Fired up water heater (gas only) without water. Oops!

[ChiefGeek]

Okay, so hooked up water today, made sure it ran out both hot and cold taps. It did. So I fired up the hot water heater after putting the anode back in, and I could hear it fire up. After waiting a while, still no hot water. Then I remember I turned some bypass valves last fall when winterizing. So I went in the bathroom, removed the access door, and turned a valve handle and heard the woosh of water. Just then I realized the gas had fired on and heated the tank.

Question: Is the tank okay? The reason I ask is after it filled with water, the tank no longer fired up, in fact the fault light inside (toggle switch) didn't even come on. Had to call it a night at that point, so I shut off the gas, turned off the water hose.

Anything I could check to see if the tank is okay? It's a gas only heater, no electric. DSI on a Forest River Salem Cruise Lite, 2012. Thanks everyone!

[TheWolfPaq82]

Being as it's gas only, don't see why it would cause any damage.

[wmtire]

Originally Posted by ChiefGeek

Okay, so hooked up water today, made sure it ran out both hot and cold taps. It did. So I fired up the hot water heater after putting the anode back in, and I could hear it fire up. After waiting a while, still no hot water. Then I remember I turned some bypass valves last fall when winterizing. So I went in the bathroom, removed the access door, and turned a valve handle and heard the woosh of water. Just then I realized the gas had fired on and heated the tank.

Question: Is the tank okay? The reason I ask is after it filled with water, the tank no longer fired up, in fact the fault light inside (toggle switch) didn't even come on. Had to call it a night at that point, so I shut off the gas, turned off the water hose.

Anything I could check to see if the tank is okay? It's a gas only heater, no electric. DSI on a Forest River Salem Cruise Lite, 2012. Thanks everyone!

Since you stated you have an anode, then it's should be safe to assume you have a Suburban brand, tank type water heater.


By your own admission above, you first state you turned "some" bypass valves (plural), and then state you turned "a" valve handle (singular).

Any valve handles you correctly turned to winterize, you will have to turn back to dewinterize. The number of which can be three, two, or one.....as different RV's have different bypass valve setups.

Check this thread out to see what may match your particular setup. There are several posts with several different bypass valve setups pictured. Read all 5 posts. We keep it as a sticky at the top of the plumbing section.

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

Now once you get the bypass valves set correct for normal use, you can proceed:

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 (as you found out). 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







Now do you see that black little rubber cover below the temperature/pressure relief valve with the circles on it (in the pic above). This is the manual reset to your hi-limit/ECO thermostat. Sometimes this resettable thermostat will trip if you dry fire the tank as you did.


One you have verified for sure that the bypass valves are correct, AND that water is in the tank itself by water coming out the temp/pressure relief valve.....you can push in on the right hand circle with your finger to reset the hi-limit/ECO thermostat if it has tripped. The right hand one is to the 12 volt DC/propane. If you see a left hand one, it is to the electric heating element which you state you do not have.


You can make sure you do not have an electric option, by reading this thread. Sometime members find out they do indeed have the electric option and never knew they did. The link below also explains the 3 try lockout, and your dsi fault light. You may also have to read the entire thread, which is several posts.



http://www.forestriverforums.com/for...ore-36197.html



Hope this helps

[wmtire]

I edited the above post with more info/links

[ChiefGeek]

Good stuff, thanks. Any idea if I might have damaged the tank filling it while hot? Also any idea why the heater wouldn't fire back up or the wall light wouldn't even come on? Thanks!

Originally Posted by wmtire

Since you stated you have an anode, then it's should be safe to assume you have a Suburban brand, tank type water heater.


By your own admission above, you first state you turned "some" bypass valves (plural), and then state you turned "a" valve handle (singular).

Any valve handles you correctly turned to winterize, you will have to turn back to dewinterize. The number of which can be three, two, or one.....as different RV's have different bypass valve setups.

Check this thread out to see what may match your particular setup. There are several posts with several different bypass valve setups pictured. Read all 5 posts. We keep it as a sticky at the top of the plumbing section.

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

Now once you get the bypass valves set correct for normal use, you can proceed:

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 (as you found out). 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







Now do you see that black little rubber cover below the temperature/pressure relief valve with the circles on it (in the pic above). This is the manual reset to your hi-limit/ECO thermostat. Sometimes this resettable thermostat will trip if you dry fire the tank as you did.


One you have verified for sure that the bypass valves are correct, AND that water is in the tank itself by water coming out the temp/pressure relief valve.....you can push in on the right hand circle with your finger to reset the hi-limit/ECO thermostat if it has tripped. The right hand one is to the 12 volt DC/propane. If you see a left hand one, it is to the electric heating element which you state you do not have.


You can make sure you do not have an electric option, by reading this thread. Sometime members find out they do indeed have the electric option and never knew they did. The link below also explains the 3 try lockout, and your dsi fault light. You may also have to read the entire thread, which is several posts.



http://www.forestriverforums.com/for...ore-36197.html



Hope this helps

[wmtire]

Originally Posted by ChiefGeek

Also any idea why the heater wouldn't fire back up or the wall light wouldn't even come on? Thanks!

I'm thinking (not positive) that if you have tripped the hi-limit/ECO resettable thermostat (underneath the rubber cover) that you have no power to module board, thus no power to the DSI fault light.


See this schematic and how power goes from the switch inside the RV, to the thermostats, and then to the module board (which the module board controls everything from that point on). If the power is stopped at the hi-limt/ECO thermostat, then nothing past that point should have power, as the schematic doesn't show any other source of 12 volt DC + power.

[Scrapper]

Originally Posted by wmtire

I'm thinking (not positive) that if you have tripped the hi-limit/ECO resettable thermostat (underneath the rubber cover) that you have no power to module board, thus no power to the DSI fault light.


See this schematic and how power goes from the switch inside the RV, to the thermostats, and then to the module board (which the module board controls everything from that point on)

You are correct, once ChiefGeek resets the hi-limit/eco the wh will fire as normal.

[ChiefGeek]

I'll report back...thanks for the help!

[nomad297]

If your heater is (probably is) glass-lined, dry-firing it with gas, then filling it while the tank is blistering hot can cause the glass to fracture and flake off. You you should now check your anode more often than usual.

Bruce

[Frank47]

No water in water heater, I fried it up on gas. It worked as it should DSI light lit then went off. ( not on electric) All good I thought, Then I remembered No water in heater. It works on electric but will not work on gas. No dsi light when I try to start it. What did I kill?