood WH guide....Pilot starts on pg 6 plus
http://www.atwoodmobile.com/dealer-m...atermanual.pdf


Here is Suburban WH guide....Pilot starts on pg 6 also
http://hometips.me/Mar/Suburban_Wate...ice_Manual.pdf

Pilot Flame heats thermocouple...thermocouple generates milivoltage that holds magnet open (which keeps pilot flame lit)
Main flame lighting and then going out.....dirty orifice, gas tube not aligned (gas bouncing down tube vs going straight down center results in incorrect air/fuel mixture, flame spreader not aligned etc
See pilot wh guide





FYI......

Both Atwood and Suburban combo (electric/propane) can be turned ON at same time........fastest recovery
Atwood (since 2004) use same set of t-stats...so both electric & propane turn on/off at same time
Suburban uses separate sets of t-stats so electric/propane MAY turn on/off at different times but will be close....within manufacturing allowances +/- few degrees

Don't have electric and gas just gas. Everything's aligned and it's six gal tank

[Hudson14]

Check orifice and realigned everything. Pilot stays lite and main burner lights the after a few minutes goes out and blows out main burner.

[Hudson14]

Atwood changed from white Rodgers to robertshaw

[Old-Biscuit]

Propane System Pressure.........

[Bob_C]

Easy way to check propane pressure for me was to light stove, all burners, then watch flame height when furnace tries to run....stays the same, flow is good. If your heater has a anode rod it's a Suburban...

[Hudson14]

Had the stove on and then lit the water heater no change in flame. Pilot light still lit for over 24 hours. when turned to on the main burner lit and then after three minutes still blew out. No obstructions in exhaust tube.

[Hudson14]

Could this problem be with one of the bottles? I ran out of propane in one bottle sunday and switched to the other one. Thats when this problem arose.

[Bob_C]

Originally Posted by Hudson14

Could this problem be with one of the bottles? I ran out of propane in one bottle sunday and switched to the other one. Thats when this problem arose.

Could be the pigtail hose.....there is a valve inside each hose that shuts off the flow if a major leak happens.....or, it'll trigger that valve if the bottle is turned on fast......When my regulator went bad, I replaced the 2 hoses at the same time......could you move the empty bottle hose to the other bottle and see if that works.....

[NTXNEWBIES]

If I'm not mistaken there is also a heat regulator sending unit that turns off the burner once it believes it is up to temp. Sending unit/sensor may be bad?

[Hudson14]

Originally Posted by bob caldwell

Could be the pigtail hose.....there is a valve inside each hose that shuts off the flow if a major leak happens.....or, it'll trigger that valve if the bottle is turned on fast......When my regulator went bad, I replaced the 2 hoses at the same time......could you move the empty bottle hose to the other bottle and see if that works.....

I tried that also thinking that could have been a problem but still the same result.

[Hudson14]

Originally Posted by NTXNEWBIES

If I'm not mistaken there is also a heat regulator sending unit that turns off the burner once it believes it is up to temp. Sending unit/sensor may be bad?

Where would that be located?