Podmods, Maintenance, Tips and Tricks: Currently camping..Need help with water heater

Currently camping..Need help with water heater

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Topic: Currently camping..Need help with water heater

Posted By: tsherv
Subject: Currently camping..Need help with water heater
Date Posted: 24 Jun 2020 at 3:28pm

Hi, I have a 2017 Rpod 180. We are currently camping in Rocky Mountain National Park. When we got here we developed an issue with our water heater. When I turned it on, it ignited, ran fine for a bit, then shut off. The red rocker switch is illuminated, the DSI light is not lit, but it’s like the water heater is dead. The reset buttons are all set. This morning I tried flipping of the breaker for the water heater, and turned it back on. When I hit the switch, the heater ignited and ran awhile, it then went out and wouldn’t start again.

Any ideas of what to do? My fridge, furnace, and stove all work fine on propane. Just not the water heater. My guess is it’s affected by altitude?

Any ideas would be appreciated!

Replies:

Posted By: Kup-Pod
Date Posted: 24 Jun 2020 at 3:50pm

A couple of questions...

1. Is your water already hot? Forgive me if that seems like a dumb question but it sounds like you are trying to run your water heater on both electrical as well as propane. The electrical may have already heated the water so you don't need to heat it on propane.

2. If you are truly only trying to run on propane, have you purged the line completely to make sure all the air is out of the line?

As far as altitude is concerned, I can't help you as I only live in the lowlands and have no experience in the heights :-)

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2017 RP-178
2021 F150 5.0l
"Lead me on a level path"

Posted By: tsherv
Date Posted: 24 Jun 2020 at 4:10pm

Thanks for the reply. I don’t have electricity, and the water heater definitely isn’t hot.

Recently it did fire up and it ran for about 10 minutes, then shut off. I opened the hot water on my faucet and got a bit of warm water (10 seconds maybe) then it went cold.

I’m wondering if the elevation is changing the flame, which is causing the sensor to shut it off? We are camping somewhere around 7,000 ft.

Is there a specific process to bleed the propane line for the water heater? My stove, fridge, and furnace are all working fine on propane.

Thanks again!

Posted By: furpod
Date Posted: 24 Jun 2020 at 8:48pm

It could be the altitude, somewhere around there is where things can start getting wonky. One thing to check though, make sure the burner area is clear of debris, spider webs, etc. We had a WH failure once caused by a butt load of stink bugs getting in the burner orifice.

Posted By: 1nana2many
Date Posted: 24 Jun 2020 at 8:55pm

We have camped at altitude with no issues multiple times, but I will second that spider webS can cause your water heater to not light properly. We have had an issue with that several times. Clean out the oriface and see if that helps.

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The mountains are calling and we must go...O.D., Keith & Jody
2016 RP179= O.D. (Olive Drab)
2008 Coachman Captiva
1993 Jayco 1206 popup
2016 F150 Supercrew

Posted By: tsherv
Date Posted: 24 Jun 2020 at 11:00pm

So, I started tearing into my water heater, and thought “that’s strange, my water heater feels warm”. Then it hit me: I’ll bet one of my tank valves is closed. Yep, that was the issue. Hot water heater valve was closed. Problem solved. Thanks for your help!