2017 hot water heater and refrigerator won't stay lit

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2017 hot water heater and refrigerator won't stay lit

May 31, 2021, 09:13:17 pm

Just purchased a 2017 RB and took her on a maiden voyage without hookups. The hot water heater started right up and heated the tank. The refrigerator worked fine on propane too until it didn't! The hot water heater would NOT fire up again for the rest of the weekend and still won't. As soon as we try to turn it on, it clicks a few times to light then the red check light comes on and nothing happens. Sometimes the refrigerator will light and stay lit for a few hours then it's starts clicking again as it's trying to ignite but won't so we have to turn it off. We have plenty of propane (2/3 of a tank), the stove is working fine, and the LD was perfectly level. Any thoughts on what could be causing both to malfunction intermittently?

Re: 2017 hot water heater and refrigerator won't stay lit

Reply #1 – May 31, 2021, 09:58:55 pm

Does everything work again once you're connected again to hookups (or with the engine running)?

Do you have solar, or any way to see what the coach battery voltage is? Low battery voltage (in the coach batteries) can result in all sort of strange behaviors.

Rich

Re: 2017 hot water heater and refrigerator won't stay lit

Reply #2 – May 31, 2021, 10:17:54 pm

Yes, I now have it hooked up to my house and the refrigerator is working in the A/C mode. The water heater still won't light though. Yes, we have solar and the battery indicates it is fully charged. Thanks for any insight.

Re: 2017 hot water heater and refrigerator won't stay lit

Reply #3 – May 31, 2021, 11:38:51 pm

Just a couple of quick comments. It's a bit unusual for both the refrigerator and water heater to go bad at the same time. The frig works on AC so that's encouraging but not on propane. Propane water heater doesn't light. So the common problem might be propane. Does the cooktop still work? If the cooktop doesn't work either, then you've probably discovered the source of the problem. (Check to make sure the propane tank valve is open).

If the propane cooktop works, then I'm still doubtful that control boards on both the water heater and refrigerator are bad unless the Rig experienced some kind of power surge. At this point, if I were you, I'd wait for the more experienced members of this Neighborhood to return from their weekend adventures ... they'll certainly trouble shoot this issue with you shortly.

Re: 2017 hot water heater and refrigerator won't stay lit

Reply #4 – June 01, 2021, 02:56:00 am

I know that you checked the propane valve, but is it completely turn “fully” on. Valve turned in the correct direction?

I’ve had our propane partially turned on and the burners on the stove lit but had a small flame. It turned out that I had had the propane tank nearly turned off barely suppling gas.

Turning the valve completely in the correct direction fixed the issue. It’s been several years since this occurred but I believe the fridge had also stopped working until I opened the tank valve fully.

Good luck,

Kent

Re: 2017 hot water heater and refrigerator won't stay lit

Reply #5 – June 01, 2021, 08:33:18 am

You may wish to try cleaning them propane burner air mixture adjustment tube. Debris (of various sorts), can accumulate limiting propane flow. For example, spiders, attracted to the odorant added to propane for safety reasons, can leave debris in the tube. In the case of the water heater, if your over pressure valve leaks water on the tube (the valve is above the tube), it can leave hard water deposits.

Read the LD owner manual on the subject. If you don’t have the manual, try cleaning the burner tubes with a soft plastic brush and compressed air. Do not try to clean the propane orifice with a metal pick or other object as damage could affect flow rate and lead to poor performance and safety issues.

Good luck.

Warren

Re: 2017 hot water heater and refrigerator won't stay lit

Reply #6 – June 01, 2021, 09:16:33 am

Based on your description, sounds like classic unmaintained burner tubes......lots of YouTube videos on the subject(s) plus a good description in the LD manual. A super easy fix and based on the year of your rig, the previous owner may not have done this maintenance on a regular basis. My two cents...good luck

Re: 2017 hot water heater and refrigerator won't stay lit

Reply #7 – June 01, 2021, 12:33:37 pm

Comments Kent made about the propane valve being partly open, brings up a concern. The 'packing' around the shaft of the knob isn't meant to be a long term sealing surface. The valve seals off on the fully closed position, and in the fully open position. Otherwise propane can escape around that packing gland. So you should leave the valve fully open, and let the regulator do the job of controlling flow to the motorhomes piping. RonB

Re: 2017 hot water heater and refrigerator won't stay lit

Reply #8 – June 01, 2021, 12:55:46 pm

"The 'packing' around the shaft of the knob isn't meant to be a long term sealing surface. The valve seals off on the fully closed position, and in the fully open position. Otherwise propane can escape around that packing gland. So you should leave the valve fully open, and let the regulator do the job of controlling flow to the motorhomes piping."
---
Back in the day - and this "advice" may still crop up occasionally - some sources advised that the propane valve should be opened fully, then turned back a quarter turn; I have no idea where some of this stuff comes from in the first place, but once it's out there, it has a longer survival rate than cockroaches.

As Ron said, the propane tank valve should either be fully closed or fully open.

Re: 2017 hot water heater and refrigerator won't stay lit

Reply #9 – June 01, 2021, 02:21:31 pm

"Back in the day - and this "advice" may still crop up occasionally - some sources advised that the propane valve should be opened fully, then turned back a quarter turn; I have no idea where some of this stuff comes from in the first place, but once it's out there, it has a longer survival rate than cockroaches."

Anecdotal evidence and quotes from third party 'experts' that may or may not be are full of mischief!

Re: 2017 hot water heater and refrigerator won't stay lit

Reply #10 – June 01, 2021, 02:46:51 pm

Thank you all. I checked the propane valve and it is and was fully opened. Cleaning the tubes makes sense. A cursory look didn’t reveal anything but I’ll dig deeper and will consult the manual. Guess I missed those instructions!

Re: 2017 hot water heater and refrigerator won't stay lit

Reply #11 – June 01, 2021, 03:12:47 pm

I have always heard the valve should be open the entire way and have never seen an issue doing so.
That said, I found this on the Blue Rhino propane tank site.
Tank Troubleshooting FAQs | Blue Rhino

"The OPD valve has a safety feature that sometimes restricts gas flow if the tank is turned all the way on. We recommend that you turn the tank valve one turn (360 degrees), light up, and then use smaller turns for a higher flame. The normal procedure is to turn the tank on and then turn the grill controls on, but doing this with a tank equipped with an excess flow device will sometimes cause the "check valve" to prematurely activate.

After an decent search, I was not able to find any reference to opening the valve part way or all the way.
I have cut apart a propane supply valve and have not seen where fully opening it would interfer with the excess flow valve.
Anyone have other reliable sources of information on this?

Larry

Re: 2017 hot water heater and refrigerator won't stay lit

Reply #12 – June 02, 2021, 03:14:47 pm

Well folks, the issue seems to have resolved itself. Tried to get both lit when we first got home to no avail. The next day, they started right up. I had checked the gas tubes and everything was very clean. The only thing I did different is plugged the RV to the house power. I’m wondering if it could have been an altitude issue as we were up pretty high (7500’) over the weekend. Guess I’ll see what happens on the next trip.

Re: 2017 hot water heater and refrigerator won't stay lit

Reply #13 – June 02, 2021, 03:31:03 pm

Alls well that ends well! Could have been altitude or a low battery voltage.

At any rate, now that you are home from that altitude it would be well to reestablish the air bubble in the water heater.

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