Water heater won't light

[Pcnutz01]

I bought a 2017 Grey Wolf last year. Was able to lite the water heater just fine the first couple of times but have major problem lighting it ever since. Haven't been able to light it this year. It is a strictly propane system.

Any suggestions would be great!

[5picker]

Couple of questions...
Make/model of the water heater
Tank or tankless?
Do other LP appliances light and work OK?
12v system OK? Battery installed/connected or plugged into shore power?

[B and B]

Please check the burner tube for spider webs. That would be the first place. Second check the electric ignitor is working, small spark when lighting.

[Pcnutz01]

It is a suburban with propane. All other gas works fine.

I am stationary and have electric plunged in. Have company that winterizes and dewinterizes for me.

All info is at the trailer.

[larrytbm]

When it doesn't lite, do you hear the igniter sparking or no sound? If you are outside within a few feet of the WH it will be a distinctive sound. If no sound then it is an electrical problem only, maybe the igniter or bad connection.. If you hear the sparking then it is a propane problem. Maybe a clogged jet or propane valve ( electrical issue) is not opening. Also could be the igniter is not close enough to the propane jet to actually light. This is more an issue at higher altitudes where the lower atmospheric pressure allows the propane to disperse too much to support combustion.

[rskeans]

Decades ago I had a similar problem. Fixed it with a blast of compressed air. Ck B&B's comment above.

[UT_Grandpa]

My ignitor board died after just a couple of trips. There was no sparking going on. It is normally mounted on the water heater with some tape and has a couple of wires hooked to it. One is the ignition wire going outside to the heater.

Mine had a defective solder job on the board and a component overheated and burned the board. Replaced the board (under warranty) and back in business. It seems there were a large number of defective boards installed in the heaters so it is a common problem.

Spider webs in the burner tube generally causes black soot and the flame coming back at your face. No stovetop burners working? Propane issue: out of fuel, tank not turned on, regulator bad...

Dinosaur Electronics makes good stuff and probably a bit less than from Suburban. I used their boards on some propane fridges in a houseboat.

Good luck. Should not be too hard to find and fix.

[SailorSam20500]

You could also have an air bubble in the supply line. If so, you need to run thru the ignite sequence a number of times to let the air bleed out. ie. turn it on if you hear the igniter and it doesn't lite, turn it off, wait a minute or two and try again... It may take 3 or 4 tries to get it to lite. You can have the same issue with stove, fridge, and furnace.

[Pcnutz01]

Thank you all for your suggestions. I will try again this weekend.
I will let you know what happens.

[HerveVR]

Clean the burner tube of spider nest using a pipe(smoking)-cleaner that you can get in artcraft dept at Wmart or $ store. Also good for BBQ.

[BillyBass]

Just don't look in it bc you can't see it with a naked eye I did that and I had to tear it a part again in the rain. and run a brush through it

[gdtmalo]

I had same issue with my 2015 BlueRidge, after looking at all the same potential issues for the propane system, I checked the electric heating element at the water heater.
End result, if the element is burned out, the gas heater doesn't operate. Problem solved! Side Note, in my case, the element cost was about $4.00 cheaper at Ace Hardware. I learned that after I had purchased it at the RV Supply house.

[Ontherock]

Had a similar issue in my Wildwood that has a Suburban gas-only water heater. Used compressed air to blow out the burner tube. No spiders but found that rust and scale had dropped down around the burner / igniter causing a lighting issue. Did it again yesterday for first time lighting this year. Had to wait about 4-5 minutes to bleed all of the air out - even with the burner and furnace running. Working OK.

[wmtire]

Originally Posted by gdtmalo

I had same issue with my 2015 BlueRidge, after looking at all the same potential issues for the propane system, I checked the electric heating element at the water heater.
End result, if the element is burned out, the gas heater doesn't operate. Problem solved! Side Note, in my case, the element cost was about $4.00 cheaper at Ace Hardware. I learned that after I had purchased it at the RV Supply house.

gdtmalo, The OP stated they have a propane only water heater.

Originally Posted by Pcnutz01

I bought a 2017 Grey Wolf last year. Was able to lite the water heater just fine the first couple of times but have major problem lighting it ever since. Haven't been able to light it this year. It is a strictly propane system.

Any suggestions would be great!

Originally Posted by Pcnutz01

It is a suburban with propane. All other gas works fine.

I am stationary and have electric plunged in. Have company that winterizes and dewinterizes for me.

All info is at the trailer.

On a Suburban water heater that DOES have an electric heating element, it functions totally independent of the propane side (there are two thermostats). A burned out electric heating element will have no effect on the propane side functioning, and that is by design.








It's possible you may have tripped both ECO/Hi-limit thermostats (they are underneath the rubber cover that has the word RESET on them). If so, if you reset them after replacing the electric thermostat, it may have seemed like they both now worked, but the propane side would have, even without the electric heating element.

[Thesheehys]

UT_Grandpa
Im thinking I may have the same problem as you had with the ignitor board. Was there any obvious signs on your board itself like a brown spot where it overheated ? Mine isn't making any spark and the board is very hot to touch. It must have bounced loose during travel and maybe that was part of the cause of malfunction.

[UT_Grandpa]

On the bottom of the control board under the plastic cover I found a very hot spot and burned circuit board. The defect was caused by a bad solder joint on the PC board and is really obvious once you can see the actual board.

Since mine was in warranty I gave them the bad ignitor and they gave me a new one. Becoming detached from the styrofoam insulation of the heater is not damaging to the board.

If you are out of warranty there are aftermarket boards that might be better in terms of cost and performance. See here: Ignitor Board Index page

[Thesheehys]

Thank you
I don't see any obvious signs of it burning out but I still think that may be my issue. I'm under warranty still so I may dump the issue on the dealer.