For some years my HWS has been a bit cranky ... pilot always lit but the 'woffer' ... main burner was always a bit iffi.
On the first night of the latest 8,000km trip it just refused to start.
Then after finding a local gas fitter at Goondiwindi .. buggar me it worked.
But only for a couple of days. When we got to Bourke it finally decided to stop all together. So from there I just heated the water with the pilot flame .. & it was satisfactory if you weren't in a hurry for a shower.
When we got home I decided to fix it. The symptoms convinced all the experts that the 12 year old Sit valve was the problem. Given the relative costs & the age of the system the fix recomended was complete replacement. So after $500 at trade prices the new one was installed. No tradie costs due to gas fitter son!!
Buggar .. still didn't work!
Symptoms ..
Pilot ok. Main burner came on at full burn but after a second or so flamed out & even started to burn back at the end of the main burner flue .. dangerous.
Pressure at the regulator above min. BUT after turning on the HWS it fell to below 1.0 ... !!!
Replaced the regulator & all OK.
The expert at the son in law's gas fitting outlet suggested that we had got a load of 'bad' gas at some time & regulators typically had a life of less than 12 years. Sure enough the regulator had an internal coating of an oil like film as he had suggested might be the case.
The next door neighbour rather smug because he kept reminding me of all the trouble that his caravan club mates had with faulty regulators (and those flexible hoses).
Lesson .. I suppose that testing the gas pressure when no appliances are turned on is like testing the terminal voltage of a battery when not under load.
In any case I now know a lot more about CV gas HWS etc and SWMBO can be assured of hot showers for the next 10 yrs or so. maybe!
jimsiron said
11:52 AM Nov 18, 2011
Sounds like a problem we had at work with our fork. Mechanic pulled system apart and found oily gunk in it. We had no problems up until we had changed gas suppliers for the 15kg cylinder exchange bottles. He suggested that was the problem as he had experienced it before. An identical fork at a neigbouring branch uses the original gas which the mechanic also services has had no issues. regards Jimsiron
Cupie said
02:27 PM Nov 18, 2011
Have since spoken to a mate who had 20yrs in the refinery business .. He says that oily stuff sounds like the 'odoriser' that they put into the gas to give it that smell. I'll have a wiff of the old regulator to check it out.
Spook said
08:21 AM Nov 26, 2011
Cupie wrote:
Did I tell you about my HWS ......
(Direct start Suburban USA made)
Well ...
For some years my HWS has been a bit cranky ... pilot always lit but the 'woffer' ... main burner was always a bit iffi.
On the first night of the latest 8,000km trip it just refused to start.
Then after finding a local gas fitter at Goondiwindi .. buggar me it worked.
But only for a couple of days. When we got to Bourke it finally decided to stop all together. So from there I just heated the water with the pilot flame .. & it was satisfactory if you weren't in a hurry for a shower.
When we got home I decided to fix it. The symptoms convinced all the experts that the 12 year old Sit valve was the problem. Given the relative costs & the age of the system the fix recomended was complete replacement. So after $500 at trade prices the new one was installed. No tradie costs due to gas fitter son!!
Buggar .. still didn't work!
Symptoms ..
Pilot ok. Main burner came on at full burn but after a second or so flamed out & even started to burn back at the end of the main burner flue .. dangerous.
Pressure at the regulator above min. BUT after turning on the HWS it fell to below 1.0 ... !!!
Replaced the regulator & all OK.
The expert at the son in law's gas fitting outlet suggested that we had got a load of 'bad' gas at some time & regulators typically had a life of less than 12 years. Sure enough the regulator had an internal coating of an oil like film as he had suggested might be the case.
The next door neighbour rather smug because he kept reminding me of all the trouble that his caravan club mates had with faulty regulators (and those flexible hoses).
Lesson .. I suppose that testing the gas pressure when no appliances are turned on is like testing the terminal voltage of a battery when not under load.
In any case I now know a lot more about CV gas HWS etc and SWMBO can be assured of hot showers for the next 10 yrs or so. maybe!
Any gas fitter worth his salt would know to test under MAXIMUM load. This is a normal part of the commissioning procedure and also test procedure. Yes, I'm a gas fitter.
Did I tell you about my HWS ......
(Direct start Suburban USA made)
Well ...
For some years my HWS has been a bit cranky ... pilot always lit but the 'woffer' ... main burner was always a bit iffi.
On the first night of the latest 8,000km trip it just refused to start.
Then after finding a local gas fitter at Goondiwindi .. buggar me it worked.
But only for a couple of days. When we got to Bourke it finally decided to stop all together. So from there I just heated the water with the pilot flame .. & it was satisfactory if you weren't in a hurry for a shower.
When we got home I decided to fix it. The symptoms convinced all the experts that the 12 year old Sit valve was the problem. Given the relative costs & the age of the system the fix recomended was complete replacement. So after $500 at trade prices the new one was installed. No tradie costs due to gas fitter son!!
Buggar .. still didn't work!
Symptoms ..
Pilot ok. Main burner came on at full burn but after a second or so flamed out & even started to burn back at the end of the main burner flue .. dangerous.
Pressure at the regulator above min. BUT after turning on the HWS it fell to below 1.0 ... !!!
Replaced the regulator & all OK.
The expert at the son in law's gas fitting outlet suggested that we had got a load of 'bad' gas at some time & regulators typically had a life of less than 12 years. Sure enough the regulator had an internal coating of an oil like film as he had suggested might be the case.
The next door neighbour rather smug because he kept reminding me of all the trouble that his caravan club mates had with faulty regulators (and those flexible hoses).
Lesson .. I suppose that testing the gas pressure when no appliances are turned on is like testing the terminal voltage of a battery when not under load.
In any case I now know a lot more about CV gas HWS etc and SWMBO can be assured of hot showers for the next 10 yrs or so. maybe!
regards
Jimsiron
Have since spoken to a mate who had 20yrs in the refinery business .. He says that oily stuff sounds like the 'odoriser' that they put into the gas to give it that smell. I'll have a wiff of the old regulator to check it out.