Water heater and wind

[Staying comfortable]

I have a Suburban direct spark water heater in my RV the wind seams to keep the water heater from working it will light then just go out when the wend is blowing. After it lights three times it will just stay off with the orange light on. Is this normal? Have others had this problem and fixed it? If so what did you do?

 

[akjimny]

Re: Water heater and wind

Hi Dan and welcome to the RVUSA Forum. Are you talking about wind when you're driving or wind when you're parked? Most of us don't run the water heater while driving because it uses up propane and with a 6 gallon tank, it heats up fast when parked. If the wind blows out your heater when parked, you are probably missing a shield, If you have the manual for the heater, it should have a picture. Check and let us know. Hope this has been a little help.

 

[Guest]

Re: Water heater and wind

good point Jim ,, i have never seen a w/h that gets blown out by wind once it is lit ,, there must be,, as u say ,, a shield is missing ,, or the air to the burner is set to lean ,,or the gas valve on the w/h may be going bad and not letting enough lp to it,, but as u ,, i would like to hear more :approve:

 

[vanole]

Re: Water heater and wind

All good info rom akjimmy and 730. My former M/H had a Atwood hot water heater and after 3 unsuccessful attempts to light it would go into a lockout mode that you had to manually reset. I've heard of W/H's blowing out in winds in the past but never experinced it.

Just to make sure I'd add check to make sure some flying insect or spider has not started a nest in the burner. The nest could be just small enough that when you get a brreze it futz' with the air/gas mixture just enough not to allow combustion.

Jeff

 

[Guest]

Re: Water heater and wind

Jeff ,, one i did not think of ,, u may be right ,, i have never had my w/h blow out ,, even in tropical storm barry ,, it was running at the time ,, and mine was on the same side as the wind ,, coast side ,, and it went thru it's normal routine ,, but that was until we were told we had to evacuate our sight ,, and i lost a 20ft sewer hose ,, and also a 10ft fresh water hose ,, but we are still here today ,, and dummy me ,, after we were put in the holding bin ,, i just had to go out and watch the waves ,, and i got to say ,, pretty impressive