Suburban Water Heater in RV Will Not Stay Lit

by Don
(Harrisburg, Pa)

The water heater will not stay lit past the 3 times the igniter cycles. When the igniter is igniting the gas valve stays open and it stays lit. The second the igniter stops the gas valve goes shut and the flame goes out. I've checked the Hi Limit and thermostat and both are closed.
I think I've narrowed it down to the control module, which looks fine. Nothing burnt or out of place on the board.

Thank You - Don

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ANSWER: Greetings Don thanks for submitting your question on our Ask An RV Question Page.

Yes the problem could be caused by a bad Water Heater Control Board and you will not normally be able to see any visible damage to the board itself.

The problem you describe can also be caused by a bad Thermocouple that is not allowing the Water Heater to stay lit.

Without really looking at it and running some tests there is no way that you can really tell for sure what the exact problem is. You may want to take your RV in and have a Certified RV Technician take a look at it, so that you do not spend money on parts you may not need.

I hope this helps.

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Happy RVing

RVing Al

Camping World

Comments for Suburban Water Heater in RV Will Not Stay Lit

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Rating
starstarstarstarstar 		Suburban SW6DEL. Will light off and run for about 10sec. Then not relight. Reset light is lit between AC/DC switches inside of camper
by: Larry Bennett

Reset light is lit between AC/DC rocker switches inside of camper. The AC element is working fine. I replaced the 12-volt thermostat switches on the tank, but the gas unit is still lighting off only once and run for about 10sec. If the problem is the control circuit board, where is it located? On the Surburban SW6DEL, it is not on the unit.
Rating
starstarstarstarstar 		Water heater not staying lit
by: Anonymous

I just had mine professionally installed and it still will not stay lit what do I need to do now
Rating
starstarstarstarstar 		No spark
by: tom

sw6d hot water. switch on red light 33 clicks, gas allowed into burner. no spark to light off.. should not do this but i did. used a hand gas starter and the gas lit off and stayed lit till i removed it. fire went out immediately. tried the reset not help. board looks okay.

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