water heater ignition

[homer]

I have a suburban sw6de water heater. When i try to start it using propane i hear the clicking sound and then it locks out, after about two times then i get an explosion of built up gas. Sometimes it takes 15 to 20 attempts before it starts heating.

[Roswell-N-Marcia]

Mine does the same thing....except it just clicks and no gas. Sounds like the valve is the culprit. Does it work on the Electric Element?

[frankm]

Try purging the air out of the gas line by turning on one of the stove burners for a minute or so. Once you get a good flame going turn the stove off and attempt the WH again.

[Roswell-N-Marcia]

did that. twice. furnace, stove, fridge all work immediately upon trying. loosened inlet to valve - did bubble test - getting flow to valve. checked fuses - all good. checked connection - power at 110 at each connection (of the four) - resistance across 3&4 switch connections, but nothing across 1&2.

[VTX Al]

Originally Posted by homer

I have a suburban sw6de water heater. When i try to start it using propane i hear the clicking sound and then it locks out, after about two times then i get an explosion of built up gas. Sometimes it takes 15 to 20 attempts before it starts heating.

Sounds to me that you need to check for little critters (spiders, wasps, etc) that have taken up residence in the venturi,manifold system. Compressed air and/or a small round fairly stiff brush should take care of the problem.

...VTX-AL

[Roswell-N-Marcia]

Sorry....left out that step. That was the first thing I did - check and run a bottle brush through the tube to make sure no critters had taken up residence.

[j2detroit]

one question is your water heter door on the outside facing into the wind

[Bill_C]

If you are getting a small explosion then you are getting gas into the heater no problem. The problem is you are not getting ignition. I had a problem like that. The spark 'thing-a-ma-jig' had to be adjusted closer to the fuel outlet. It took a dealer 2 minutes to adjust it (not even the trailer dealer) and no charge.

[Roswell-N-Marcia]

I'm getting the spark - just not getting any gas. Even holding a lighter up at the opening of the gas tube - nothing. My problem IMO is the valve, not anything electric. The ignitor (the spark thing-a-ma-jig) sounds like it is the problem for Homer.

[homer]

The electric side works, but not quite as hot as gas heating. Thanks for all the input, i will try to blow out the wh with compressed air. I think it's the electrode or valve, not very familiar with this stuff.

[Night_Wolf]

On a previous trailer we had to leave the door open so enough "oxygen" could get to the heater. As long as the door was open the heater would fire, close the door and it would shut off. Took it to our dealer and came back with same issue. Hopefully the dealer where we purchased our 25RR has better techs

[RamblerGuy]

I had the same problem with our water heater. I could hear the spark sanpping, but sometimes it would make three tries and time (or lock) out. Sometimes after several tries it would ignite with a bang. The flame was fine once it ignited. I removed the burner and cleaned the gas orifice with caburetor cleaner and compressed air, but that didn't help.

I put my finger over the orifice while my dearly beloved switched it on. This prevented gas from entering the burner while I looked into it. I wore a face shield just in case! The spark was weak and not consistent. I reached in with some pliers and squeezed the two electrodes a little closer. It fires on the first try now.

[cpaulsen]

Had that same problem on a previous 5ver. I checked everything and everybody told me it was the gas valve. $70.00 later....it was doing the same thing. I checked for 12 volys on the brown wire from the module board the the water heater.....only had about 7 volts. Was enough to make it click but enough to open the gas solenoids. Borrowed a friends board....plugged it in and the water heater fired right up. So...bought a new board and all the problems are solved except I have a brand new gas valve that I do not need!!

[jkklops]

had the same problom with mine just put the elecrtic sparker closer to the end of the tube and it worked fine since that it would make a big bang to light it before i moved it in closer

[Herk7769]

As almost everyone stated, check for a broken or out of adjustment electrode.
I would add that the flue could be blocked with a nest of some kind (spider or wasp) causing an over rich mixture at the burner inlet.