first camping trip with 16 ft

[Christi V.]

Hi..
just got back from a nice camping (4 nites) at Ike Kinswa.. Weather was great..!! Only trouble i ran into was NO HOT water!! I couldnt get my pilot light lit?? No gas smell so will have to have that checked out.....
Ran into some people from up North here in Wash.. they had a 13 ft Scamp w/bathroom.. Told them about this board so hope they will join!!!
All the weekend warriors came in last nite so decided to leave!! Weather is misty this morning and may see if few showers.
All in all had a good time!! Always good to be back home!!!

[BOBSMITH]

Hi..
just got back from a nice camping (4 nites) at Ike Kinswa.. Weather was great..!! Only trouble i ran into was NO HOT water!! I couldnt get my pilot light lit?? No gas smell so will have to have that checked out.....

Glad you had a good time, despite no hot water.

What I discovered after some frustrating trial and error with my Casita (it has a Suburban water heater--don't know if that's what Scamp uses) is that you have to depress the pilot button (I have a 2002 model without eletronic ignition) and then turn it back to off and wait a few minutes. (I assume for gas to get through the lines.) After that I light the pilot and it starts right up every time.

I think we have the Suburban model that came out the year before the newer ones. We were so disappointed with the perfomance of the electric heat that I took out the wiring for that. It would get the water warm, but not hot (yes, I adjusted the thermostat), and would take a long time. It could be that the heating element needed to be replaced. However, the gas heater works so fast and so well that we finally saw no need for the electric water heater. So I disassembled it and stored the wiring away.

[Christi V.]

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I think this is an Atwood... the place where i circled is where you light the pilot light.. i didnt smell any propane at all... It says to turn to pilot and hold at 'stop' for a min. then light, but nothing? Could be needing blowing out or ???

[Coach George Jessup]

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Check for spiders. Not kidding. Little boogers get into places and put egg sacks and webs where air is suppose to mix with the LP. NO air, no O2 no LP ignition.

Also you said something about 1 min. Yeah the first time it takes a minute to get the LP thru the lines before it exits the pilot port buttttt.... after that first time. It takes only seconds. A minute is liable to fill the area with LP depleting it of O2 all together thus no ignition. Sometimes it will try to light but if you held the button too long it ignites in a tiny explosion that blows out the flame.

What did you use for a flame source? Match, or electric self igniter or?

[Coach George Jessup]

oh..... and the obviouse one but has to be asked. Are you sure you turned on the valve at the tank? Could it have been on already and you turned it off thinking....... you were turning it on?

[Christi V.]

Coach G.....
Yeppers I had the gas turned ON.. used the stove for the hot water. I used one of those trigger lighters...
I am suspecting there is little spider webs or something up there.. I will have to take it to the RV place ( again ) and have them check it out and fix it.....
I dont have the know-how-to-fix stuff..... i could get it apart but not back together..LOL

[Morgan]

Christi,

When the water heater has not been used for a long time, I light a burner on the stove first. This insures the line is purged of air at least to the stove. The water heater lights much quicker after that.

Did you use the stove at all over the weekend? If so that rules out the obvious that the coach pointed out and also rules out empty tanks.

[Christi V.]

Christi,

When the water heater has not been used for a long time, I light a burner on the stove first. This insures the line is purged of air at least to the stove. The water heater lights much quicker after that.

Did you use the stove at all over the weekend? If so that rules out the obvious that the coach pointed out and also rules out empty tanks.

Did you use the stove at all over the weekend?

yep sure did...!!

[Per Walthinsen]

Christi:

The picture sure looks suspiciously similar to the Atwood in my trailer, but what you circled is NOT the place where it is supposed to be lit. If you follow the pipe to the right, out of your picture does it make a 90 degree turn and shortly thereafter is joined by a smaller tube with a little twist on the end? That is where the pilot light is on mine. What you have circled is merely a place where air is mixed with the gas, if I am not mistaken.

I'll check in the morning and maybe post a picture to see if we are talking about the same thing.

[Roger H]

Christi:

The picture sure looks suspiciously similar to the Atwood in my trailer, but what you circled is NOT the place where it is supposed to be lit. If you follow the pipe to the right, out of your picture does it make a 90 degree turn and shortly thereafter is joined by a smaller tube with a little twist on the end? That is where the pilot light is on mine. What you have circled is merely a place where air is mixed with the gas, if I am not mistaken.

I'll check in the morning and maybe post a picture to see if we are talking about the same thing.

Hi Christy! Per is NOT mistaken! What you've circled is the venturi tube opening that mixes the gas from the regulator (the box with the knob) with air so it can burn cleanly. The entire tube with the 90* bend is the burner. The OTHER end of the bent tube that you circled is the burner and where the pilot light and thermocouple live. The burner ends inside the larger 3" tube that acts as a heat exchanger and chimne that runs through the inside the water heater. It has a flat circular piece about the size of a dime bent over the opening on the end. Just to the right of that there is another little gizmo that looks like a small rod (the thermocouple) with a small round tube underneath it that is bent up at a rounded angle. THAT is the pilot light assembly. You have to hold your lighter between the small tube and the thermocouple while holding the blue knob on "pilot". Once the small pilot flame lights, you need to continue to hold the knob in the "pilot" position for about 30 seconds until it heats the thermocouple up enough to allow the gas flow to the pilot burner to remain lit. After the pilot remains lit, turn the knob back to "on" and the main burner will light with a "puff" and a "roar".

Hope that helps.

Roger

[BOBSMITH]

What they said!

A lot of people make the mistake of trying to light the pilot light where the gas/air mixture takes place. It's easy to assume that.

I couldn't see what they were talking about because for some reason my computer screen shows photos darker than most.