5 Flash Water Heater Valve

Fault Code 5 -water heater service call

[@jeffreyplumber1975]

I repgoes on a 10 flash replaced An Entire valve and burner assembly on around a 8 year old whirlpool from lowes its got a long warranty so it was all free but few monthes later they say that it repeatedly guy says he trys running vaccuum underneath where the air enters 10 flash is screen needs cleaning . i noticed befor the heater does a lot of popping and rumbling maybe lower heat setting on t stat ? of cource I looked at it it was flashing normal ? should I call AO smith or whirlpool again ? they did send the parts quick! BTW Bro I think your prices sound a bit low too, its your buisness but im guessing youve got a zero warranty so 65 for labor 10 on parts and if it quits tomorrow its another 75 ? but anyway just an opinion your doing a great job !

[@thewaterheaterfactory]

@@jeffreyplumber1975 : no my prices are pretty low. That’s kind of the going rate for San Diego for a service call. I could charge more for the parts but I get the parts for free so I don’t really try and gouge people on that. It’s a real loser though if I have to go back outcause I tell people I won’t charge if I gotta come back out sometimes I do but most the time I don’t.

[@jeffreyplumber1975]

@@thewaterheaterfactory good to hear you seem to have good thing going any tips on the 10 flash I have? i think I messed up above in my explanation I already changed burner ass and valve brand new factory parts it does a 10 flash I guess the customer trys cleaning the screen and relights every few days

[@thewaterheaterfactory]

⁠ that’s pretty wild, especially if you’ve already replaced the Burner Assembly you wanna make sure that you clean the bottom of the tank which is the top of the Burner Assembly in case there’s ash buildup and possibly changed the it’s in the flu. I think it’s called the baffle maybe shorten that up a little bit you shouldn’t have to do any of these things but when you’ve got a situation like a shutting off regularly . So between you and me and this is a secret but those Honeywell Valve‘s suck . I sell a lot of Water Heaters to another technician that works up north he does the exact same thing I do, but he comes down and buys parts from me and what he does is he doesn’t even work on the Honeywell Valve . She just removes them put the old Rogers white valve on And then just converts the Thermo Pile to a thermal couple which apparently there’s a little kit that it comes with if you buy one from Home Depot he was showing it to me today and then that’s it. It’s over the damn thing just keeps running . I’m gonna start doing it if I run into Water Heaters that give me multiple problems back to back . @@jeffreyplumber1975

[@thewaterheaterfactory]

That 10 flash sounds a lot like a six flash, which is Clean or Replace the Burner Assembly- usually what I do is I just put A Circuit Board on there that doesn’t have that option then Wala the problem goes away. I’m not there are no sensors that detect that so.- I’m trying to recall that fault code is that on no you said it’s a Wirlpool Wirlpool’s are pretty good Water Heaters. In my opinion I think Ao Smith makes it. I’ve never had that problem but I bet it’s the ultra low NOX Burner Assembly, you can try changing it to a non-ultra low NOX Burner Assembly you’d have to buy it or obtain it from someplace and then just swap the circuitboard out and you’ll probably be fine after that.

[@jeffreyplumber1975]

@@thewaterheaterfactory Thanks for the info from your 2 answers above whirlpool is definately A/O smith the 10 code says clean filter screen . but i Might try pulling the burner assembly shop vaccing everything really good try blowing out the flu as well . and keeping the temp knob turned down just incase all that popping and rumbling somehow doubtfully makes it throw a CODE. customers are hard to understand not the language just cant answer simple qiuestions like if they relite pilot every day weekly or monthly gee whiz thats a tough question . garage is filthy and we had absolutely horrible ash and dust from wild fires . the secret on these componets isnt that well kept it very possibly could be almost brand new componets are acting up. another question they havent been able to answer if it worked for a day ? week ?or month before it acted up LOL

[@alantheplumb]

Does your company always carry those parts? We always have to order them and it takes forever

[@thewaterheaterfactory]

@@alantheplumb : the parts are used so I keep Parts off of our old Water Heaters and then we just discount the parts heavily I only charge $10 for parts and then 65 for labor so they’re getting a really good deal but the water heaters are used we put used parts on. They know it it’s not a secret. Sometimes it backfires you know cause you’ll get a bad used part but most people will take the chance because they’re saving money.

[@alantheplumb]

@@thewaterheaterfactory that’s such a good idea I’m going to start doing that as well. If your really only charging 65 for labor you need to up your prices man!!! That’s some of the cheapest in the whole USA. Most companies where I live charge 300-1000 an hour (that’s not what i make of course). Your account is super full of good tips and knowledge on things I haven’t seen before. Thank you for sharing your jobs with us!

[@KlaudeeBoyee]

Do you have to replace the entire valve for a 5 flash code? My Bradford White water heater with Honeywell gas control valve cut off with 5 flash error. After some troubleshooting and disassembling the control valve I noticed the temperature sensor was wet. That black threaded backing to the control valve housing must’ve corroded over time and gotten a small leak which is faulting the temperature probe. Tested the valve and the temp probe and the board looks good. Only issue is that threaded backplate but looking online I only see people selling the whole assembly for $200+ and I’d rather not when I don’t need any of that. Also noticed all the newer replacements are metal where the temperature sensor sits so sounds like they knew it was an issue and improved their design. Anyway, do you happen to sell and/or know where I can buy just that threaded black backing to the control valve? Or what that part might be called to aid me in my search for it?

[@thewaterheaterfactory]

@@KlaudeeBoyee : well, my friend that’s exactly what happened without that metal cap on the back that plastic gets corroded. A little bit of water gets in screws up the temperature sensor. Yeah it’s like a well Housing try searching for that. I don’t sell them. I mean I do locally, but probably if I were you and you know maybe some places where usually like a Plumbing Supply house like a Fergusons or I’m not sure where you live. Let people drop off old Water Heaters and then you go there and take a valve off one of the old water heaters then you can get it that way otherwise you gotta buy the entire valve the most important thing you wanna pay attention to when replacing the wall housing is the depth of insulation that you have on your water heater you want to match it as closely as possible the spacing because if you get one that short, then it needs to be longer it’s not gonna reach the threads if you get one that’s longer and you need a short one you might be OK as long as the main burner tube is adjustable, but yeah, that’s you. Kinda need to replace that part in order to protect the sensor but yeah, you could reuse the valve and the circuitboard and then you’ll be rolling again.- I’ve got a pretty good code 5 video. I think it’s my most popular video that covers the whole thing in depth pretty well.

[@KlaudeeBoyee]

@ Thank you, I appreciate the reply! I’m in NJ, tried a slew of local plumbing supply stores including Fergusons and nobody sells just the back of the housing. Prices I saw were all for the entire valve and prices were upwards of $200+ and my water heater is already 13 years old, still going strong with no issues but I figured if I’m going to be spending half the price of a new water heater might as well just get a new one entirely :/