Water heater

[lessirrocc]

Last weekend we were away on a site with no hookups so we had to run everything of the gas and twelve volt when the generator was not on,generators were not problem on this site as it was a private site and all the other vans there were using them.

In the times when the generators were not on i switched to gas for hot water,but most of the time it would ignite then go out .

I checked all the usual things gas valve on to the heater cover of the flue and it also had no air in the tank as it heated up nicely on the generator,the van is two years old and never had a problem so before i go and rant at service center i thought i would ask for advice on here first.

 

[ProfJohnL]

Hello Les,

First of all lets consider the problem with the gas side of the heater.

You don't say how long the heater ran before going out. I will assume you mean it tried to ignite for about 10 seconds and then showed a fault. This indicates the system was unable to detect a flame. There are a number of reasons for this symptom:-

Did the flame actually light?, if not was the gas turned on to the heater, or perhaps the igniter was not working, or the ignition or flame detection probes have become damaged.

If the flame did ignite, then perhaps, the FD probe is damaged, or the control circuit has become faulty, or the flame is not burning correctly.

One of the possibilities is that the burner has become partially blocked, and this may be indirectly

the result of not using the gas to heat the water. The burners are excellent nest sites for insects, and even a few strands of spiders web in a critical part of the venturi will disturb the gas/air mix and flame pattern leading to loss of flame signal to the controller. IF the gas is used more frequently it is less likely to suffer the insect problem.

So you see there are several and possibly other faults that may account for the problem. Because it is a gas appliance, you must refer any service/repair work to a competent fitter.

Just out of interest, using a generator to heat the water is highly inefficient. At best your generator will be only about 8% efficient at converting petrol to electricity. By comparison, the heater has to be at least 70% efficient at converting gas to heat. It is far cheaper to buy LPG to heat your water than petrol, and not as noisy.

 

[lessirrocc]

Hi john

When i tried to use the gas i could here the igniter ignite it as it has always done but after maybe just two minutes the red fault light would come on,i would then leave it for a few minutes and try again.It did work fine two weeks ago and up till now never let me down.

We were running an event catering for lots of people all day this is why we had a generator with us powering hot water bercos and hot plates and lighting for the night time you dint have to tell me about the cost of fuel as we used

 

[ProfJohnL]

What make and year of heater are you having difficulty with?

 

[xtrailman]

les

just a guess, if your gas heater requires 12v, does it work ok when the generator is running.

If so could be low battery volts?

 

[PeaJay]

Have you removed the cover? If it can't get air,it won;t light.

HTH

Peter

 

[PeaJay]

Have you removed the cover? If it can't get air,it won;t light.

HTH

Peter

Sorry, just re read your query, you have tried it.

Peter