Michael Lance
New Member
I have a Rinnai R75 LSi, date May 2008, installed new in 2008. I had a code 11 on it a few years back, cracked it open, and found the fan full of stink bugs. Cleaned it, and it fixed things up. Now I periodically clean the fan.
A few weeks ago, one of my 6 year olds decided the exhaust needed some water, so he ran the hose down it. Water was dripping out of it everywhere. I shut it down over night - no time to get into it then. The next morning it would run, but not well. I cracked it open and there was a good bit of water in the fan housing. I cleaned it out, dried everything, and it seemed to be OK. My fear was the fan was cooked.
Fast-forward to a couple of weeks ago - a Saturday morning, of course. Intermittent hot water. Opened it up, checked the fan, started disassembling burner - found some more stink bugs. Vacuumed it out, decided to stop, buttoned it up - boogered up gasket holding igniter/flame rod cover. Sunday morning I started catching error code 12. Did some testing, and found that if I turned on a faucet first, could get hot water at most places. Talked to some plumbers. Monday morning talked to Rinnai tech support, then followed some downloaded troubleshooting stuff. Verified it was not electrical. Cracked it open again, and this time pulled the whole burner assembly out, cleaned it all and cleaned heat exchanger fins. Got it back together and hot water, nice blue flame! Since I knew I needed a new gasket and did not like the state of the fan, ordered fan and igniter/flame rod/gasket kit.
Last night, took a shower around 10 pm. All well. This morning, no hot water. Error code 11, no flame at all. Thought maybe cold last night might have driven enough bugs into it to zap the fan (I know, grasping), I opened it up and replaced the fan and the igniter and flame rod. Still error code 11. Talked with Rinnai - main concern was gas. Either supply or valve. Since I doubt anything went wrong with the supply over night, and every other gas appliance in the house works, not worried there. I called a plumber, and while waiting on a call back, decided to try again. This time, I tapped the body of the gas control valve with a screwdriver while it was trying to start and bingo - it fired right up. Nice blue flame, hot water. It continued to work and is still working as far as I know.
Called the plumber with updated information - turns out the earliest he could get to me would be next Tuesday! Called another that can get to me by Thursday.
I can have a new valve in hand by Thursday - even tomorrow if I had to. When the plumber comes on Thursday if he determines it is the valve, then it would be there for him to install. Otherwise, if I do not order, then I would have it by Monday, would have to be reschedule the plumber, and no telling when it will be done. FWIW, both plumbers I spoke with both times said no one inventories any parts, and they recommended I order the parts instead of them. I just call Rinnai and get the part numbers. Those guys are top-notch.
My question for the professionals here is am I ahead of the game to go on and get a valve? Does it sound like that is the problem? Rinnai tech support said someone ought to measure the pressure first, which I understand, but that puts me days down the road with the possibility of losing hot water.
Any help would be appreciated.
A few weeks ago, one of my 6 year olds decided the exhaust needed some water, so he ran the hose down it. Water was dripping out of it everywhere. I shut it down over night - no time to get into it then. The next morning it would run, but not well. I cracked it open and there was a good bit of water in the fan housing. I cleaned it out, dried everything, and it seemed to be OK. My fear was the fan was cooked.
Fast-forward to a couple of weeks ago - a Saturday morning, of course. Intermittent hot water. Opened it up, checked the fan, started disassembling burner - found some more stink bugs. Vacuumed it out, decided to stop, buttoned it up - boogered up gasket holding igniter/flame rod cover. Sunday morning I started catching error code 12. Did some testing, and found that if I turned on a faucet first, could get hot water at most places. Talked to some plumbers. Monday morning talked to Rinnai tech support, then followed some downloaded troubleshooting stuff. Verified it was not electrical. Cracked it open again, and this time pulled the whole burner assembly out, cleaned it all and cleaned heat exchanger fins. Got it back together and hot water, nice blue flame! Since I knew I needed a new gasket and did not like the state of the fan, ordered fan and igniter/flame rod/gasket kit.
Last night, took a shower around 10 pm. All well. This morning, no hot water. Error code 11, no flame at all. Thought maybe cold last night might have driven enough bugs into it to zap the fan (I know, grasping), I opened it up and replaced the fan and the igniter and flame rod. Still error code 11. Talked with Rinnai - main concern was gas. Either supply or valve. Since I doubt anything went wrong with the supply over night, and every other gas appliance in the house works, not worried there. I called a plumber, and while waiting on a call back, decided to try again. This time, I tapped the body of the gas control valve with a screwdriver while it was trying to start and bingo - it fired right up. Nice blue flame, hot water. It continued to work and is still working as far as I know.
Called the plumber with updated information - turns out the earliest he could get to me would be next Tuesday! Called another that can get to me by Thursday.
I can have a new valve in hand by Thursday - even tomorrow if I had to. When the plumber comes on Thursday if he determines it is the valve, then it would be there for him to install. Otherwise, if I do not order, then I would have it by Monday, would have to be reschedule the plumber, and no telling when it will be done. FWIW, both plumbers I spoke with both times said no one inventories any parts, and they recommended I order the parts instead of them. I just call Rinnai and get the part numbers. Those guys are top-notch.
My question for the professionals here is am I ahead of the game to go on and get a valve? Does it sound like that is the problem? Rinnai tech support said someone ought to measure the pressure first, which I understand, but that puts me days down the road with the possibility of losing hot water.
Any help would be appreciated.
