Surburban Hot Water heater won't stay lit

[daveinaz]

Tried lighting the water heater for first time. Turn on the gas. Turned on the hot water heater switch inside. Went outside and looked. I hear a rapid clicking sound, the burner lights, clicking sound continues, flame shuts off after a second or two. It starts clicking, relights, stays lit for a second or two, then shuts off.

Any ideas? Thanks.

[DQDick]

I'd check the thermocouple that senses the flame. If it isn't aligned in the flame than that would be the issue, otherwise the thermocouple could be bad.

[rohrmann]

You might also turn on a burner on the stove and run it a little. Might have a bit of air in the gas line. Does the furnace light and stay lit?

[daveinaz]

haven't tried the furnace yet. I'll try the stove and furnace tomorrow. thanks.

[Sdgood1]

I’m with DQ. My old Salem did the same thing. Had to replace thermocouple.

[daveinaz]

another question. On our motorhome, the HWH was gas only whereas this one is elec and gas.

On our monty, I found that there is also an on/off switch on the HWH itself for the elec element.

Does the switch on the monitor panel turn on the HWH in both modes and the HWH senses whether it is hooked up to elec or only gas and operates accordingly?

Is the on/off switch on the HWH itself only for servicing the unit?

I've had the monty plugged in with the HWH drained previously and I'm hoping that the elec element in the HWH wasn't going on with an empty tank since the on/off switch on the HWH itself was switched on. THe HWH switch on the panel was off, but the on/off switch on the HWH itself was on.

I"m probably headed to the parts store anyway so...
THanks.

[DQDick]

The switch in the control pannel is all I ever turn off. I leave the one by the heater on all the time. Mine also has a switch in the pannel for propane, so I can use one or the other or both together.

[daveinaz]

Well, after reading the manual, I'm pretty sure I fried the elec heating element by having it plugged in without any water in the heater. It says "By far the most common trouble with electric water heaters results from energizing the water heater before it is filled with water. Even brief operation of the electric element without water in the tank will burn-out the electric heating element.

After we'd winterized it, we plugged it in one weekend when working on it. I've gathering that the switch on the panel is for propane operation where if you re operating on electricity, the electrical heating element is turned on either by the switch at the HWH itself or the breaker in the RV. So since the breaker was on, and the on/off switch at the HWH was also on, my guess is it's toast.

Fortunately, they aren't very expensive -- under $20 so I'll get a heating element and a thermocoupler (or as Surburban calls it an "electrode") ordered in.

[daveinaz]

Thanks for the suggestions. I took out off the thermocoupler. Thing looks brand new. I think the PO never used the gas option on the HWH since he was living in it and hooked up to shore power. Anyway, I took it off, blew compressed air into the burner area -- a fair amount of flakey stuff blew out, reattached the thermocoupler, and it lit and stayed lit. Hot water!

Thanks.

[beeje]

Yes if you ran the water heater without water in it, the element is toast. Not a good idea to leave that outside switch on unless you are real careful.

Now as for the propane side, like mentioned, light the stove first to draw the propane closer to the water heater. Then try to light the water heater.

I have also seen many times where spiders/bugs have built there nest/cocoon in the tubes to the heater. Carefully blow compressed air through the tubes and see if that works. You may have to take the tube out to get it cleaned out. While you have it out you can also clean out the burn chamber with a wire brush and blow it out with air.

[StageCoachDriver]

Had similar problem. Turned out to be a crimped gas line - covered by warranty.

[tomJerram]

also use canned air to blow out the burner tube in the heater insects often build nest in there.

[Woodworker]

Had the same issue. Twice. First time it was an electronic box that went bad. It's about the size of a wallet. Dealer sent me a new one, easy install, plug and play. I also bought a back up from Amazon.
2nd time mice had chewed through the wire going from the electronic unit to the electronic igniter. I patched the wire and it worked again. The downside is that my HWH is underneath the counter so I had to remove shelving to get to it.
Good luck.