1996Lance water heater issue, new regulator needed?

[calstar]

And as Kirk stated, the control in your photo is NOT the regulator. It's a heater temperature control valve, probably like this one.

Thank you, I did not know that. If that temperature control valve is bad could it be the cause of the irregular flame I experience when trying to turn on the heater?

As described in my first post: "the pilot lights easily but when I turn the valve to the on position the flame is far from the "jet engine" appearance or sound, actually it scared me(enough so I don't want to ignite again) as the flame was a very big soft billowy one that extended back out and up of the combustion chamber

 

[Kirk]

If that temperature control valve is bad could it be the cause of the irregular flame I experience when trying to turn on the heater?

It is possible. The only ones of that type that I have ever replaced were due to a failure of the pilot supply in one case and the other failed to ever turn on the heating flame but the pilot still worked. The first case was a neighbor's RV and the second was a used RV that we once owned. Both repairs were more than 30 years ago and I have not worked on an RV appliance with a pilot light in the past 25 - 30 years. I am not aware of any RV manufacturer that has not been only installing appliances with direct spark ignition since the 1980's, but the valves are available.

 

[RayIN]

Standard LP leak test is on a closed system, no appliances runniing; 3 minutes with no pressure loss. It's described in the linked material.