Water Heater Fix

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dr tom
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Last seen: 3 years 6 months ago
Joined: 05/03/2014 - 18:55
Water Heater Fix

The Atwood HW heater on my 2014 13'er started to act up, wouldn’t stay lit, or would go out after a few minutes, AND when lit for those few minutes, there was a small jet of flame coming out of the small hole (air vent?) in the connector.
“Not Good,” as the guy at the Campers Inn said.
Searching the web found no apparent relevant advice, altho there were some clues:
-that the pilot light should be high enough to touch the thermocouple;
-that enlarging the vent with a pin could damage the system.
Hmmm.
All the symptoms implied there was a blockage somewhere preventing the pilot flame from being strong enough to keep the thermocouple hot, and sending excess gas out the vent, AND,
There was a tiny vent hole –smaller than a pin (.6mm)–somewhere that I should avoid.

Armed with that knowledge, I grabbed my tool box, a 6 inch length of an old guitar E string (.013mm), and a bottle of canned air [not Canned Heat].

I figured out how to (carefully) disconnect the gas line from the pilot/thermocouple assembly. I probed into the pilot tube with my guitar string wire, but it would only go in about a half an inch, but I couldn’t see inside the tube to see what was blocking it. But probing into that hole on the side of the pilot tube revealed a little cup, loosely fitted inside the gas line, held inplace by the gas line when attached, with a tiny, tiny, nay eeensy, hole (smaller than my guitar string).  
So I blew some air thru that, blew some more thru the pilot gas tube, and reassembled it.
Violets! It works.
Total time worrying: 4 days; actual time working: -15 minutes.

Greg A
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Joined: 11/02/2013 - 20:45
Good fix

Those lines occasionally get blocked, as propane supplies are not always high grade. Same thing can happen on the fridge as well. You were correct to proceed carefully as the small hole in the jet can be damaged easily.

 

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