Hot Water will not run on propane

[smoothies]

We are having trouble with the hot water on propane. When the switch is turned on to run. The unit will spark then light, 3 seconds later it will turn off and repeat the cycle again. It will try to run 3 times and stop. We have changed tanks with no different outcome. Does anyone have any ideas?

[Charlie]

Several different things might the culprit, possibly a bad control board.

[mallardjusted]

Do your stove burners light ok (sufficient flames)? If so, then the control board or a pinched line may be at fault.

[Jeff Heiser]

We had a similar problem in our old TT. What it ended up being was leak in the propane line. We would try to light the pilot, it would light and go out 2 to 3 minutes later. I went out side to try lighting it mannually and the same thing. We also noticed that the refrig would not run on propane either but the stove did light. At the time I had no idea what the problem was. I found it by accident when parked in a rest area. I noticed that under the TT it looked like the horizon does on a desert/flat area when it is really hot. When I checked it out closer every so often I could smell the propane gas. I checked the tanks, the line up to the tanks and the long runs of the black pipe with no luck. Out of the blue my wife asked if I had checked all the pipe joints - well of course I did - all except for the elbows. The black pipe had wore out at the elbow joint and was leaking. Mind you it was not hissing out a big hole (could not hear it) but when I put my hand around the elbow I could feel the gas leaking. It was no bigger than the size of a small pin hole. To make a long story short, after many hours, a great deal of running around and a night spent in a rest area I got it fixed. As soon as I got it finished and turned the gas back on the hot water heater lit and stayed on. The same was true for the refrig. The worst part of this is that it happened to us twice (hence old TT).

I am not saying that for sure this is what is happening to you but you might want to check out your gas lines and fittings to be on the safe side.

Good Luck.
God Bless America
Jeff Heiser
Merritt Island Florida

[HamRad]

We have the same model as Smoothies except it's a 2002. We've never had the trouble with the water heater..... it comes on and stays on till water is hot.

We have had trouble with frig.... we sometimes don't notice the "check light". And sometimes we even forget to have propane bottles filled! That would be ME and not my better half! Once we get things like they need to be everything works fine. Go figure.

Good luck and let us know what you end up doing to get it to work. You've gotten some excellent info from other posts here. By the way since it is a 2004 model is it still under warranty? If so get it into a dealer asap and let them fix it.

HamRad

[sreigle]

There's a lot of possible solutions above. Another is what happened to us. We had a bug or maybe a spider web (not sure which) get in the burner tube. I just leaned down and blew hard into that tube and something blew out the other end. End of problem. Hopefully yours is as simple.

[tollmann]

Check the burner tube it probably has a spider web or a bunch of lady bugs. They love propane. It is easy to remove and clean it.

[smoothies]

We are having no trouble with the frig or stove. I have removed the burner tube and checked for obstructions. The unit does light however there is a click then the flame goes out and it tries to light.The flame is strong so I did not thick of a leak but will check. I was hoping to avoid go to the dealer, I have not heard of any good reports of the service dept.

[sreigle]

I haven't checked on this heater but isnt' there a flame adjustment? If I recall it may have to do with rotating the tube to adjust the air to the flame? I remember adjusting this on the water heater of our first old fifthwheel.

[Montana_2785]

OK, understand that I'm flapping my lip with absolutely NO first hand experience and relying on an old shaky memory from forums past....

The flame sensor that tells the electronic control board that a flame is currently burning is also....THE IGNITOR. I believe that the presence of a flame ionizes the air(???) and allows the control board to send a sense current to flow through the ignitor tip. If it is mis-adjusted (too far away from the flame) or dirty or...., then the sense current will not be able to flow and the control board will think that the flame blew out and will try again.

Do some google searches for problems with this description and see if you can find someone else on the net that has a better description. However, I think that if you try cleaning off the ignitor tip and checking how far away it is from the flame when it does burn (and trying to adjust if you can) perhaps you can "fix" it. I have absolutely NO idea how far away from the flame it needs to be. Perhaps try calling your dealer for the answer... I'd guess that since you have no problems with propane at other appliances, it is either the flame sense current or, as someone else has suggested, the control board itself.

My 2 cents worth.

Eric

[Jeff Heiser]

Eric,
I agree with you if there is no problems with any of other appliances that run off propane there is probably no leak to worry about. So the next place to look is on the board. I am sure, like you said, there is probably someplace on the web that gives the expected current settings, expected resistance etc and how to check and or troubleshoot the board with a simple volt/ohm meter.

God Bless America
Jeff Heiser
Merritt Island Florida

[HamRad]

smoothies,
Have you tried calling the folks who make the heater? If not I'd give them a call. They usually know what they're talking about and they usually bend over backward to help. Wish I had the number but I don't. It's probably in the Owner's Manual.

Good luck.

HamRad

[WildBigBill]

Are you turning on your propane tank valve slowly? It will give you that problem.

[HamRad]

smoothies,
Have you solved your problem? If so please share with us how you did it.

Thanks,

HamRad