Water Heater pilot will not light

[azpopup17]

I am a new PU owner and have a '99 Coleman Mesa.  I am in the process of going through everything.  The water heater was installed in 2004.

I followed the instructions to the "T" but this thing will not light.  It sounds like there is flow with the button pressed.  I can even smell subtle propane odor.  I held the "reset" button down for upto 5-10min with no light.  I tried this several times.  The burners, and furnace work fine.  Hopefully I am not being impatient but this seems a little long to wait for flow.  It probably has not been used in a year or so.  I did fill the tank.  It has the manual ignition version of the lighter.  I even tried lighting it with the brurners on.  It is tee'd of the burner line so there should be flow.  

Anyone have any similar issues and if so what was the resolution.  So far this is the only thing that does not work.

Thanks for any info.

[bassknuckles]

Are you getting a spark near the ignitor?  Usually it's a little white thing. If there is not spark you probably need a need ignator.

[wynot]

I am a new PU owner and have a '99 Coleman Mesa. I am in the process of going through everything. The water heater was installed in 2004.
 
I followed the instructions to the "T" but this thing will not light. It sounds like there is flow with the button pressed. I can even smell subtle propane odor. I held the "reset" button down for upto 5-10min with no light. I tried this several times. The burners, and furnace work fine. Hopefully I am not being impatient but this seems a little long to wait for flow. It probably has not been used in a year or so. I did fill the tank. It has the manual ignition version of the lighter. I even tried lighting it with the brurners on. It is tee'd of the burner line so there should be flow.
 
Anyone have any similar issues and if so what was the resolution. So far this is the only thing that does not work.
 
Thanks for any info.

There's a few instructions that aren't provided. I think most of us probably get the inside stove burning first, then attempt the pilot.
 
Someone will tell you to look for spiders in the tube, but I would suggest the following procedure first-
[list=1]

• Light inside stove burner(s) and leave burning.
• Push down pilot button all the way to the line (may have to wiggle it towards "Main". Hold for at least a minute before even attempting to light the pilot (some people have a holder made for this part).
• Attempt to light pilot. Stay there and make sure pilot stays lit, you may have to keep the pilot button depressed. Once it stays lit, attempt to ignite main burner (which sometimes puts out the pilot).
• Shut off inside stove burners.

Alternate frustration procedures (Do at your own RISK - Fire involved).
 
If you can't get the pilot lit, and have been holding the lighter under the thermocouple/pilot area the whole time- You can attempt to light the main directly. Turn it to main, stand aside of the water heater and stick the lighter in. Be prepared for the flame shooting out about a foot. Any former hair on your arm should be removed if you're not careful... Do not have the main gas valve on for more than a second before you attempt this as you are pumping unburnt LP gas and then putting a flame into it.
 
It does work, but only in extreme frustration/pouring rain/and after heating up the flame sensor to tell it that the pilot is lit.

[campnagle]

Are you getting a spark near the ignitor?  Usually it's a little white thing. If there is not spark you probably need a need ignator.

I would uas a air compresser and blow it out for several minutes to clean any soot build up and use a long lighter to light as thos pizo ignighters dont work well. I blow out my fridge a couple times a year and use a lighter rather than that push button ignighter with instant lighting every time. I also mounted a small mirror behind pilot so its much easier to see that tiny pilot light.

[wynot]

I would uas a air compresser and blow it out for several minutes to clean any soot build up and use a long lighter to light as thos pizo ignighters dont work well. I blow out my fridge a couple times a year and use a lighter rather than that push button ignighter with instant lighting every time. I also mounted a small mirror behind pilot so its much easier to see that tiny pilot light.

I'm curious, where is an ignitor on most popup water heaters?  I think they are are all pilot lights...

[AustinBoston]

Alternate frustration procedures (Do at your own RISK - Fire involved).
 
If you can't get the pilot lit, and have been holding the lighter under the thermocouple/pilot area the whole time- You can attempt to light the main directly. Turn it to main, stand aside of the water heater and stick the lighter in. Be prepared for the flame shooting out about a foot. Any former hair on your arm should be removed if you're not careful... Do not have the main gas valve on for more than a second before you attempt this as you are pumping unburnt LP gas and then putting a flame into it.
 
It does work, but only in extreme frustration/pouring rain/and after heating up the flame sensor to tell it that the pilot is lit.

Sounds like it could be exciting!  

Austin

[azpopup17]

There's a few instructions that aren't provided. I think most of us probably get the inside stove burning first, then attempt the pilot.
 
Someone will tell you to look for spiders in the tube, but I would suggest the following procedure first-
[list=1]

• Light inside stove burner(s) and leave burning.
• Push down pilot button all the way to the line (may have to wiggle it towards "Main". Hold for at least a minute before even attempting to light the pilot (some people have a holder made for this part).
• Attempt to light pilot. Stay there and make sure pilot stays lit, you may have to keep the pilot button depressed. Once it stays lit, attempt to ignite main burner (which sometimes puts out the pilot).
• Shut off inside stove burners.

Alternate frustration procedures (Do at your own RISK - Fire involved).
 
If you can't get the pilot lit, and have been holding the lighter under the thermocouple/pilot area the whole time- You can attempt to light the main directly. Turn it to main, stand aside of the water heater and stick the lighter in. Be prepared for the flame shooting out about a foot. Any former hair on your arm should be removed if you're not careful... Do not have the main gas valve on for more than a second before you attempt this as you are pumping unburnt LP gas and then putting a flame into it.
 
It does work, but only in extreme frustration/pouring rain/and after heating up the flame sensor to tell it that the pilot is lit.

I hit the the pilot light area with some compressed air.  I will try and light it again.  There is probably some blockage in the line.  There is a dealer here that charges $150 for LP line purge.  Would rather fix it myself.  I probably will not get desperate enough to try the "hot" lighting procedure.

[tknick]

My hot water heater does not have an ignitor but a standing pilot light which I must manually light.  My fridge has an ignitor like you would find on a gas grill to lit the burner on it, but that is lighting the burner and not a pilot light.  
For my hot water heater, I cut a small piece of plastic tubing to hold the gas valve down on the pilot setting (you must turn the valve to "pilot" and depress the valve to allow gas to flow).  Then I use a long handled lighter to heat up the thermocouple.  After about 10 seconds, gas will flow and the pilot will light.  I usually light the pilot first thing after getting the water hooked up and water flowing.  I leave the plastic piece in while I am setting up the camper.  When I'm done with setup, I go back and take the plastic piece out and turn the valve from "pilot" to "on."  Then the burner fires up and starts heating the water.

All this advice is useless if you are not getting gas to the hot water heater.  Lighting the stove is the best way to purge air out of the lines and make sure gas is actually flowing past the regulator.  If you are getting gas past the regulator then you probably have something clogging your pilot burner or your thermocouple is bad or not being heated up enough to allow gas to flow.

travis

[azpopup17]

I actually figured it out and feel pretty stupid.  I was trying to light the main burner (OOPS).  The pilot picture in the book was not that great and I overlooked it.  It lit up in about 10sec with no issues now that I had the lighter in the correct location.  Works like a charm.  

I am having problems lighting the fridge (the electrical works fine).  Follwing the instructions on the unit says to hold down the gas control (cooling knob) and depress the igniter swtch rapidly.  When I do this I get a rather large flame (lost some finger hair) after about 30second and it does not stay light after holding down the gas control like the instructions say.  It goes out after another burst of flame.  The flame seems to be too large for a pilot light.  This does not give me a warm fuzzy about it.  This appears to be more fool proof but perhaps I have discovered a way to do it wrong.