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OT - Propane Water Heater

R

Royse

Well-known Member
I have a propane water heater that has me worried.
It works correctly, as far as the pilot light goes, heating, turning on and off at the right time.
However, when it cools to the point that the burner has to re-ignite, the gas
valve turns the gas on and then several seconds later it basically explodes to light.
Again, this would seem close to normal, but you can hear this "poof" from 30 feet away.
With the little front cover removed when it lights, it shoots flames for a foot or more.
With all the covers in place, it soots up the front side of the casing outside.
From the access panel up about a foot and a half.
It has been shut down for now, so no big safety warnings, but what would cause this?
This is the second water heater that has exhibited the same behavior installed
in the same place over the past 10 years.
They're fine when new, but then this behavior develops.
 
Check your propane pressure at the water heater. I have had regulators that would be just a little low and the shape of the pilot light flame was not quite right. That made it be a little too far from the burner. So the burner would flow a few seconds and then light with a big woof.

Another issue I have had on a wall heater that will getting doing the same thing. The pilot light orifice shots the gas up this short small diameter pipe. The inside of the pipe gets dirty and makes the flame be a little shorter than it should be. It does not light the burner as fast being setting too low. The little pipe is about the size of a Q-tip. So I take the pilot light orifice and pipe apart and clean it with brake cleaner and a q-tip. Usually this makes the flame just a little longer and the burner lights faster.

So check the shape of the flame that your pilot light is producing. Maybe some thing is just a little dirty and needs cleaned to make it light correctly.
 
Doesn't sound safe. Best have a professional check it. Sounds to me like pilot is out of place, causing a build up of gas before ignition takes place.
 
Had that happen to a gas furnace many years ago. Turned out that the burners were dirty and clogged with lint. Fix was to remove the burners and clean them.
 
Probably one of the oldest safety devices sitll in use. The pilot light keeps heat on the thermocouple to keep the gas valve open. So it appears to me the gas valve is operating correctly. Like someone else said the burner may be plugged taking time for the gas to over come the plug. I would shut that thing down until you figure it out. Stan
 
I agree that it is not safe, and it is shut down.
I also think the gas valve is operating correctly, it is just not igniting soon enough,
allowing too much gas to build up before it does ignite.
I took the burner out, cleaned it up, blew it out with compressed air,
including the pilot tube, and replaced the thermal couple.
Still the same.
In fact, I did this same routine on both of the water heaters that did this with no change.
Maybe I have it under sized and I'm just over working it, but I can't wrap my
head around how that would cause these symptoms.
 
I had issues with my nat gas wh a while back and I ended up removing the burner assy and cleaning it out. I also had to claen the pilot tube and orfice. The pilot orfice is about the size of a human hair so the slighest amount of crud will reduce the size of the pilot flame. My biggest issue was getting the various tube fittings loose without causing damage.
 
I had one do that. I noticed a lot of rust had fallen off the tank and fell in and around the burner. I turned the pilot light off and attached a wire brush to a stick and brushed the burner and pilot light and vacuumed the debris out and then it worked fine again. Had it not worked I would have replaced the water heater. That poof if warning boom is coming next.
 

I understand you cleaned the burner however one thing to watch out for are cast iron burners. Rust can reduce the inside diameter of each burner hole. After you clean the burner everything looks fine except the burner holes are undersize....preventing proper air/gas mixing and flow through the burner. I remember a similar problem on a gas furnace. The burner holes were approximately 1/16" and when I found a drill that would reach parent material they were 1/8"...all 128 of them.
 
I had that to happen on my furnace when the house was brand new. They called it delayed ignition. I called the gas & electric company and it seemed like I didn't get the phone hung up and someone was knocking on the door. They found paint in the burner was causing that. Never had any more problems going on 43 years. I had the old furnace replaced in 1996. Always have had Ruud AC & furnace. Hal
 
Guessing the age but the heater may also be old enough that
water leaks may soon leak water.
I,ve been looking at a condensing tankless LP heater for hot
water and to heat the house.
 
I took the burner out again today, cleaned it all again including the pilot orifice.
Still not any better so I shut it back off.
I have looked at tankless heaters, and the new high efficiency "20 gallon that work like a 50 gallon" heater.
Their claim to fame seems to be the recovery rate. They burn an insane amount
of gas to produce high BTU and recover very quickly, so the end result works out well in normal use.
In my situation it is the feeder for in floor heating, so water is flowing nearly constantly.
I think I would be in a big hole if I tried to use one of those.
I'm going to have the pros come check it out and if they can't fix it I'll replace it.
I appreciate everyone's advise!
 
tankless would work fine for in floor heating as long as you are controling the loop(s) with three way valve(s)
also could use your exsisting tank as a storage tank with the tankless heater working only when the temp in your tank dropped too low
 
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