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Tool Talk Discussion Forum

O.T. - A.O. Smith Hot Water Tank not heating - long

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cj3b_jeep

07-31-2007 04:49:24




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I have a 4 year old A.O. Smith Model FPSH 40 270E 40 gallon powervented hot water tank. It is not heating my water. It will burn for a few minutes, shut down, burn for a few minutes, shut down. It'll do this three times before it turns itself into some kind of a vacation mode. Lights A+B and the vacation mode light will come on. If I shut it off for a few seconds, then turn it back on, it wil repeat the whole process. When it did heat water it seemed to do the same thing, except it would not kick into vacation mode. It did this a few years ago and I determined the run for the vent was to long, which I told my plumber when he put it in but he ignored me! Anyway, I decreased the run by about 2/3 and vented it closer to the tank. That seemed to make the problem go away. Last night I took the burner out, cleaned all of the crap out from under it, cleaned the probes and put it back together, with the same results. Anybody have any suggestions?

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tn terry t

08-04-2007 06:07:14




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 Re: O.T. - A.O. Smith Hot Water Tank not heating - long in reply to cj3b_jeep, 07-31-2007 04:49:24  
go to hotwater.com there are people on duty today {saturday} to troble -shoot heaters they are located in ashland city tn.



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cj3b_jeep

08-01-2007 05:10:38




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 Re: O.T. - A.O. Smith Hot Water Tank not heating - long in reply to cj3b_jeep, 07-31-2007 04:49:24  
So I was messing with this last night while my brother-in-law (a heating and cooling installer) investigates options. I cecked the vacuum sensor. It was clean ad working just right. I checked for air leaks around the blower and found nothing. I reached in and cleaned the flame sensor again and left the smaller of the two covers off. That seemed to do the trick and I had hot water this morning, but the lights still went into vacation mode overnight. I read something on the A.O. Smith FAQs about a house being so tight that no combustion air is available, this could be the case.

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Throop

07-31-2007 09:44:49




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 Re: O.T. - A.O. Smith Hot Water Tank not heating - long in reply to cj3b_jeep, 07-31-2007 04:49:24  
Mine was doing this, and there was a air leak near the power fan unit. It was drawing in extra outside air, causing it to shut itself off.



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Bob - MI

07-31-2007 08:57:13




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 Re: O.T. - A.O. Smith Hot Water Tank not heating - long in reply to cj3b_jeep, 07-31-2007 04:49:24  
Friend had a RUUD power vent model that started to do some of the same stuff. He ended up replacing the electronic control module twice. With the 3rd occurance he decided to get a new unit and we swapped it out last week. 50 gallon unit was $750.00

You may end up contacting AO Smith but I am wondering if you still have a warranty on the heater? There is always a longer warranty on the tank but there is usually a stepped schedule of coverage on the rest of the parts.

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DRay3195

07-31-2007 08:55:19




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 Re: O.T. - A.O. Smith Hot Water Tank not heating - long in reply to cj3b_jeep, 07-31-2007 04:49:24  
I had this problem recently also but not the same brand of heater. Mine also has a long vent pipe. There is likely a vacuum sensor near the fan/flew. If so, there will be a nipple in the fan box with a hose attached to it the goes to the vacuum sensor. Chase this down. Check to make sure the tube is not plugged and the vacuum sensor is working. This latter can be checked by pulling a weak vacuum on the hose while attached to the sensor and listening for a click in the sensor box. If your want to test this proper, use a multi-meter and check resistance, should be very high w/o vacuum, low with. After I cleaned and checked mine, the problem is gone, for now.

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tech4

07-31-2007 07:29:43




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 Re: O.T. - A.O. Smith Hot Water Tank not heating - long in reply to cj3b_jeep, 07-31-2007 04:49:24  
I would try a new thermocouple first. They are not too expensive and cause crazy problems



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cj3b_jeep

07-31-2007 07:47:55




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 Re: O.T. - A.O. Smith Hot Water Tank not heating - long in reply to tech4, 07-31-2007 07:29:43  
Looks like there are two probes in there, one, I assume, starts the flame, the other reads the temp and probably the Co2?



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tech4

07-31-2007 08:33:42




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 Re: O.T. - A.O. Smith Hot Water Tank not heating - long in reply to cj3b_jeep, 07-31-2007 07:47:55  
oops - you have one of the high efficiency models. It has electronic igniter. I don;t have any experience with those. Here is the link to the parts list.



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steveormary

07-31-2007 20:44:55




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 Re: O.T. - A.O. Smith Hot Water Tank not heating - long in reply to tech4, 07-31-2007 08:33:42  
Go electric.

steveormary



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