Suburban Water Heater Repeatedly Stops On LP Function After 11 Minutes -- My RV Works

We have a merch store! Check us out at myrvworksstore.square.site/sh...!
Support us on Patreon: / myrvworks
Tools & Parts - myrvworks.com/myrvworks-store
My RV Works, Inc. main site - myrvworks.com
RV Service Manuals - myrvworks.com/manuals
Don’t forget to like 👍, subscribe, and hit the notification bell 🔔 so you don’t miss a video!
Looking for our RV Repair Tools? Looking for our Amazon Affiliate Links?
Click the “Tools & Parts” link (shown above) and go to our store!
============================================================
My RV Works, Inc., Certified RV Technician, Darren Koepp, continues the 2nd season of “Ten Minutes With A Tech”.
Darrel is having a problem with his Suburban water heater. The water heater is running for 11 minutes on its L.P. gas functionality, but it abruptly shuts off at the 11-minute mark repeatedly. Darren gives a quick overview of how RV water heaters work using L.P. gas to heat up, and goes over several places in the L.P. gas part of the system to check on and clean up, as potential solutions to this issue.
Stay tuned for the rest of the 2nd season of the show where more questions will get answered!
============================================================
New videos every Friday! And bonus videos here and there!
If you are in need of RV Repairs in the Olympic Peninsula area of Washington state, submit a service request on our website at myrvworks.com today!

[@paulabrotherton]

Love how you explain things. Great video!

[@lorne85]

Thank you for the time you put into these. I love learning from the pros!

[@KevinCoop1]

Great video! I learned a lot more than I knew about the gas part of water heater. Thanks! Kevin Troy, Mo.

[@TheBuddy1939]

Great watching the wheels turning and problem solving thank you

[@johndernberger1961]

I like these short episodes!

[@robdeleyser6517]

Hi I'm based in Mesquite NV thanks again for your videos

[@davidc5735]

Great info, straight to the point please keep up the good work. Alberta, CA

[@hugueslincourt202]

Really helpful. Lots of clear and precise info. Thank you from Nelson BC Canada

[@annenaberhaus9835]

I was able to fix my hot water heater on my own thanks to this video! Thank you so much!

[@MyRVWorks]

Glad it helped!

[@Chinwestcoast]

Thanks you sir! I fixed her. My gap was to closed and it would turn off after 2 seconds of flame being on. So pulled the igniter ground probes spaced them out to 1/8th and placed her back in adjusting toward front of J tube. Now stays on. Thank you my Rv works.

[@jeffsteele1295]

My wife and I are headed to Washington State with our Allegro Bus 43 QGP year 2010. We are having a couple problems with our motorhome. I would love to get someone with your company to look at our motorhome. I have fixed a few problem but could welcome help with the other parts. I love all your videos they have been great to watch. I got hurt 4 years ago when a wall fell on me working 3,000 feet underground. Thanks so much for sharing your knowledge with us ! ! ! !

[@MyRVWorks]

Hi Jeff, sorry that we didn't respond sooner. You can submit a service request online at myrvworks.com/submit-service-request/. Our service are covers myrvworks.com/service-area/. Wow, that's amazing you are still able to do work!

[@barrymarootner504]

I have a 10 gallon suburban from a 1995 Monaco coach and I’m having the same issue. It lights when I turn it on and burns for about 10 Minutes and then stops. It tries to relight itself but acts like it’s getting no gas. I cleaned out the tiny little pinhole by stuffing a little piece of cloth that cleans jewelry (all I could find) and cleaned it out and blew threw it as hard as I could. So far it has fixed the problem. It’s able to reignite like it should.

[@JacobBurow]

Hey Darren, fellow RV tech here down in Omaha. Another scenario I've run into that matches the symptoms described is a failing valve electromagnet. I had a suburban furnace that would operate for 8.5 minutes before shutdown. It would do the same after a ten minute rest. I had to put my manometer into the valve itself to observe the gas shutoff before the electricity to the valve was shut off by the board. I think with a 11 minute run time on the water heater it is possible the gas valve is failing. Thanks for making these videos!

[@MyRVWorks]

Hey brother, thanks for the input. I love to hear from my fellow RV Techs! We just keep building that circle of Knowledge. LOL

[@annsalter2124]

Thank you. I'll try my gas orifice and j tube to see if plugged

[@johnwinter9722]

Ok. Two words: bypass valves. New RV, first time de-winterizing, hard to see the valves inside the access door. I had one valve closed. Water heater worked until it hit the high temp sensor and then it shut off. No hot water because it was bypassing. Open valve, all good. Shout out to Jason's Mobile RV Service for his expediency, expertise, and patience. Helped that he worked at a dealer that sold Rockwoods like mine.

[@johnwinter9722]

Nicely done. Very informative. Still not sure why my nearly new Suburban water heater starts then stops and the electric side does not work at all. Service call upcoming. Thanks.

[@ronaldsova2380]

Hope you see this comment just installed a new 6 gallon hot water heater in my RV everything seems to work but sometimes the gas side of it will make a proofing sound Like the gas is building up and then igniting and sometimes it works just great like I said it is a brand new domestic 6 gallon hot water Heater any suggestions. I really enjoy watching your videos they are very informative

[@kerryzimmerman6485]

Messaging from Thunder Bay, On Canada

[@blackturtleadventures6826]

Hey sir! Thanks for your vids! Have issue I haven’t seen covered yet. Electric side is good. Gas side will completely heat water and shut off. Then, the dreaded red light comes on . Replaced t-stat, cleaned out flame and igniter tube. Lights on first attempt but won’t relight when water cools. Control board?

[@markpillori]

Will you be doing any maintenance videos on the Truma Aquago water heater?

[@kimcushing9231]

Dometic RM8501 3 way fridge is getting colder on shore power ( 15 ice box / 35 llower fridge ) than with propain ( 23 ice box / 48 ) in all day tests the blue flame looks fine to me ? but I cleaned the burner in alcohol and cleaned the chimmey any suggestions ? should i replace the burner ? if so - where would i find one ? thanks

[@sammyglover4036]

I’ve kind of hit it dead end with this hot water heater because when started on it the electric side didn’t work. And the propane side didn’t work so I tested everything like you said figured out it was a circuit board bought a new one put it in the electric side works fine now the gas side comes on but only burns for like six seconds and you can hear the gas solenoid cut off, any ideals

[@californiahikingadventures2249]

My first thought was water in tank as well. T stat is getting tripped because no water in tank .

[@timothyculliver1993]

Darren, what are your thoughts on the Atmospheric vacuum breaker installed on the black tank flush? I have seen quite a few AVB leaking behind the walls on KZbin. Do you know of a better device? Maybe installing outside of the unit.

[@MyRVWorks]

I'm not aware of any of these vacuum breakers leaking. I do know they're necessary. Perhaps go with a higher quality type vacuum breaker might be a solution.

[@kerryzimmerman6485]

I have a similar problem with my water heater. It's a suburban 10 gallon. I replaced the thermostat/ high limit. Burner runs until it's up to temperature then shuts off and won't restart until its. Cold.

[@Dirt47]

Ive replaced the electrode, control board twice, cleaned everything including wire connections, still burns out when the electrode stops the current when the lighting voltage stops. Im so stuck. Its got a nice clean blue flame. All other appliances run perfectly on LP

[@michaelstone917]

My heater will ignite for less than 10 seconds three times and the whole time its trying to light the three times its clicking while trying to light. I get a great flame but it cuts every 5 seconds or so and it ticks really fast while the flame is burning for the 5 seconds its lit. Any ideas?

[@bobpatterson5935]

Hi. I have the Suburban SW6D propane water heater and when the water heater initially lights there is a 8-10" flare that shoots out of the vent / grid. I am worried that this is an issue and could be dangerous. Am I right to be concerned? This is a 2023 Wildwood FSX 170SS - we are on our first trip.

[@ml-jt6eg]

Did you ever get it to work correctly? Having same issue

[@norain31]

i got a wierd problem but I almost like what happens .Every morning i have to get up press the hot water tank lg switch off then on and w/heater fires up other wise we will have luke warm water . happens when water heater sits not being used .any guess .cause it comes on and works fine as long as i reset the on/off panel switch in the kitchen. my camper has a 400lb propane tank on front and came new like this , presently 35% full. Atwood 5 gallon < guess maybe smaller . Salmo bc canada presently in montana glacier park camping.

[@adventureinourjourney2360]

Can you service the Everett, WA location I am willing to pay for the extra travel?

[@MyRVWorks]

A few years ago we did travel across the ferry over to that area. But we have so much work here on the Olympic Peninsula it doesn't make sense for us to travel that far. Most people travel over this way since we have so many campgrounds to choose from and then we can schedule when you're over here.

[@tommcnutt2582]

Have a question on a dometic water heater. Replaced the motherboard since it would fire on the gas side and shut off after 5 seconds or so. I also cleaned everything and it works fine except it stained the paint on the cover due to exhaust heat. I have a 2020 Beacon 42 RDB. What caused the heat stain? Love your channel and have learned a lot. Keep up the great work!

[@HeatminerbyGreenheatsystems]

Hello, I'm from Poland (Central Europe). I'm rebuilding an old TT Gulfstream 32FKS. I bought on ebay suburban SW12DEL water heater, but from the beginning gas part didn't work. As sending it back to the USA has no any sense I want to repair it on my own. In Europe we have totally different systems so I need your help to diagnose the problem before I order any part. When I switch the gas heating on, valves opens, spark fires the gas but the flame looks like candle flame. A controller do not recognize any flame, closes the gas valves, repeat this procedure two more times and then stops. Where could be a problem? Other gas systems like owen, furnace and fridge works fine. Please help. Thank you in advance.

[@MyRVWorks]

You might start by checking the LP pressure at the water heater. We would consider 11 inches of water column the correct specification for that unit (11" WC) if you look at the manufacturer sticker you will see reference to this under the manifold pressure. But you need to check it at the water heater as there may be a restriction upstream. The next thing, on our website we have manuals under our resources tab myrvworks.com/manuals/ . With the correct information from the manual you might look at the orifice attached to the gas valve to make sure there's no restriction preventing the LP from properly flowing into the burn chamber. And of course on our KZbin channel we have a playlist full of water heater repair. Watching those may help as well. Best of luck and thanks for reaching out to us from Poland! 😀

[@HeatminerbyGreenheatsystems]

@@MyRVWorks Thank you for your support! Today I've removed and tested all gas parts of my water heater. Everything looked fine so I looked into a gas cooper pipe and found that it was totally blocked by unknown yellow powder. Compressor and brake cleaner solved the issue :D. Many thanks again!

[@titoyurenapodacamarquez3340]

Hello, I just installed a suburban water heater model number Sw12De it’s a 12 gallon and it’s a dual source by that I mean it’s electric 12v and gas. It’s brand new. Everything was installed correctly. It turns on and the burner stays lit for about 24 mins. But the problem is that the water doesn’t reach temperature. It only get a little above Luke warm. We have checked everything from electricity water and propane. It’s getting power. There’s nothing being reseted. I don’t know what Else to look for. Does anybody know what might be my issue? Any help would be gladly appreciated. Would the thermostat be faulty from factory? Thanks in advance.

[@MyRVWorks]

Have a good look at the bypass water lines on the back. Sounds like the bypass valve is open - effectively blending the cold supply water with the hot return water.

[@robertcovington7222]

Romero…makes his appearance