Water heater problem

[The Rolando's]

Hope you all, with your many years of wisdom at problem solving, can
help. I have a late 80's Alpenlite fiver that has an American Appliance
Model DST6 propane water heater. When I turn the switch on inside, it
immediately fires up and heats the 6 gallons to operating temperature.
When momma gets in the shower, she has plenty of hot water BUT as she
stands there (which she is prone to do!!) and the heater cycles to
heating again, it will fire up but after a moment or two, shut off and
the switch's red light comes on. I turn it off and back on and the
heater fires for a moment or two and shuts off. I do this routine 2 or
3 times and then it stays on just fine until later when I'm in the
shower and we start this process over again. Same thing doing the
dishes - midway through, we have to turn off and on a couple of times
to get it to stay on and continue heating. Any ideas of what may be the
problem or what I should look for/ check out to cure this beast and get
it to cycle normally?
Thanks in advance for all ideas,
David Rolando

PS. We drove the North Cascades Highway here in Washington yesterday
west to east - delightful. Due to the drought conditions here in the
NW, it has a record early opening this year. There's still snow in the
passes but the road was bare and dry. We came from the Skagit Valley
(Mt. Vernon/ Burlington) after spending a few days checking out the
early tulips/daffodils prior to the Tulip Festival.

[Michael]

Sounds like the control board is not sensing the flame. Clean the wire
probe(the igniter) gently, start the water heater and make sure the probe is
in the flame. Clean and tighten the green ground wire coming from the
control board(this may be in the wiring harness going to the switch or tied
into another ground, just make sure its tight and clean.) When was the last
time you had your L.P. pressure checked with a manometer? Your regulator
may not be giving you enough gas or it's fluctuation could cause a flame
out. Turn on a stove burner, watch the flame height and color, then turn on
the water heater. Does the flame change color to orange and reduce in size?
If so, sounds like you may have a regulator that needs to be replaced.

It's 52, windy and intermittent showers here in Las Vegas.

--
Michael
mne...@lvcm.com

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