Rv Gas Water Heater Won T Stay Lit

This is a question from a reader to chris dougherty certified rv technician when he was our technical editor dear chris my automatic ignition hot water heater in our motor home ignites but won t stay on.

Rv gas water heater won t stay lit.

If air manages to enter the lp or the liquid propane lines it becomes a hindrance to the water heater and it won t light. Okay but what if you get through each of these steps and still can t figure out what s wrong. Don dear don this is a result of the control. It tries several times and then quits.

When i turn it on it fires up for about 10 seconds then stops then fires up again and keeps repeating this cycle as long as the switch is on. Again easy fix quick solution. If you don t get a spark your system could have an electrode that is bent or carbon grounding. Thankfully a dirty pilot tube is the easiest issue to fix.

Atwood water heater won t stay lit it is the dsi model with propane 120 vac and motoraid heat exchanger. In case the hot heater starts you could conclude that air entrance is causing the real issue. This is also a likely cause if the pilot won t ignite at all. To detect whether it is the air causing the problem light the stove burners and consequently switch on the rv water heater.

Dirt and debris can collect in the pilot tube causing the flow of gas to be blocked. The last step of the rv water heater troubleshooting process is to turn off the lp system to check for a spark. The gas supply to the pilot assembly is controlled by this valve.