HELP!!!!!Lighting Hot Water Heater - RV-Dreams Community Forum

Sherree03 · RV-Dreams Community Member

HELP!!!!!Lighting Hot Water Heater

Lucky Mike · RV-Dreams Family Member

is it electronic ignition or do you have to manually lite it......make , model?

is there a button and a light in the bathroom or kitchen sink area....or on the monitor board?........are there manuals in the coach?......go outside and pull the cover to the ho****er heater ...are there lighting instructions on the back of it?

Cowdog353 · RV-Dreams Family Member

A couple of things to try , without knowing make, model. Try turning it on and listening outside by the heater, does it make any noise? If so, make sure propane tank is on and not empty. Also, if making a clicking noise then make sure burner tube is clear, spiders love to build in them and disrupting air flow. Not all of these checks will apply to all hot water heaters, but may give you a place to start.
As the previous post stated, knowing the make model etc will help a lot.
Good luck,
Jim

Sherree03 · RV-Dreams Community Member

yes it is an electronic ignition for gas. we have already turned on the switch in the bathroom and it would not even try to start. it just will not do anything, the light is on, it doesn't go into lock down the light stays on in the on position we have turned it off waited 5 to 10 minutes and tried it again but it just doesn't do anything.

Thanks for any help or advice.

Sherry

Workinrvers · RV-Dreams Family Member

just asking the obvious, are you sure you have gas and it is turned on?
also the ignition works off of 12V, is the coach battery charged and putting out the necessary voltage?

If both answers above are affirmative you may want to light a burner on the stove and make sure there is no air in the system.
Next I would locate the water heater access panel on the outside of the rig. Have someone flip the switch to "on" inside and see if you hear anything happening outside. You should be able to hear a small "clunk" of the gas valve working and then the click of the electronic ignition trying to light the gas. Try these things and if still nothing happening post again and we can give some more troubleshooting tips but this is where I would start.

Phil

Alie and Jims Carrilite · RV-Dreams Family Member

Is it s dual hot water heater.. Electric and gas..
Will it work on electric?

bjoyce · RV-Dreams Family Member

Find the brand and model number, if possible, and search the internet for manuals, starting with http://bryantrv.com/owners.html.

Terry and Jo · RV-Dreams Family Member

With respect to gas, if your LPG cylinders are the newer style (likely), then you want to make sure you turn them on v-e-r-y s-l-o-w-l-y. If they are opened to quickly, the safety valve in them is likely to close on you and not allow much gas to flow. If they have snapped shut, it would take quite a while for the small amount of gas leaking by the safety to pressurize the lines to where the safety valves would re-open. If you think that has happened, just close the valves on the cylinders and wait a while. Then re-open them slowly.

Another thing. Look to see if you have a hot water heater bypass valve within the water system. If your RV has one and it is closed, even if you have hot water, it won't get to the faucets, but you would be getting cold water only.

Terry

Sherree03 · RV-Dreams Community Member

Hi Jim,

First of all thank you for your reply, this so refreshing that people help so much on this site. Our motor home is a 1993 Holiday Rambler Alumi Lite, everything is all like automatic and the water heater has an as electronic ignition but it doesn't do anything. We have tried the on switch in the bathroom and nothing happens and it never goes into the lockdown but it just will not do anything and I am just lost as we try to fix everything ourselves and we are usually pretty good at it but not this time.

Thank again for any help.

Sherry

Sherree03 · RV-Dreams Community Member

Thank you so much for your reply.

Sherry

Lucky Mike · RV-Dreams Family Member

if it is electronic ignition and not doing anything.......take a multi meter and check for power on the high limit switch......the high limit switch is located on the outside of the hot water heater it will be a round disc.. there will be 2 side by side mounted to the tank .....for that year it is possible it has failed......a manual or schematic diagram will be needed to trouble shoot it