Verhouze
DIY Junior Member
Thanks! Do you know about this particular model?
You have the California special Low-NOx version somehow I don't anticipate good things but it is different than most of the ones in this thread.
I have 432 apartments with gas water heaters and American Water heaters are by far the worst. Although Rheem/Richmond are becoming a clear second. Contrary to what some are posting they are not much better as we have had some fail after only 2 - 3 years. The safety device inside them is a small temperture sensitive burst vial which Rheem does not consider a replaceable part if it fails they want you to return the water heater to them so they can see why. After having to pull a couple of these It's easy to see why. The screen is smaller than an American's and is only accessable from the inside of the unit which makes it hard to clean properly as all of the accumulated dirt and lint is under the screen and unreachable. To make matters worse the screen is covered in the oil they use when they stamp the screen and acts as an effective dust magnet. We have had conversations with Rheem regarding this and they think there's no problem with it. We have started cleaning the screens with solvents prior to installation to see if this will extend the life of these heaters. Only time will tell...
Do you happen to know what the "among other problems" are?
Based on my observations, disconnecting the switch will not affect the normal operation of the water heater. The problem is that you are back to the original problem of low air flow and burning out the thermocouple. If you have the switch connected, it should prevent the thermocouple from burning out. Since the thermal switch is resettable it seems preferable to let it pop instead of replacing a thermocouple that is now about $15.
I haven't tried keeping the manifold door loose, because I don't want the entire assembly to be able to rattle around. Probably wouldn't hurt anything, but since I am working with natural gas I don't want to risk doing something that might cause the connections to start leaking. Since the switch is nothing more than a fuse for a fuse, there is no reason to bypass it until it craps out and Whirlpool wants to sell you a new manifold door assembly. If you bypass it, you are back to replacing the thermocouple on a regular basis.
The thermocouple adapter is the key to the whole operation here. I have never bought a thermocouple before I got this water heater, so I don't know how many different ones there are. But I remember the first time I went to Lowe's after it burned out the first time they pointed me to a "standard" thermocouple that had standard threads before I told them it was a Whirlpool Flame Lock water heater. I don't know how much cheaper, if at all a standard thermocouple is. But if it's just a few bucks then it's still cheaper than paying shipping for a new manifold assembly or $15 for the reverse threaded thermocouple.
In regards to the window, as I stated earlier the window is larger and lets in a lot more air. The flow is so strong that the pilot light really flickers. I was worried it might go out so I put some folded metal window screen over it and that calmed down the pilot flame.
That was my theory when I popped out the smaller, round glass a year and a half ago. At that time I also considered attaching a hose to the hole and running it under the house where there is a constant draft that would feed air into the space under the water heater. The square hole is too big for that.
I'm not a licensed plumber, and I wouldn't advise anyone to do it, either. But trust me. "Someone" has popped that glass out and made it more like the old style gas heaters. That's the only reason I think I got a year and a half out of the last thermocouple. Based on everything I have read about the problems associated with the Whirlpool Flame Lock system, it seems that a lot of people are replacing them every few months. If this one lasts a year and a half before popping that resettable switch the new manifold assembly should be good until the warranty expires. I've got 5 years left on the warranty, so using 1.5 years as the guide the thermal switch should pop 3 times before the warranty expires.
I can understand the concern with flammable vapors in proximity to gas water heaters, especially for those installed in garages where paints, solvents and gasoline are also stored. But my water heater is in the house, in it's own closet. The only flammable vaporous liquid in the house is a couple of bottles of rubbing alcohol, and they are 20' away from the water heater. I've got a keg of Blue Dot Smokeless Powder that is closer to the water heater than the alcohol (yes, it's in a different room and stored properly).
Edit: On a whim I Googled these heaters to find out about the class action law suit that is in the works. Here's the link to the search results. There are four returns, including one to this thread:
http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&...st+whirlpool","flame+lock"&btnG=Google+Search
I read the Consumer Affairs articles, and noticing that one of the people quoted lived near me I called him. It seems that he figured out the trick about removing the viewing window, too. He also told me something that was very interesting because it conflicts with the advice being given by Whirlpool about cleaning the filters. The city where he lives has a code requirement that when you replace a water heater you have to put a catch pan under it. The catch pan is about 3" deep, which makes cleaning the bottom of the screen impossible unless you disconnect every single connection on the water heater and lift it out of the pan for cleaning. He also told me that he asked a manager at Lowes how many of the thermocouples they had sold. The manager told him that they sold 40 of them in 3 months. One store. He calculated it out for that store for a year, then for the number of stores in Texas, then for all the Lowes in the United States. The $$ figure he got was in the neighborhood of $10,000,000 at $15 per part.
For those interested, the class action lawsuit against Whirlpool and AWHC in California is set for August of this year. If it succeeds it will spread across the country.
Hey I'm a plumber in Shreveport, La and from experience i can say that the air intake screen should be cleaned but does the heater have the black filter screen that goes around the heater??
Well, did a good blow out/vacuum/clean of the Flame Lock screen, (was not covered or clogged at all, but i'm assuming there might have been some stuff in the openings) and nothing much else more to it.
The pilot has been on now for 6-7 hrs since, but that is not saying i'm out of the woods yet
I'm hoping i was just one of the lucky ones (probably a small group, right? ) that got lucky with a screen cleaning (but like i said, there was probably very little there) and i might be good to go, and will need to clean/check this a few times a yrs from now on.
Since it's been running w/out a problem since 2-15-06 til yesterday, even one more flame out of the pilot is gonna put me back in my bad mood, and back in the larger club of hating and regretting they bought this tub of crap.
Thanks,If you will go back and read most of this thread you will see that it is more then likely not your thermocouple causing the problem, it is the control valve assembly. What you describe are the classic symptoms of the valve failing. You may be able to limp alone for a short period by replacing the thermocouple and the other things but the control valve will fail shortly. The manufacture should replace it under warranty, they even paid the freight for me and would have sent someone out to install it if I wanted it.
This is awkward, but...
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