my water heater


flash

Junior Member
Hi all, Brand new to RVing and would like to have some help. My husband and I just completed out "maiden voyage" or "shake down" cruise in our 'new to us' travel trailer. Everything seems to work perfectly except our water heater. Since neither of us is mechanicaly inclined I thought maybe I could get some help here. The water heater is propane, we light the pilot, it stays lit, we turn the knob to on and it goes on with a 'swoosh' and stays on for about 1 to 2 minutes. Then it turns off. I know it is not long enough to heat the water and no hot water (or even warm) comes from the faucet. Do you think I have a problem with the thermocoupler or anode or WHAT. Thanks for taking any time to help us with this.
 

Grandview Trailer Sa

Senior Member
Re: my water heater

Sounds like a thermostat problem to me. If your trailer is new, you have a warranty issue. The thermocouple keeps the pilot lit. Since the main burner is coming on, that is not it.
 

Poppa

Member
Re: my water heater

It comes on with a swoosh then goes out. Does the pilot stay lit? Does it come back on again ? How many times did you try it, the reason I ask this is there may be air in the line causing it to blow out, but here again if the pilot stays lit and does not come back on then it is probaly as Kenneth says a thermosat problem.
 

ARCHER

Senior Member
Re: my water heater

If it has one, it might also be the ECO as well as maybe the thermostat. The come together for about $18.00.
 

Kirk

Senior Member
Re: my water heater

First, what make and model is the water heater, Atwood or Suburban? If you have a pilot, I believe that you have to push in on the knob while lighting it? Do you keep that knob held in for a minute or two, until the pilot will stay lighted when you release the knob, without turning it to the on position? It sounds as though you may be turning it to on before the heat sensor has detected the flame and so it goes out as soon as you release the pushed in knob.
 

flash

Junior Member
RE: my water heater

Sorry, I neglected to mention that in fact the pilot does not stay lit after the burner goes out. It does not have a push in button for the pilot but rather a knob that you turn and keep on until the pilot stays lit, then turn to "on" at this point it senses the pilot and turns on the burner then clicks off after about 1 minute or so. The pilot goes out at that point also. The trailer is not new, just new to us. There is no manual for the water heater and I will have to go to storage to see what the brand is. Thanks for the response I have gotten so far and I hope this clarified my previous post.
 

utmtman

Senior Member
RE: my water heater

Did you check to make sure your bypass valve to let water into the water heater was on. That is usually located on or near the water heater end where the water goes in and comes out. Since it was a maiden voyage it could be that the valve was closed and the water was bypassing the heater, In that case it will do what you just said it did.
 

Grandview Trailer Sa

Senior Member
Re: my water heater

Sorry, but I disagree. An older, gas only, water heater is not "smart" enough to know if it has water in it.

Sounds like it could be the thermocouple, but the pilot would not stay on at first if the thermocouple was bad. I still think the thermostat is a culprit. We had to replace several this year doing the same thing.
 
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