Why does the gas water heater goes out?

Like any appliance, the gas boiler can break down, and one of the fairly common faults is the situation when the device suddenly goes out during operation. There can be several reasons for this problem, and to understand them, you should check each of the components that can cause the heater to turn off.

In speakers with piezo ignition igniter must burn all the time, because when you open the hot water tap, it must ignite the main burner. Fading of the igniter disconnects the speaker from the gas supply, so that gas does not accumulate inside the appliance.

The igniter may go out if:

• It is clogged with debris or dust.
• It has been affected by outside air flow.
• The thermocouple has burned out or worn out.
• There is no draft in the chimney.
• The draught sensor has failed.
• Solenoid valve Broken.
• No air supply.

The most common cause of the igniter fading is a faulty thermocouple. Its main function is to cut off the gas supply to the heater if the unit is not operating properly. As soon as the igniter goes out, the thermocouple detects the lack of heat and gives a signal to turn off the gas. However, if the thermocouple itself is damaged, it causes the wick to go out.

Equally common is when dust or debris gets into the igniter nozzles. They are very small in diameter, so even a small amount of debris can interfere with the igniter burning, resulting in the thermocouple not heating up sufficiently.

The color of the flame tells you that there is a problem with the igniter and that it can go out at any time. In a normally working wick, the flame will be 90% blue and may include some red specks and its tip may be yellow. If the ignition burner flame is predominantly yellow or orange, then the wick is not working properly, the thermocouple will not heat up enough, causing the burner to go out.

For other possible causes of the igniter fading, see the following video.

Sudden shutdown of the speaker, which has worked only a couple of minutes, is most often caused by the emergency activation of the sensor, which detects a gas leak. The device responds to the dangerous situation by opening the thermocouple, which causes the equipment to shut off.

The following video demonstrates how you can deal with this problem yourself.

This situation can be caused by the following problems:

1. The draught sensor has been triggered, because it has recorded that there is no draft in the chimney. This can happen because the ventilation shaft is blocked by soot or a foreign object, as well as a lack of air flow into the room, for example, due to the installation of plastic windows. Another cause of lost draft is soot contamination of the heat exchanger. In addition, it is possible that the sensor itself has failed.
2. The flame sensor is triggered when the main burner goes out. Although rare, but the burner can go out from a sudden strong gust of wind. But much more often its extinguishing is caused by insufficient water or gas pressure, clogged strainers, and excessive scale buildup inside the heat exchanger. Burner shutdown also occurs when the diaphragm in the water unit is worn.
3. The gas valve has tripped, if the gas pressure in the network has dropped or the heat exchanger has overheated.
4. The batteries, from which the speaker with automatic ignition works, have died.

• If you find a problem with the igniter burning (it smokes or goes out), the best way out is to contact a licensed specialist who works with gas equipment. He or she will check all of the parts that can give you this pattern, as well as clean your gas heater.
• If the speaker turned on and immediately went out, do not try to turn it on again, but cut off the gas access to the problem device and call a specialist. If the cause of the shutdown was a gas leak, turning it on again can cause the accumulation of carbon monoxide inside the room, which is not safe for the health of people in the room.
• Before the emergency service arrives, you can check the draft. To do this, light a match and bring it to the inspection hole on the speaker panel. If the flame retracts inside, then the draft is sufficient. If there is no flame movement, you should disconnect the chimney and repeat the manipulation with a match near the vent hole. A lit match will also help you identify problems with air flow into the room by bringing it to the window.