Need help with Water Heater

[PeterOC]

We took our Trailmanor out this weekend. During setup, about 3-5 minutes after switching on the gas water heater, the Carbon Monoxide detector started beeping. This is the first time the detector started beeping for real, and thankfully it alerted to us of the smell of gas. My wife noticed gas smell under the sink near the water heater. We turned OFF the water heater switch inside the TM just below the sink. Everything seemed to be OK. We used the furnace at night, but in the middle of the night, I woke up, got scared and shut off the gas completely from outside. I did this manually at the tank mounted the the hitch of the TM.

QUESTION:
The one thing I did notice, was at the time of lighting the water heater, there was a very strong wind (10MPH) outside blowing into the side of my Trailmanor. THe direction of the breeze was directly into the water heater vent on the outside. Is it possible that a strong breeze can prevent the water heater from lighting, or extinguish the pilot, then blow propane gas into the living area under the sink and set off the Carbon Monoxide detector? Has anyone experienced that?

Now, another issue, perhaps simpler. Since my trip, I've parked my TM outside for debug. Now I notice that on the display panel, the Water Heater switch doesn't light up when I toggle the switch (just below the sink). All switches light up... except the water heater. That is, on the black panel, from right to left, the 1) refrigerator fan lighted switch back-lights (illuminates) when I flip it up, 2) the the water pump switch back-lights (illuminate) when I flip that switch and starts to make the pumping noise, BUT... 3) the water heater switch does NOT illuminate when I flip the switch up. The water doesn't get hot either - it doesn't even try to ignite the water heater tank. I checked the fuse box, but nothing wrong there.

I've got the "Installation and Operation Manual" for the Suburban Manufacturing Company "Direct Vent Gas Water Heater.
" Haven't found out what my 2 problems are.

Has anyone experienced any of the two problems I have?
1) a strong side wind can cause the water heater to fail to light AND cause the Carbon Monoxide detector alarm to go off inside the TM.
2) The lighted switch fails to illuminate when I switch the water heater on (and the water heater doesn't work)

Please let me know if anyone has any helpful hints

[PeterOC]

UPDATE: I was able to "reset" the water heater by a button on the outside. After which the water heater happily kicked on. So the second problem is fixed.

Now, back to the first one: A strong wind blowing directly into the side of the TM opposite the door. The wind was able to cause the water heater to fail to light, AND set off my carbon monoxide detector inside the TM.

There is no wind in my driveway tonight. The switch below the sink has been flipped on, and has been providing hot water for a few hours now without any sign of the Carbon Monoxide detector going off. Waiting and wondering. This whole Carbon Monoxide thing has gotten my wife a little cautious about camping in the TM.

[Craigrrr]

I have a portable sniffer I use to check connections on gas lines . Similar to this
one on amazon http://www.amazon.com/General-Tools-...detector&psc=1

as for as the carbon monoxide goes, you might want to buy new carbon monoxide detector and mount in the TM

[Bill]

Peter -

Are you sure it is the monoxide detector that is kicking off, and not the LP/propane detector? I suspect the latter since you can smell gas - carbon monoxide is odorless. What year is your TM?

The propane detector can be kicked off by any number of things, not just carbon monoxide. For example, I seem to recall that hair spray is among the favorites.

Just for interest, I will mention one thing that you can be sure of - if there is no flame, there is no monoxide, since monoxide is a product of combustion. But something is kicking off the detector, and it sounds like you are getting a quick shot of raw propane before the automatic valve closes. And it will close.

I don't know how to fix the flame-blowing-out problem, but you might try securing a piece of aluminum window screen (or fiberglass screen behind a sheet of 1/4-inch or 1/2-inch galvanzed hardware cloth) to the inside of the vent louvers. The idea is to break up the stream of air.

Finally, have you checked the quality of the flame, using the instructions in the water heater's manual? Or there is a good video at

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nSjDklZh4ws

If the flame is too lean (too much air), it will be on the verge of blowing itself out, and it doesn't take much of a puff of wind to finish the job.

Let us know.

Bill

[By the way, this thread belongs in the Appliances forum. I will move it there shortly, and you will lose access to it since your Sponsorship has run out.]

[TexasCamper]

Before I try to start the hot water heater, I light up one of the oven's range burners. That usually takes a minute or two as the propane line displaces any air in the line.

This step has eliminated previous problems I had with getting the hot water heater to light off. So I'm wondering if a light-off problem was allowing some propane to leak by.....even then, I would think the propane leak would be on the outside and not the living area of the camper.

I've camped on some windy nights (one night my young daughter thought the wind would blow the camper away!), and haven't had the issue you've described. But I think wind is plausible.

[PeterOC]

Well, after the "propane detector" (not Carbon Monoxide) has gone off 2x when turning on the H20 heater, everything is working fine now.

I conclude: It is possible for a 15MPH wind pointed exactly in the correct position to prevent the pilot of the H20 heater to light, AND blow unburned gas into the trailer, thus setting off the propane detector.

After going home and trying it in my driveway, the water heater works fine -- there was no wind near my home.

Thanks for all your comments. I really appreciate everyone on this website. I don't write much, but I read comments just about every night, and it's kind of an obsession to want to hear things from my kindred brothern. I feel like I know a lot of you guys really well.