Gas hot water heater issue

[A.J. Holst]

Ran out of LP gas, my gas company apparently forgot I was on auto fill.

They filled it Saturday.

Gas to stove, no problems.

Hot water heater pilot lights and stays lit.

Turn up the temp control, burner kicks on, then goes out within 10-15 seconds.

Almost like its using more gas than being supplied.

Thoughts?

 

[10-Ring]

Line needs to be purged and/or your thermo coupler isn't getting hot and causing the feed to shut off. 

[RED333]

1 hour ago, 10-Ring said:

Line needs to be purged and/or your thermo coupler isn't getting hot and causing the feed to shut off. 

The first part, purged line. Just keep trying, it will come back on.

[A.J. Holst]

Replaced the thermocoupler

Now the pilot will only stay lit as long as I have the knob depressed.

When I allow it to pop up to turn to on, it goes out.

Frustrating.

 

[Luckyforward]

Sorry . . . I thought the thermocouple may have fixed it.  Try holding in the knob longer.

[A.J. Holst]

 

46 minutes ago, Luckyforward said:

Sorry . . . I thought the thermocouple may have fixed it.  Try holding in the knob longer.

Just replaced the "new" generic thermo with another one marked specifically for Rheem (GE by Rheem)

Pilot is now staying lit.

When I turn on the gas flow, burner lights up, then peters out.

[RED333]

Sounds like you need to have the gas pressure checked, Will the company that filled the tank check it for you.  The data tag on the water heater will list the water column "WC" pressure for your water heater.

[Erik88]

I can't offer much help other than this..

[TGO David]

16 hours ago, A.J. Holst said:

 

Just replaced the "new" generic thermo with another one marked specifically for Rheem (GE by Rheem)

Pilot is now staying lit.

When I turn on the gas flow, burner lights up, then peters out.

Natural gas or LP gas?  I ask because you might need to change the orifice for the burner and make adjustments to the pressure regulator depending on what your source of gas is and what the heater was set up for.

Also it could be a thermocouple issue.  Gas water heaters have a thermocouple as a safety mechanism and it controls the feed valve.  A bad thermocouple could fail to read the heat from the flame and cause the valve to shut off, for safety.  You don't want the valve open without a flame, of course.

There are ways to test the thermocouple with a multimeter.  Lots of content on YouTube for that. 

[peejman]

Run the stove  (or anyting else) while you try to get the water heater going. The additional gas flow will help purge the line.  It can be flakey trying to get the line purged. 

If you've got a gas grill or space heater, you could connect the water heater line to the grill/heater and use it to purge the line. 

It's very unlikely they've filled it with the wrong type of gas. The fittings are different on the lines for that reason. 

[A.J. Holst]

Ran the stove, while it was going, went to the water heater.

It's now a hot water heater!

Thank you all for the help, what an awesome forum and group of folks!!!

Edited February 21, 2023 by A.J. Holst

[RED333]

18 hours ago, A.J. Holst said:

It's now a hot water heater!

Glad you have hot water, we do miss the little things when they are not there.