Water heater Issue I am befuddled.

[LBRATT]

I would light my suburban water heater and it would only stay on if I left the access panel down. I was at about 7800 feet, have camped at this location before, and did not have this issue. It was about 81 degrees as well. Every time I would close the access panel, you could hear the flame die down. This took about 3 minutes for it to go out. Open the access panel and restart with no problem :swear: . Later that evening about 7PM, I went out and lit it (time to do the dishes) and closed the panel out of habit. It remained on until we went to bed even cycling on and off a few times. Just for safety sake while we were asleep, I shut it off. The next morning turned it back on, and about noon it shut off again. We were leaving at two and the dishes were done, so I shut it completely down. What is up ? there is no spider web in the tube. :banghead:

[wynot]

I would light my suburban water heater and it would only stay on if I left the access panel down. I was at about 7800 feet, have camped at this location before, and did not have this issue. It was about 81 degrees as well. Every time I would close the access panel, you could hear the flame die down. This took about 3 minutes for it to go out. Open the access panel and restart with no problem :swear: . Later that evening about 7PM, I went out and lit it (time to do the dishes) and closed the panel out of habit. It remained on until we went to bed even cycling on and off a few times. Just for safety sake while we were asleep, I shut it off. The next morning turned it back on, and about noon it shut off again. We were leaving at two and the dishes were done, so I shut it completely down. What is up ? there is no spider web in the tube. :banghead:

Do a search on hot water heaters, I posted what Suburban told me to do as a fix.  Your flame is suffocating.  No spider.  Haven't had a problem in the years since I did it, but used to have the problem you're noting.

[LBRATT]

Thanks for the info. July was quite a month for the inanimate object gods to cause stuff to break for us.  Was hoping to go for the week this week to Bridgeport California but coming home from the last trip the TV was acting up. When I would go up hills that I normally run right up I would loose power. It acted as if the motor was loading up. I would have my foot to the floor and it just went slower and slower and I would have to take my foot off and slow to about 20 mph. Then it would kick down. I do not know if it the clutch fan or the catalytic converter. On top of this, the AC compressor, at home, burned up and has been waiting for my turn to have the repairman come out and replace it.

[wynot]

Thanks for the info. July was quite a month for the inanimate object gods to cause stuff to break for us. Was hoping to go for the week this week to Bridgeport California but coming home from the last trip the TV was acting up. When I would go up hills that I normally run right up I would loose power. It acted as if the motor was loading up. I would have my foot to the floor and it just went slower and slower and I would have to take my foot off and slow to about 20 mph. Then it would kick down. I do not know if it the clutch fan or the catalytic converter. On top of this, the AC compressor, at home, burned up and has been waiting for my turn to have the repairman come out and replace it.

Are you still having this problem with the TV?  When it happened to me (years ago), it was the catalytic converter failing and plugging up.  Just a thought.  I've also had an electric fuel pump on a Pontiac do a related thing when it was going out.

[LBRATT]

the fuel pump was replaced in april, so i hope it is not that again although that is still under warrenty. but thanks for the suggestion that helps. the catalytic converter on the other hand is a 1300$ dealer only part. i am at a loss as to what to tell the dealer what the problem is i do not want to start swaping parts fix program. you know how that can go.

[LBRATT]

This could be a safety issue check where your flame is in the tube it should not burn back to the orifice. Opening the door may not really be the answer. We went back to the mountains last weekend, I fired up the heater, and left the door open all was good. I went to check it before bed and opened the door to see if the pilot had gone out, but just before I opened it, the heater came on. I opened the door and looked in and saw flame in the tube almost to the air opening at the orifice, because it was nighttime and DARK no moon, I could see the flame very good. This made me curious and I asked my friend, who has the same heater in his camper, to see what his flame was doing. I did not like where the flame was in mine. My suspicion was correct the flame on his was at the end of the tube. Sooo I went over to mine and shut it off, something is defiantly wrong here. Yesterday I had some time to open the heater and made sure that the tube was unobstructed which it was, and blew out the burning chamber with air. A bunch of flakes came out but no big pieces that would clog the tube. I put it all back together. I weighed the propane tank and it had about 3 lbs (tank 20 lbs) of fuel remain so I replaced it with one that weight 37lbs that I just had filled. Turned on the heater and the flame was where it should have been. So now, I wonder was the pressure in the tank to low? The house heater worked all night when we were out the other times. Sorry for waiting so long to add this new information. Many other things have been going on.