Hot water please?

[mareki1]

Hello,
I'm searching how to clean my propane water heater so it doesn't blow itself out every time it starts. When I turn on my water heater to start I can hear the clicking of the unit trying to light and then the propane eventually comes through and it ignites and wooom. Wow, when it ignites there must be to an over whelming amount of propane in that area. I call it blowing up, and when it does blow up like that, it blows out the igniter so the heater won't stay lit. I know it has to be cleaned and I'm trying to find out how to clean it myself. We don't have the manual for it and I don't want to go into it blind. This hot water heater is in an R.V. and the system is the same as in a home. Can anyone guide me with a good set of instructions. Thank You.Dennis

[HayZee518]

in order for any hot water heater LPG or Nat Gas to operate properly, adequate make up air is a must! as heat rises so does the exhaust gases from a hot water heater. you have to have makeup air coming in to function properly. even more so with propane because the gas is heavier than natural gas and sinks to ground level. that is why you're getting the whooomp upon start up. open a window in your "machine room" to get this makeup air, put in a louver in the door where your HW heater is. make sure the flue is of proper size and put a weather cap on the outside flue.

[mareki1]

Hot water please

Hi, Thanks for the quick reply, but there is a lot of ventilation because it's basically outside, it's in an R.V. and the small door to the igniting unit faces outboard and it gets a lot of ventilation. I can hear the clicking of the igniter and the unit sometimes shuts itself off because of a time lag of ignition to start the burner. Then I shut it off electrically and restrart again. Then I hear the igniter again then for a while then whomp. Sometimes the whomp is so strong that it blows out the burner. Since it's an R.V. it probably oicked up some dirt and the dirt is clogging where the lpg is comming through to start the burner. So with that information, I deducted that the unit to start the burner and the burner needs to be cleaned. How do I do that? Thank You.

[HayZee518]

on the bottom of the heater is a door. lift up and out. there may also be another door of sheet metal inside, take this out too. now you'll hafta get on your knees and with a flashlight look inside. shut off the supply to the heater and wait a few minutes. you'll see the pilot tube and the main gas tube going to the burner. from what you said there is a clicking. this indicates a spark type ignition. at the pilot burner is a triangle shaped flame opening. the pilot light burns pure propane - no air - there is probably a millivolt generator, a copper like tube in the flame path. if this don't work the flame won't stay lit. I worked on a hot water heater that burns propane only this one was in a cellar with no ventilation and no exhaust gas chimney. when the pilot lit the whole four feet around the heater lit up with a whoosh and it burned my eyebrows off. this had a standing pilot flame. check for a spider's nest or a mud wasps nest in the air tube that accompanies the main valve gas tube. clean it out with a vacuum cleaner and use some type of probe - a bent clothes hanger. see what happens.