Hot Water Heater Propane noise

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Rickas

Member
Joined
Mar 16, 2005
Posts
10
I have a Class C motorhome. My Atwood DSI Propane Hot Water Heater works fine but makes a heck of a racket. Sounds like a blow torch with sputtering every so often. Is this normal? I am a newbie so have no idea how this should sound. Much appreciative of any info re this( problem ?)
 
Rickas,
Propane water heaters can and do make a fair amount of noise which will change with the wind direction and velocity. The sputtering is something else again. Is it possible your tank is overfilled? Is anything blocking the burner orifice? Is it dirty? The flu pipe? Is it dirty? Do you notice any flame variation or sputtering with your stove burners or furnaces? When you look inside the outside cover, is the flame fairly constant and blue? Does it puff back from the combustion chamber? The more info you can give, the easier it will be for one of our members to help answer your question and believe me, they have a lot of combined knowledge.
 
It's normal for the HWH to sound loud, but sputtering may be indicative of dirt in the burner orifice. ?Watch the flame while it's running and see if it flickers at all. ?If so, it may just need a cleaning.
 
Thanks for the advice will check out. Dont have a problem with heater or stove so quess it may be dirt in hot water propane line.
 
It's hard to say whether your "loud" is usual or excessive without hearing it ourselves. Kkolbus asks some good questions and the answers might give us further clues.

An improperly tuned air mixing gate can cause excessive noise. That's the opening in the gas pipe just before it enters the burner tube that sucks in air to mix with the propane.  Insufficient air can cause excessive roaring and may also casue some soot to form around the exhaust area.  You might adjust the opening a bit each way to see what effect it has. There is usually a screw that is loosened and a slide over the opneing that can be moved.
 

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