Suburban Propane Water Heater Won't Light

[Tom 2424]

Let me start by saying I have found a LOT of useful info in this section of the forum, but my situation seems to be a little different.

When I go to turn on the water heater to use gas, the lighted switch comes on (see attached photo), but nothing else happens. What USED to happen is that the "DSI FLT" indicator would light briefly, then the ignitor would spark, the flame would light, and then the indicator would turn back off.

I pulled out the control board and took a good look at it, and there are none of the burn/melting marks that others have displayed.

So, my question is: Is it still some sort of fault with the Board that the heater doesn't even "try" to ignite? Again, I am suspicious because I used to get the DSI FLT light, but now it never even comes on.

Just to be thorough, I did verify all of my fuses and breakers. But since the blue indicator light does come on, that gives me some confidence that power supply is not the problem.

BTW, the heater is just one year old and still under warranty. But, I'll cross that bridge when I get to it .

Thank you for any advice!

[wmtire]

You can start at post #6 and progress to post #26 in this thread, for some troubleshooting tips on a Suburban propane/gas problems:


https://www.forestriverforums.com/fo...ml#post1827312

[Tom 2424]

I will take a look, thank you.

Tom

[5picker]

Follow the troubleshooting steps wmtire referred to but I'm going to guess a bad control board from your thought process. (well done by the way!)

Every water heater I've run across where it acts just as you have indicated, has been a bad control board. (again, provided the board is powering up per the troubleshooting steps)

[Tom 2424]

Wmtire, thank you for the comprehensive explanations and troubleshooting guide in the link you provided.

The good news is that, just for fun, I tried the WH again early this morning. Wouldn't you know it, but the unit started right up as normal...! When I turned on the power switch, the "DSI FLT" indicator immediately came on, then after the normal delay the WH fired and lit and the DSI indicator switched back off. I have already cycled it a few times this morning by running hot water and will leave it on all day.

In looking at wmtire's write-up, all I can figure is that the propane-side thermostat was stuck in the "not calling for heat" position. (I had pressed both reset buttons by the way, with no immediate impact.) THAT must be why I was not getting the DSI FLT indication when I powered it up. The system was behaving exactly as if it were already full of hot water.

One thing is that it was rather cool this morning (45 degrees), so maybe that was enough to get the water in the tank cold enough to remedy my possible thermostat situation.

I had let the trailer sit for several months without "exercising" the water heater, etc. I guess time got away from me... Going forward, I will be sure to cycle all the systems (slides, stabilizers, propane fridge, furnace, A/C, etc.) at least every month or two.

One final comment is that before buying any parts, in the future I will go through wmtire's troubleshooting. In this case, I believe I would have found that the WH unit was not calling for heat and that the control board might be OK.

Thanks again!

Tom

[wmtire]

Fantastic. We all like a happy camper story.

[JWood422]

Is it possible the water heater was working and the red light didn’t get the chance to come on? I never saw the red light on mine until recently. I ask because I didn’t see you say anything about the water not getting hot.
jw

[clanthon]

My suburban propane wh wouldn’t light. Did a little search online and one thing that was suggested was to pull each elect connection on & off several times and solved it. Apparently the connections can get a little corrosion on them. I also bought as spares, control board, thermal cutoff and igniter. These were the items listed as the ones that fail more often.

[Freetyme]

Glad it was as simple as that. I tend to over think problems, expecting them to be more than what they actually are.
Example : Fridge on AC over night. Switched to LP before departure. I always listen for igniter sound and watch for check lite on fridge panel. Didn't hear or see any of that, Oh Oh ! Soon realized fridge was cool enough and wasn't calling. Held the temp probe a bit to trigger a start, sure enough, no problem at all. Relief !

[Tom 2424]

JWood422, the water in the heater was cold, but the red light did not come on when I turned on the main power switch (the one with the blue light in the photo I attached earlier). I had waited for several minutes each time.

The WH really behaved as if the water in it was already hot. It must have been a stuck thermostat or loose wire. I have cycled the heater several times since then, by running hot water out of it, and all seems well.

I may also get an inventory of spares, which is a good suggestion.

[JWood422]

Originally Posted by Tom 2424

JWood422, the water in the heater was cold, but the red light did not come on when I turned on the main power switch (the one with the blue light in the photo I attached earlier). I had waited for several minutes each time.



The WH really behaved as if the water in it was already hot. It must have been a stuck thermostat or loose wire. I have cycled the heater several times since then, by running hot water out of it, and all seems well.



I may also get an inventory of spares, which is a good suggestion.

I couldn’t help but ask.

[doanshop]

My water heater acted like that and 3 months later the control board went bad I replaced it with a dinosaur board haven't had any problems since then. Hope you don't have the same problem. It was a Surburban 6-gallon DSi. I would turn it on it would open gas valve but no spark when it went bad. Old board you could see where it burnt out at black spot-on board. before it went bad it was hit or miss whether it would work.

[doanshop]

Since it's under warranty I would pull control board look at it to see if there is a burnt spot
starting to show up on the board it will die 3 months after warranty ends that the way my luck always works LOL

[Iwritecode]

Originally Posted by doanshop

Since it's under warranty I would pull control board look at it to see if there is a burnt spot
starting to show up on the board it will die 3 months after warranty ends that the way my luck always works LOL

You'll notice that the OP already did that as mentioned in post #1.

Originally Posted by Tom 2424

I pulled out the control board and took a good look at it, and there are none of the burn/melting marks that others have displayed.

Then mentioned in post #5 that the issue has been resovled.

Originally Posted by Tom 2424

The good news is that, just for fun, I tried the WH again early this morning. Wouldn't you know it, but the unit started right up as normal...! When I turned on the power switch, the "DSI FLT" indicator immediately came on, then after the normal delay the WH fired and lit and the DSI indicator switched back off. I have already cycled it a few times this morning by running hot water and will leave it on all day.