My HVAC buddy that I hadn’t seen in two years called me back. I owe that guy a case of the best.
Anyway… At first he thought it was the regulator for the propane. The flames where dancing quite a bit. But it could also be the gas valve on the heater itself (it is a Honeywell Smart Valve).
The flame checker on the pilot was working fine.
I’m in a different situation. I’m a 11,200 feet in elevation. The water heater is a high altitude model. But the pressure valve was never adjusted to this altitude (guessing).
The pressure valve worked fine for a while, then gave up. There is an adjustment on the valve and my HVAC friend tuned it for a bit and all is running strong.
Dancing flames are gone too. I suspect that the pressure valve was cycling, and screwing the whole process up. I will keep an eye on it.
Thanks everyone. I mean it.
When it’s always something, it’s often something else too.
All gas burning appliances need adjustments for high altitudes. I didn’t think to ask, and apparently you didn’t realize that your elevation is relevant.
The water heater is a high altitude model, I didn’t think throwing that into my list of symptoms was relevant. It had been working fine for 5 years.
What I thought was a switch to check for moisture or condensation in the flue was actually the pressure switch. There was moisture in it, but it was closed, completing a circuit. ……. When the blower and burner where off……. That’s me being a dumb ass.
And It seemed to operate correctly when my HVAC friend blew in to it……
But it had had moisture in it from condensation of the flue gasses. I think that the moisture screwed up its settings/sensing ability. I’m going to buy a new one as I suspect that the current one is not long for this world.
Again, thank you every one. Between you guys and my buddy, I saved a few hundred bucks I’m sure.
I may start a thread about multi-meters. My HVAC buddys meter seems a bit dated and one of the probes is broken in half. I like the Fluke that I have. One of the best tools I have ever purchased.
Hi,
Sorry for resurrecting an old thread. I’m having issues similar to the OP. The model is Bradford White MITW50L6BN12. The Honeywell smartvalve is Q3400A1008. Unit is approx 10 years old.
I’m having problems where the power vent is constantly on and never shuts off. The burner is not on, the pilot is off and the motor is still running. I unplug the unit from the outlet and the minute I plug it back in, the blower motor comes back on. Sometimes this will fix the pilot and it’ll ignite and burner comes on. Other times it doesn’t (pilot). The consistent thing is blower motor will constantly be on.