I’m a newbie with a 2011 173t rpod. I was working on dewinterizing, sanitizing and checking the water system. It seems that the water heater is working on electric, but it is not firing up on propane. I have questions but I don’t know what I don’t know.

Is the inside switch/reset button supposed to light up?

Do you turn off the outside switch to use propane?

Is there a specific procedure to follow?

Grateful for any advice.

Dan

Hello and welcome! The learning curve for a beginner is sometimes quite steep. I know it was for me. Hang in there. It will get easier.

Inside switch controls the propane side. The switch will be lit if it is turned on. The DSI Fault light will turn on initially and then turn off when the propane ignites.

The outside switch (in conjunction with the breaker in the power panel) controls the electrical side. As Fred stated, leave that off unless you are absolutely sure your water heater tank is full (check by pulling the pressure relief valve lever). If air comes out, then you do not have a full tank. If water comes out, it is full and under pressure. If nothing comes out, check the position of the bypass valves inside to make sure they are in the correct position to allow the tank to fill. The hot and cold water line valves should be open (parallel to the tubes) and the bypass valve (on the tube between the hot and cold water lines) should be shut (perpendicular to the line) if you have the three valve system. Given the age of your RPod, you should have the three valves.

As for purging the gas lines by running the stove, that may help. The water heater draws enough gas so that it would not take much to purge it since it is close to the tank anyway and uses a larger quantity of gas than the stove so the line should be purged and gas flowing very quickly anyway. Let us know if this answers your questions and if it works for you.

Hi Dan

You must have water in the H/W tank, I assume you do. If you turn on the water pump, and go outside to the W/H and just barely open the emergency pressure release valve (just like your home W/H) water should come out. You would now be positive there is water in it.  As far as making H/W on propane, I recommend this. You go out back and open the cover. Have someone turn on the H/W switch inside (do not use the outside switch, make sure its off) Do not get your face to close, and listen. You should hear a series of clicks. The system tries to lite the fire 3 times before shutting it down and showing DSI fault inside. You should hear those three sets of clicks if it doesn't light. You should smell propane at this point (if it doesn't light).  If it does light, you will hear the "Whoosh" of the ignition (Why you should keep face away). If you make several attempts and it only does the clicks, and doesn't light, I would suspect the igniter board. Your local dealer should be able to check it, mine has a tester, I assume they all do. It's a cheap part, 85.00 on amazon, maybe 120.00 at the dealer. It is probably located right on the hot water tank. It should be rather cheaply attached with a wire tie. Mine is in a small white box about 3 inch long, 1 1/2 inch wide. Good luck and let us know what happens

Dan (a little bit smarter today)