RV Repair: Atwood water heather, pilot model, burner tube

Question
QUESTION: I Bill tell me what I could do with my water heater tha t making a poff when it is cold. start well but after 3-4 minutes running he's making what I call a poff than after every thing ok and also when its very humid it does'nt start. Ihave to bring outside and hair dryer. I owned a starfire 1989 and I love it. thanks Ivan from Sherbrooke.

ANSWER: Well Ivan it would be nice to know if this has a pilot or not. I am going to guess that it does. The first thing to check is the propane pressure to see that it is correct and 11 water column inches at the valve. The next thing to check is to see if there might be a spider web in the burner tube. That can cause trouble if there is. The last thing to tell you to do is to loosen the screw on the vented part of the burner tube and adjust it by moving it back and forth to see the best place that it will burn. This is the air adjustment and you want to hear the water heater rumble some but not too loud. Thanks, Bill P.S. If it is not a pilot model let me know and I will tell you what to do then.

---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: Hi Bill.thanks for the follow up. I told you that the water heather was a Suburban; but it is not.It's a atwood no.G6A6E and it does has a pilot.I made the adjustement with the screw of the burner tube but still making that poff but better than it was.Also Bill you did not answer me when I asked that I was not able to start with the pilot when its humid.Thanks again Bill, Ivan

Answer
Ivan, You might want to take that burner tube off completely and look in it for spider webs. While you have it off where that tube connects to the gas valve you will see a fitting with a hole in it. That is the orfice and if you use a wrench and take it off you can clean it by dipping it into some lacquer thinner and letting it soak for several minutes to clean it and put it back on. As far as the humidity thing, it shouldn't make a difference when lighting. They do make what is called a reigniter that you can mount inside of the cover that runs on a battery, and when the pilot is lit and for some reason it goes out this will relight it before it has time to cool down the thermocoupler. In that way once you light the water heater it should stay lit for you and without having to keep lighting it manually. This will also make it so you can light it without having to use a lighter or match. Just turn this on and hold the valve in the pilot position. I hope that this helps. If you are still having trouble you may want to look at replacing the T-Stat valve on the water heater.