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RV Water Heater Will Not Stay Lit

by Shirley
(Ontario, Canada)

my water heater is one year old (gas). I light it (usually takes several attempts before it will stay lit)

It might stay lit for five minutes or five days, Any ideas why it goes out?

ANSWER: Greetings Shirley thanks for submitting your question on our Ask An RV Question Page.


Your problem could be a bad thermocouple, not enough propane pressure, etc. The first thing I recommend you do before having to take your RV in and have the Water Heater looked at is to do some routine maintenance on it and you might find out that performing this maintenance will solve your problem.

The first thing you should do is watch the video below by RV Expert Mark Polk from RV Education, it gives you the proper steps to maintain your Water Heater. Also pay close attention to the section on adjusting the air mixture on the pilot light because if your pilot light does not have a blue flame this could also be causing your intermittent problem with the water heater. If these steps do not help then you are going to have to take your RV in and have the water heater checked out by a Certified RV Technician.

Let The Good Sam Extended Service Plan Pay Your RV Repair Bills

Click Here to See All Of RVing Expert Mark Polk's RV Education 101 Videos That Can Be Downloaded Instantly To Your Computer

I hope that this has been helpful.

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