When Karen and I arrived in Lake Placid to pick up our 21BHS, one of the first things I did was turn on the propane, turn on the water pump and get the water heater going.
Normally I would be detecting come warmth in about 10 or 15 minutes, but when I turned on the hot water tap, it was just weakly spitting some spray and a lot of air.
I went to look at the water heater and - YIKES! - the anode was out! And I had the water heater on bypass.
I could have sworn that I had left it in - the whole idea of relocating to FL was to avoid rewinterizing.
Anyway, I sheepishly turned off the propane and the water heater.
There was enough air in the lines that I could not get the water pump to "prime" the system, and just ran and ran with lots of air still coming out of the faucets.
Went ahead and hooked up to "shore water" and that had water flowing through all the faucets and shower in short order. Once filled, the pump now senses the pressure and does not run continuously.
Finally, with the hot water tank filled and a good flow from the hot water tap, I turned the propane and heater switch on - and nothing! Went back to the heater and noticed a "RESET" button. Hit that, the pilot light lit and everything seems back to normal.
Sorry for being longwinded, but thought this might serve as a head's up to be 100% SURE there's water in that there tank before turning the water heater on!
This is even more important if you have an electric element. If you turn that on when the tank is empty it will go "poof" and you have to buy a new heater element.
Glad nothing serious happened Eddie. Now that anode is a different issue.... you know how I wrestled with mine. I did have mine plugged when I winterized Cheap little plastic plug worked great.
Over time, most of us have had these little issues. Years ago I had just pulled into a campground on lake Huron, at dusk, and could just make out shapes but could not see anything in detail. After I connected the water I heard a "shhhhhhhh" sound coming from the water heater. As I was investigating I touched the anode and it blew out and came to rest about 10 feet in back of the rig. If there had been enough light I would have seen that it wasn't screwed in all the way, DUH!!
[quote timestamp="1426867011" source="/post/8219/thread" author="@shovelhead"]Glad nothing serious happened Eddie. Now that anode is a different issue.... you know how I wrestled with mine. I did have mine plugged when I winterized Cheap little plastic plug worked great. [/quote][font size="3"]Shovelhead: Not sure of the purpose of the plastic plug. Would keep critters out, but why not just put the anode back in and tighten it? The plastic plug would probably come out with a bang from the pressure/temperature combo when you fired the heater up.[/font]
[font size="3"]Fasteddieb: You are indeed fortunate you didn't do that to an electric model. Puffff$$$$. That "pilot light' you saw was actually the main burner. These Direct Spark Ignition (DSI) heaters don't have a pilot. That's why even your WH needs 12 volts,and drains the battery when the burner is running.
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Charlie just part of being anal retentive. Plus the anode I took out was pretty eaten up and flaking off chunks.
thanks for sharing... good to know and watch out for!