Water Heater Will Not Stay Lit

[Rkrew]

Hi,

I have a 1997 Discovery with an Atwood water heater.

When I hit the light switch it fires up for five sec. and shuts off. The igniter keeps clicking when it fires up for those five sec. but then everything shuts down. Any Help.

Thanks

[wolfe10]

Igniter clicking for 5 seconds and then shutting down indicates that the thermocouple did not sense a flame. Did you have a flame during that 5 seconds?

If not, light the stove to verify good propane flow and try again.

If you did have a flame, your thermocouple may be mis-aligned or dirty, have mud dubbers nest on it, etc. Start by cleaning the burner tube and checking thermocouple alignment.

[Rkrew]

First off, thanks for the response.

I took it all apart and cleaned everything.

I also cleaned all the ground wires and still no luck.

We used it last week and all was well.

Still trying.

P.S. Yes I do have a flame.

[RVerOnTheMove]

Sounds like a bad thermocouple if you have a good flame and that flame is clearly hitting the center of the thermocouple. If the thermocouple never gets hot enough it will assume there is no flame and shuts down the propane flow for safety.

[Rkrew]

I will get one tomorrow, Thanks for the info. I'll let you know how I make out. Thanks for your time and brain power.

[scvjeff]

BEFORE YOU DO THAT...

The only ground return for that thermocouple is through the mounting brackets. If you haven't done it, remove all the brackets and give any piece that contacts another piece of metal to make sure there is SOLID contact. A star lockwasher on those bracket screws won't hurt either.

Any guesses how I know?

Wanna buy a new and unused control board?

[dickandlois]

The other ground point to check is the grounds for the gas valve(s).

They are often hidden behind the gas valve. grounded by a stud in the valve. It is close to the tank drain and if you have a Hotshot install, it can be difficult to see and hard to remove, the 11/32 in. nut holding the ground.

I have used a small wire brush to clean the stud and terminals to get a good ground. The heater will light then go out. Cycling to switch a number of times will get the burner to work, but it will not relight when the water heater calls for heat.

Rich.