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Car Forum / Driving, Maintenance, Tuning / RVs / December 2006Water Heater Pilot Going Out
I just bought a new RockWood Premier PopUp, and the Suburban Brand Hot Water heater frequently, but not all the time keeps going out. It does NOT have the automatic/electric relighter, although I still need to check if my particular model can be adapted for one. The manual also stated that I needed a different size orifice for the heater above 4,500 feet of elevation. I asked the sales people about it and their suggestion was to purchase a "wind block" to go over the screen air intake. He also knew nothing about needing different sized orifices for higher elevations. Has anyone else needed to change out the orifice at higher elevation on their trailer? Has anybody used a "snap on wind break" to keep the pilot light lit? > Suburban Brand...Water heater frequently keeps going out. The same model on my old popup did the same. I kludged (solved) the problem by propping-open the access door about and inch or so during operation. I use a common "ty-rap" looped between the latching tab and its hole in the cover. This apparently allows enough/more air circulation that it stays lit. It was my experience that, with the cover fully closed, the pilot would always remain lit but, when the main burner fired, it would slowly starve for oxygen (presumably) and extinguish. The above "fix" worked like a charm. Then, on my new (in 2000) TT, with the SAME water heater, it exhibited the SAME behavior. My solution was the same. To this day, I set-up camp and hang-open the water heater door as described. Problem solved. Not elegant but effective. > It does NOT have the automatic/electric relighter, although I still > need to check if my particular model can be adapted for one. Based on my experience using my folks fancy fifthwheel for one season, if I ever get a DSI (direct-spark ignition) heater, I will have it retrofitted to ELIMINATE that <ahem> "luxury". I found it quite annoying that the heater would fire-up at any time, water use notwithstanding. I decided that a standing pilot keeps the tank warm enough that the main burner never fires unless hot water is drawn. Not so with a DSI: The 6-gallons of water cools until the main burner fires, then it shuts down, only to repeat the annoying cycle every so often. > The manual also stated that I needed a different size orifice for the > heater above 4,500 feet of elevation. I suspect that re-jetting of such an appliance is to provide optimum performance. I never had trouble running my heaters (stock) at 8500-ft when visiting the Rockies. If you LIVE above 4500-ft or camp there regularly, it might be worth the retrofit. Otherwise, unless the thing is totally unreliable AFTER trying my venting improvement suggestion (above), I'd live with it as is. Good luck!  Signature:) JR 2000 Skamper Ultra 249 TT 2002 Chevrolet Silverado 2500HD Vortec 8100 - Allison 1000 > I just bought a new RockWood Premier PopUp, and the Suburban Brand Hot Water > heater frequently, but not all the time keeps going out. It does NOT have [quoted text clipped - 7 lines] > trailer? Has anybody used a "snap on wind break" to keep the pilot light > lit? Generally, manufacturers recommend a high-altitude orifice above a specified number of feet of elevation, usually 8000 feet, but sometimes lower. This is because of reduced atmospheric pressure and reduced partial pressure of oxygen. The high-altitude orifices are smaller in diameter, letting less gas flow out. With some heaters, at higher altitudes, there is too much gas coming out for the available oxygen, and the heater will extinguish or not burn right (the main heater, not the pilot! The pilot is a small enough flame that it should not be affected by altitude). The high altitude orifice is supposed to fix that. If your heater heats well at the altitudes where you camp, there is no need to change the orifice. Make sure you DO HAVE a working propane detector in the camper. If your local sales people do not know about high-altitude orifices, I worry if they know enough about campers to get reliable advice from therm on ANYTHING. Of course, I can't really tell for sure, but it could be a combination of high wind and a lack of oxygen, but BOTH the heater and the pilot light have gone out at higher (7700 feet) AND lower (3200 feet) elevation. I'm going to try a "Wind Break" this weekend, at lower elevation, so we'll see what happens. The weather forecast calls for windy conditions Saturday. Regarding the salesperson, I agree, that since they knew nothing of the high altitude orifices, they are probably not the best person to ask advice from. >> I just bought a new RockWood Premier PopUp, and the Suburban Brand Hot >> Water heater frequently, but not all the time keeps going out. It does [quoted text clipped - 27 lines] > worry if they know enough about campers to get reliable advice from therm > on ANYTHING. > I just bought a new RockWood Premier PopUp, and the Suburban Brand Hot Water > heater frequently, but not all the time keeps going out. It does NOT have [quoted text clipped - 7 lines] > trailer? Has anybody used a "snap on wind break" to keep the pilot light > lit? Not me. >> I just bought a new RockWood Premier PopUp, and the Suburban Brand Hot >> Water heater frequently, but not all the time keeps going out. It does [quoted text clipped - 9 lines] > > Not me. Lots of pilot lights have an adjustment screw. My home heater one had one behind a screw cap. The Veteran's Day weekend I took the Pop-Up out again, but this time the elevation was not very high and the wind wasn't TOO bad. Anyway, I snapped on my home made wind break and did not have any problem with the pilot light going out. There were a few pretty strong gusts, so MAYBE the wind break worked. I'll have to keep trying to see. >>> I just bought a new RockWood Premier PopUp, and the Suburban Brand Hot >>> Water heater frequently, but not all the time keeps going out. It does [quoted text clipped - 12 lines] > Lots of pilot lights have an adjustment screw. My home heater one had one > behind a screw cap. "Unedited quoting is for lazy people." -Jim Redelfs, 1996 "The top-posted reply was Microsoft's intentional departure from a long-established internet convention. Do not be a sheep. REBEL!" -Jim Redelfs, 2003 (Quoting myself? Sheesh!) I hate top-posting. (oops!) <grin> > The Veteran's Day weekend I took the Pop-Up out again, but this time the > elevation was not very high and the wind wasn't TOO bad. Anyway, I snapped > on my home made wind break and did not have any problem with the pilot light > going out. There were a few pretty strong gusts, so MAYBE the wind break > worked. I'll have to keep trying to see. I misunderstood your original article. In article <rOS3h.2287$vP1.1362@newssvr13.news.prodigy.com>, > I just bought a new RockWood Premier PopUp, and the Suburban Brand Hot Water > heater frequently, but not all the time keeps going out... More accurately, I erred by mostly discussing my remedy for a DIFFERENT problem. I thought your MAIN BURNER was going out due to air starvation. Obviously, the pilot light failing to remain lit is quite another thing, particularly if it's being BLOWN out. That has happened several times for me (my SECOND Suburban water heater). So far, I just live with it. I can count on one hand the number of times I must re-light the pilot in a season, and that's with the door propped-open as I described previously. I simply check to ensure the water is hot well before I plan to take a shower and/or Mrs. MacWidow alerts me that there isn't any hot water. My biggest disappointment, of course, is that I'll proceed to spend the extra cents required to RE-heat the water. Honestly, if that's all the greater my "problem" is, I really don't have much of a problem. Recall that I prefer a standing pilot over a DSI system. Please at least describe your homemade windbreak. Posting a nice jpeg somewhere would be even more appreciated. TIA! I figure that, if you're still reading this novel <g>, you might find this interesting: "Chuck James" posted their original message (usenet "article") to <news:alt.rv.pop-up-trailers>. According to the message flow as MY newsreader sees it, the very FIRST reply In article <12m4qpf2caic406@corp.supernews.com>, Ambrose Kennedy <phake@nojunk.org>: added the following newsgroups: <news:us.military.army> and <news:alt.war.vietnam> with his two word reply. This is an intentional crosspost to two, inappropriate newsgroups. It is malicious mischief. This type of mischief is surely a good cause for the off-topics and crossposts we are enduring. Watch the HEADER of your reply, folks. Let's nip this in the bud. :/ JR > "Unedited quoting is for lazy people." > -Jim Redelfs, 1996 [quoted text clipped - 70 lines] > :/ > JR I have a few pictures that I can upload to a site which might give a clearer picture than I can describe. I just don't know where to post them. Any Suggestions? Anyway, I just took an old rectangular cake pan, which the wife no longer wanted. Be sure to check that FIRST! I cut it about the same height and about two inches longer than the grate on the water heater door. It wound up being about 5" x 7." I made 4 lengthwise cuts about 3/4" inch long on each end, top and bottom about 1/2 from the top and bottom edge. See the really bad ASCII drawing below. __________________ |_ <---Cut here _| <---Cut here | | | | |_ <---Cut here _ | <---Cut here |__________________| Then I bent the 4 small tabs out, and the 2 longer edges in, so that the long edges and the short tabs were 90 degrees opposed. I flexed the sheet metal a little to give it a little bow to it. The long edges were stuck between the water heater door, and the edge of the grate. The short tabs were then flush with the door. Now the grate was covered completely from left to right with this wind break, and the only way for wind to get into the water heater was for it to come through the opening on the top or bottom. | | | | _________________________________ Top view looking straight down from the water heater on the trailer \___________/ <----- This is how the wind break looks, standing directly above it. There seem to be lots of free sites that allow posting of images but one I use is http://www.pbase.com. I have so many images posted that I do send a contribution every couple of years. The section I use for popup pictures is shown in http://www.pbase.com/bfreeman/coleman_popup_camperlift_with_drill&page=all Bob Freeman, Tallahassee, Florida Coleman Westlake (2000) > There seem to be lots of free sites that allow posting of images > but one I use is http://www.pbase.com. That site is probably THE most popular among mid-to-high-end photographers. I wasn't aware that it was free. I use Flickr.com (a Yahoo service) and have even paid $25 for a year's-worth of expanded service. The biggest advantage of this service is that I use a plug-in for iPhoto, my photo software, that uploads my pics directly from the application. <http://static.flickr.com/99/316411496_19ba36914b.jpg> > I have so many images posted that I do send a > contribution every couple of years. Thank-you. Support of most-used software is the best way I know to keep those applications "alive". Software piracy hurts ALL of us. Also, DONATING (or modestly subscribing) to a favorite "free" on-line service helps the odds that that service will continue. > The section I use for popup pictures is shown in > http://www.pbase.com/bfreeman/coleman_popup_camperlift_with_drill&page=all Signature:) JR 2000 Skamper Ultra 249 TT 2002 Chevrolet Silverado 2500HD Vortec 8100 - Allison 1000 I haven't "contributed" to pbase.com in several years but I don't use it much anymore. You'll note that my vacation pictures all date back several years. I see that they have a newer copy of their "emagazine" at: http://i2.pbase.com/o1/mag/pbase_magazine_vol7_oct2006.pdf. You might wish to take a look. Bob Freeman >Software piracy hurts ALL of us. Also, DONATING (or >modestly subscribing) to a favorite "free" on-line service helps the odds that >that service will continue. Yeh and keeps you broke paying for crap that is overpriced, practically usless and has no guarantee. The majority of Linux is free and you can get the Debian Umbutu that is heads over heels better than Windows orWinspire That is unless you are a completly lazy. I tried Winsprire and even paid for the program. Total waste. Network card worked half the time, firewire card never worked and the program generally sucked. Donloaded Umbutu (Debian based Lunix just like Linspire) and works great after downloading the ISO and burning it. You can run from disk or install it. It reconizes my network card, my internet DSL router and firewire works perfectly. Only two problems is getting Flash Player update installed so grandkids can visit web sites like cartoonnetwork and Pokeman and play all the silly games. I so far have been able to capture video from DV camcorders, edit it and only need to figure out how to burn to DVD. I am well on my way to solving these two problems which will require more knowledge of command line and overcoming the permission issues. All this in about 10 percent of the time learning Windows and its ever changing costs and updates and real problems with security. Yes, be a sucker and pay thru the nose for Windows in the never ending cycle of broken promises, buggy software, and high prices and discontinued support and broken promises. Go to http://www.ubuntu.com/ and read and try. You can download tons of free software that rival the programs in Windows and they are FREE. In fact, that is their slogan. Oh by the way how many paid for and donation sites have went out of business because they flawed to start with or have idiots in charge? |
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