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cbomia
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| Joined: | Mon May 26th, 2008 |
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Posted: Mon May 26th, 2008 03:25 pm |
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| Purchased a new tank in early November 07', 40 gal, Whirlpool, 6 year. Same hookups but elevated the tank up 1.5" to reach plumbing. Late January early February tank went out, relit all seemed fine but would only heat to one cycle and pilot would go out. Replaced thermocouple didn't help, replaced with another same results, heat through one cycle then goes out. Tested all thermocouples on the stove with multimeter and all tested ok. Replaced gas valve and all seemed fine for 2 days then same thing pilot goes out. I gave in, bought another unit with plans to send the other back for a credit. I bought the exact same unit and it worked fine until 3 days ago and I'm going through the same thing again. Pilot won't stay lit and I struggle to even get it lit sometimes. Before I go purchasing parts and items again and spend 2 days of frustration any ideas? I don't think that it is FVIR because the problem went away after I changed the unit. I read in one of your postings a member had found out that the manufacture had to much pipe dope on something and after it hardened it was causing a similar problem, but then again on the last unit I replaced the gas valve which only helped a couple of days. I'm an electrician by trade but this hot water situation has me at a lost. Been seriously considering to go to an electric model or even tankless with electronic ignition. Any help would be greatly appreciated and thanks in advance Chris.
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eleent
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| Joined: | Sat Sep 11th, 2004 |
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Posted: Mon May 26th, 2008 04:08 pm |
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Hello: Have a look at the post by RD. You may have a similar venting/air pressure problem. The new units are much more sensitive to this sort of thing. Let us know 
Yours, Larry
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cbomia
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Posted: Mon May 26th, 2008 05:35 pm |
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If the venting hasn't changed why would it work for a few months then start having problems and it has happened at different times of the year? I have the orginal papers and will look through them to se the suggested venting and compare and thanks for the quick response, Chris.
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cbomia
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Posted: Mon May 26th, 2008 05:37 pm |
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| Oh yeah and Happy Memorial Day to all and thanks to all the Vets. My son is going to boot camp Wednesday. Chris
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Ej
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| Joined: | Thu Aug 24th, 2006 |
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Posted: Thu May 29th, 2008 04:16 am |
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| What is the model number of the heater? Is it a lo-nox?
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cbomia
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Posted: Sat May 31st, 2008 01:44 am |
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It's a Flame Lock, I don't know if that is the same as a Lo-nox. The model is BFG1F4034T3NOV. I talked to a Whirlpool technician on Tuesday May 27 and we tested the thermal switch which is the switch where the black and white wires are connected from the gas control valve. They had me remove the wires from the switch and jump them together and then try and light the tank. From what they were making it sound like that this bypasses the thermocouple and should remain lit after releasing the reset button. I had a good flame while holding down the reset or red button and after over a good minute released the switch and the flame went out. Once that happen the tech said the gas valve was bad and they said they could send someone out or overnight me the part. Since I was going out of town I opted for the part and installed it myself on Wednesday. It is working fine for now and I explained that this has happened twice in less then six months and they said there would be no way to determine anything over the phone and if it happened again they suggested to send someone out to give a more thorough diagnostic. I think these Flame lock gas valves are a one time deal and if they get an over temp for any reason they shutdown permanently. I don't know if it will help but both times before I had the temp setting to the highest which I think is the 160 degree setting, this time I set it to 130 degree setting and hopefully there will be no false high temp that would cause it to shutdown but I'm just guessing again.
I just wanted to say that I think this is a great place for info and it is greatly appreciated. I have been a skill set person most of my life. I went to floor covering school over 20 years ago and Armstrong school for flooring and later in life took an apprenticeship in electrical and now a journeyman electrician. SO when I had all these troubles with these tanks I was quite frustrated and I'm not convinced my trouble s with this is over. I will update all if there are any changes, wish me years of HT WATER and thanks to all. Feel free to mail for any questions Thanks Chris
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Ej
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| Joined: | Thu Aug 24th, 2006 |
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Posted: Sat May 31st, 2008 04:02 pm |
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Your heater as a common maintenance problem that always gets overlooked and causes the problems you describe. Even their tech support fails to bring this up. What you bypassed, if done correctly, was the over temp switch. When your burner chamber over heats the small white switch will open and shut off your pilot. You have to push the button in the middle of the switch to reset it before your pilot can be re-relight. The burner chamber will over heat if your venting gets blocked or if the intake screen on the bottom is more than 40-50% blocked with dust. So the sequence that happens when this is the problem goes like this:
The burner comes on to heat the water. After 10-30 minutes the burner chamber over heats and trips the reset. Most people believe the pilot is going off when the thermostat cycles off but is really going off on hi-limit.
You can look at the upper right corner of your burner door where the reset is and see if there is any discoloration in the metal. This will also but not always show signs of overheating. 99.9% of the time it is a dirty intake screen. The screen has slots the width of a razor blade so it will plug very easy. The best way to clean the screen is to remove the burner door assy. and look inside the burner chamber. Your screen will run front to back along the left side of the heater. Take a tooth brush and clean the screen trying to poke the bristles through the slots. After cleaning the whole screen take a damp paper towel and wipe the screen then brush it once again. A simple feather duster can be used to clean the bottom of the heater and to maintain the screen every 3 months of more depending on how clean the environment is. Just move the duster back and forth while tilting it upward to clean the bottom.
When your done the screen should be a shiny stainless color and you should here the roar of the burner flame. A blocked intake screen muffles the burner sound.
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