Suburban Water Heater Problems

[Rus Lwt001]

We just returned from our fourth trip in our 2012 Shadow Cruiser 285RLS. Four trips all ending in dropping the TT off at the Service Department for the very same reason every time....the water heater is just not working properly. Each time the dealer had the TT for a week and said it was fixed ....it is not. Really frustrating. Here is what is happening: The water heater initially lights and heats the water at set-up. At anytime after that, when it tries to light (because of hot water demand) it goes through the three separate attempts to light and just does not light. Most times, on the second of the three attempts it explodes but immediately goes out. Black soot all over the place. I have to manually insert a lighter into the burner area when the clicking begins after a reset. It immediately lights and does its job. On this trip it was even more frustrating. We were at Anastasia State Park in St Augustine, FL and got evacuated becuase of the Tropical Storm. After we made our way inland, I had to light this manually every time in the pooring rain. This really sucks and I do not know what to do. The dealership is the only Cruiser RV dealer in my area. At what point will they just replace with a new water heater? Anyone have recommendations? This has been the absolute only problem with the new TT but it is just too frustrating.

 

[chupp21]

It sounds like the burner tube might be clogged. the propane will come out a nozzle into a brass burner tube. there is a hole in the side of the tube to allow air to be sucked in to create a flammable mixture. if the tube is clogged with a spiderweb or something else, all of the propane will not flow through the tube and some will instead escape out the hole where the air is supposed to get sucked in. Eventually it will get to the igniter causing a small explosion. try pushing a pipe cleaner through the tube until it comes out the other end, by the igniter. if that is clean, look at the igniter to make sure you see a spark between the two prongs. if not it could be out of adjustment, or it could be arcing to the gas pipe or the frame. also check the burner box for obstruction. the burner box is a tube with a piece of sheet metal separating it into a lower and upper compartment. the flame will shoot in the lower compartment, around and out the upper. if there is some blockage you may not get the correct flow to ignite. the fact that you can light with a lighter seems to rule some of this out, but still worth checking everything out. My guess is the service guy is just lighting it once and says it's ok. Maybe insist on showing them the problem if you haven't done that already. Good luck.

 

[Rus Lwt001]

It sounds like the burner tube might be clogged. the propane will come out a nozzle into a brass burner tube. there is a hole in the side of the tube to allow air to be sucked in to create a flammable mixture. if the tube is clogged with a spiderweb or something else, all of the propane will not flow through the tube and some will instead escape out the hole where the air is supposed to get sucked in. Eventually it will get to the igniter causing a small explosion. try pushing a pipe cleaner through the tube until it comes out the other end, by the igniter. if that is clean, look at the igniter to make sure you see a spark between the two prongs. if not it could be out of adjustment, or it could be arcing to the gas pipe or the frame. also check the burner box for obstruction. the burner box is a tube with a piece of sheet metal separating it into a lower and upper compartment. the flame will shoot in the lower compartment, around and out the upper. if there is some blockage you may not get the correct flow to ignite. the fact that you can light with a lighter seems to rule some of this out, but still worth checking everything out. My guess is the service guy is just lighting it once and says it's ok. Maybe insist on showing them the problem if you haven't done that already. Good luck.

Thank you. I will review all of this. I did state exactly to the service tech every step and problem experienced. I agree though that I think they just light it once and go. Probably charging Suburban or Cruiser RV big $$ for warranty work everytime.