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Old 05-02-2018, 10:16 AM   #1
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LP Gas detector when water heater is lit

First thread so hopefully I don't mess anything up : )

Took my 2016 Clipper 17BH for out first longish road trip last week. Everything went well with the exception of the water heater. First night everything worked great. After that we started experiencing an exhaust smell in the cabin when we turned the water heater on, and then the LP gas detector started going off. We were on the beach and the wind was slamming into the port side of the trailer so I assumed that the wind was just pushing the exhaust into the cabin. We were dry camping so after 3 days I had to dump and re-fill tanks. So I swapped the direction of the trailer in our site to protect the water heater from the wind. That didn't help... So I opened up the door and saw that the flue and gas tube looked a little dirty. I pulled the tube out, took the igniter out and cleaned out the flue and gas tube. Put everything together and fired it back up. I thought I had fixed it but after about 5 minutes the alarm went off again and we could small heavy exhaust under the dinette seat. The small was not raw LP, more of an exhaust smell. So I did a little research and some people experienced failure of the grommet surrounding the gas hose where it passes through the case of the water heater, letting exhaust gasses back into the cabin. I did see some light through there, so not having a tube of silicone I tried to block that up as best as I could with some duct tape. Same result, after about 5-10 mins running the heater the LP gas alarm went off. I had decided to drop it off at the local dealership but, of course, they're booked out 6 weeks.

Does anyone have any ideas? My plan at this point is to double check that grommet and replace if necessary, and do a more through cleaning now that I'm home and have access to compressed air etc...

PS the Clipper has a Suburban water heater.

Thanks!
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Old 05-02-2018, 10:42 AM   #2
llr
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no amount of cleaning will help the exhaust leak. The LP detector is a CO/LP detector so it is detecting the carbon monoxide.

Is it possible the exhaust is coming in trough some other opening such as a window or vent? Really hard to come up with good ideas without being there but it needs to be resolved ASAP.

Is your water heater electric too? if so you can use that instead of LP till you can get it resolved.
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Old 05-02-2018, 10:46 AM   #3
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Originally Posted by llr View Post
no amount of cleaning will help the exhaust leak. The LP detector is a CO/LP detector so it is detecting the carbon monoxide.

Is it possible the exhaust is coming in trough some other opening such as a window or vent? Really hard to come up with good ideas without being there but it needs to be resolved ASAP.

Is your water heater electric too? if so you can use that instead of LP till you can get it resolved.
Thanks for the input. The detector actually has two separate LED indicators on it. One for CO and one for LP, and the LP light is the one that is showing RED when the alarm sounds.

No electric option on this one.

It is certainly possible that its coming back in another place, but all windows were closed when it was happening.

Idea behind the cleaning was that sometimes if the flue or gas tub is dirty you don't get a complete burn which causes exhaust smell.

I'll try to seal everything up and report back.

Thanks!
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Old 05-02-2018, 11:16 AM   #4
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Make some soapy water with dish soap and with the water heater operating, smear it around the gas connections and look for bubbles. Since it only happens while the heater is operating, you may have an LP leak between the gas valve and the burner.

This probably not the issue, but it's an easy test and worth a try. There's only an inch or two of pipe between the gas valve and the burner, but stranger things have happened.

PS: The gas valve will have a couple of wires going to it. In the water heater pic below, it's at the very top of the pic. So you're interested in the connections at each end of that looped piece of tubing.
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Old 05-02-2018, 12:02 PM   #5
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Make some soapy water with dish soap and with the water heater operating, smear it around the gas connections and look for bubbles. Since it only happens while the heater is operating, you may have an LP leak between the gas valve and the burner.

This probably not the issue, but it's an easy test and worth a try. There's only an inch or two of pipe between the gas valve and the burner, but stranger things have happened.

PS: The gas valve will have a couple of wires going to it. In the water heater pic below, it's at the very top of the pic. So you're interested in the connections at each end of that looped piece of tubing.

Good call, I was going to check the other gas connections as well, I am pretty sure there is a T behind the valve, but like you said the fact that it doesn't happen when that valve is closed indicates whatever the issue is should be down stream from there.

Thanks!
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Old 05-02-2018, 12:33 PM   #6
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I am not sure if I trust the detector says it says LP and you smell exhaust.

also leak test the entire valve that the tubing connects to.

also check the regulator at the LP tanks. Someone else reported having a bad regulator that only leaked at certain flow rates.
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Old 05-02-2018, 01:09 PM   #7
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I know you said you smell exhaust.... and you also mentioned it was OK the first night.

Typically three things make the CO/LP detector go off... obviously sensing CO or LP.... and... low battery voltage warning which I'm pretty certain, lights the red indicator.

You mentioned you were dry camping for three days. Were you without power too?
Maybe the battery is low/dead?

I'm not discounting what you smell with the water heater on but you did say all worked fine the first night.

Just asking some questions...
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Old 05-02-2018, 01:15 PM   #8
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So just before this trip I added a second battery which caused me to relocate the regulator. Because of that I've had all the lines up front around the reg apart and checked them with soapy water.

We were dry camping, but I have a pretty large solar panel that was keeping the voltage topped off. I'm quite sure it wasn't a low voltage issue as I could smell the exhaust when running the water heater, esp under the dinette seat.

That and with the WH off, it never happened.

Keep the comments and questions coming though, I appreciate the thought exercise.
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Old 05-02-2018, 05:00 PM   #9
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On our first camping trip with our Salem Cruise-Lite I lit the WH and after several attempts if caught was heating well. About 10 minutes into this the gas alam went off and of course scared the s-- out of my wife and me. Turned off the gas supply and we survived without hot water for the next three days. After getting home I called my Mobile RV Tech and he came and tested several places for a leak. He found it in the tubing behind the pilot light for the oven (which had never been used - even with the previous owner). He used his soapy water mixture and within 2 minutes had the leak fixed which was nothing but a loose connection. He says connections like that can get loosened up from rough or uneven road surfaces. Since then now 10 months it's been fine. Pays to check with the soapy mixture on all gas tubing connections, even on the outside of the unit. Good luck.
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Old 05-02-2018, 08:51 PM   #10
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Easiest it...

Quote:
Originally Posted by rockfordroo View Post
Make some soapy water with dish soap and with the water heater operating, smear it around the gas connections and look for bubbles. Since it only happens while the heater is operating, you may have an LP leak between the gas valve and the burner.
It's easiest if you apply the mixture with a paint brush.

The mix doesn't have to be heavy on detergent. If you get bubbles when stirring or pouring, that's plenty. Try to be out of the wind when you do this test.

Larry
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Old 05-03-2018, 07:22 AM   #11
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It's easiest if you apply the mixture with a paint brush.

The mix doesn't have to be heavy on detergent. If you get bubbles when stirring or pouring, that's plenty. Try to be out of the wind when you do this test.

Larry
Good tip! I've only done it with a spray bottle and sometimes that isn't ideal.
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