How do I light my water heater?

[Bigjohnk99]

I have a 1983 Holiday Rambler and can't seem to figure how to light the pilot.  There doesn't appear to be a button to push and there is no heat adjustment.  I did a forum search and found no help.

[ClydesdaleKevin]

Sounds like you might have a peizo-electric start model.  Does it have wires going to a plastic box under the propane line, more wires coming out of a black foam cover on the tank, more wires going to a plastic box on the upper right, and wires leading to inside the burner tube?  If so, you have an electric start model, which has no heat adjustment.  That means that somewhere in your RV is a switch that should say Hot Water, so you just turn it on, and if all your wiring is still intact, it should fire right up.  On our 89 Holiday Rambler, that switch is on the main control board.  It has a light that turns green if it lights, and red if it fails to light or goes out.

If you find the switch and it fails to light, you might have to try it several times, waiting at least 5 seconds between each try.  If it has sat a long time without being lit, they can be stubborn, since the propane has to bleed through the system and reach the water heater.

Kev

[Bigjohnk99]

Thanks Kev.
On my control panel I had to press the fresh water switch and the black water monitor switch to fire up the water heater.  I roared to life.  With no owner's manual and no visible markings on the water heater, I thought I'd have to live with cold showers. 

I'm getting everything figured out.  The old HR has has about 10 previous owners and very little seems to be original.  This RVing thing is an adventure and I haven't even left the driveway yet.

[ClydesdaleKevin]

On the bright side, you have a vintage Holiday Rambler!  From back when they were a very well engineered and top notch machine!  Now they are owned by Monoco and truly sucketh, but the old ones were extremely well made and high end.

Kev

[TommyM]

On my control panel I had to press the fresh water switch and the black water monitor switch to fire up the water heater. 

Wow, seriously?  Is this a design "feature," a defect, a hack job. . .?? 

That's like some of the 1980's car alarms where you had to do something goofy like press the brake pedal while turning the wiper switch to disarm.  But it makes sense for a car alarm to be tricky.  Why make lighting a water heater tricky?

I'm just curious!

Tommy

[Oz]

 Hm?   Sometimes, you definitely wonder, yes?  Actually, I believe this is a design safety feature.  A person could easily bump one switch and not know it, possibly causing damage to the unit or maybe worse.  This would eliminate the possibility of accidental ignition. 

[salplmb]

i think its also so that its not left on by accident and drains the battery while in storage or long stays.
sal