Suburban hot water heater. SW6DE

[92019875]

Water heater will light ,but only burns for 5 to 10 sec. dose any body know what part needs to be replaced ?

[wmtire]

Originally Posted by 92019875

Water heater will light ,but only burns for 5 to 10 sec. dose any body know what part needs to be replaced ?

Before we start talking about replacing parts, lets go thru some easy troubleshooting first. The problem with this, as in every beginning of camping season is many people dry fire their tanks, because they still have the tanks in winterizing mode. Let's eliminate that possibility then can go from there. If you are dry firing your tank, the thermostat may be shutting off the burner as it's designed to do when the tank wall reaches a certain temperature.


Probably the easiest way to verify there is water actually in the water heater, is to briefly flip up the lever on the temperature/pressure relief valve at the top of the water heater (pic below). If water comes out here, then the heater should be full of water. Just turning on the hot water faucets inside the RV, cannot be a trusted way to verify. If you have your water heater bypass valves still in the winterization mode, then the cold water line is actually merged into the hot water line, and you will get water out of the hot water faucets.......but it's not coming from the water heater, which would be bypassed and dry inside.

WARNING: In case the water is already heated, DO NOT stand directly in front of the temperature and pressure relief valve when flipping up the lever. Stand off to the side so you don't get splashed with possible hot water.







Also see this thread:


http://www.forestriverforums.com/for...st-103381.html

[92019875]

Water heater is full. Clicks and burner lights. Only burns 5 to 10 seconds ?

[wmtire]

How old is this heater?

Is this your first time to attempt to use it this season?

Suburban has had a bad batch of module boards.

[92019875]

Yes hasn’t work this year. 2017 fr never used it very often always used electric

[Iwannacamp]

Is it giving a fault light? Does it try to light again? Is the flame good and strong on the surface unit? Have you looked at the burner orifice on the WH....spiders like LP if I understand correctly.

Wmtire IS the water heater expert. He will help you figure it out.

My preliminary thought is the flame sensor is not proving back and turning off the gas. As he mentioned the Suburban boards of the last few years have had issues, but I am pretty sure they give a fault light when they do...mine did. They are easy to check.

[wmtire]

There are a few things that could be wrong. The module board is a likely thing.


Here is a link to the service manual in our library


Forest River Forums - Downloads - WH_Service and Training Manual 05-18-11.pdf


and this post will show you how to locate the module board where you may can see if there are burned spots on it:


http://www.forestriverforums.com/for...ml#post1906134

[Iwannacamp]

Here is a pic(stolen) of a burned one...

[wmtire]

Your year model does fit within the bad batch of boards. It definitely could be something else too, but that is where I would look first. Even if you do not see a burned spot, there are reports of bad solder joints/etc.


Let us know what you find, and we can see about the flame sensor as Iwannacamp described (which could be the problem too)

[92019875]

Fault light is on ,goes off when burner lights ,,burner goes off fault light comes back on.will try to relight Sometimes back fires burner has strong flame

[92019875]

Board is in a hard to reach area,,will check that, is flame sensor and igniter same part. No spiders

[wmtire]

Originally Posted by 92019875

is flame sensor and igniter same part

Kind of, actually it's called an "electrode assembly"

[Scrapper]

Originally Posted by 92019875

Fault light is on ,goes off when burner lights ,,burner goes off fault light comes back on.will try to relight Sometimes back fires burner has strong flame

Back firing as in flame comes towards you when it lights usually means bugs have crawled in the burner tube assembly to escape the cold. In this case you need to blow the tube out with an air compressor. Asian lady beetles, orange with black dots, are known to gather in large groups in the burner tube and die from the cold. This will also cause the flame sensor to over heat and shut down the wh.

Been there before and all it took was blowing the buggers out.

[92019875]

Thanks,, that was first thing I tried

[Larry-NC]

Originally Posted by 92019875

Thanks,, that was first thing I tried

Run all the range burners for a few minutes, then try the water heater again.

Larry

[BillyBass]

Originally Posted by 92019875

Water heater will light ,but only burns for 5 to 10 sec. dose any body know what part needs to be replaced ?

If you check for webs in the pipe run a pipe cleaner in it bc there naked to the eye That happen to me. Please let us know when you figure it out

[satdog01]

X2 with WMTire!, our 2017 Flagstaff Classic had the same issues. FR tech checked out it at Goshen in 2016, had Suburban come check it out, issue was the circuit board pictured above. Had the same burnt spot on it. I had tried replacing the spark switch for no positive results.