Hot water heater (ugly sooty yellow flame)

[1967-Caravel]

I have a 67' Caravel trailer. It has a 6 gallon Atwood hot water heater. The guy I bought it from said it has really never been used since put in new in 1999. After buying this trailer last week I have slowly been tinkering with things. Yesterday I got the pilot light to start and stay lit, but when you turn the gas to the "on" position the burner comes on and lights but it puts out a long ugly yellow flame with a lot of black soot. It is not a nice continouous burning blue flame like I'm thinking it should be. Does the burner need to just be cleaned from this thing sitting or what could it be? Dont wan't to try 100 different things if somone can narrow it down for me........thanks.

[Silvertwinkie]

A good cleaning and adjustment sounds like a great first two steps.

[1967-Caravel]

I saw some screws on the regulator that say Vent, pilot, etc.........I guess I can just turn those and adjust to see if I get a better flame.

[Silvertwinkie]

Yes, you are right on. What you describe sounds like the air/fuel adujuster. After cleaning the feed tube, adjust that trap door looking thingie (yes, that's the technical term ) and see if that helps.

One other note is to make sure the exhaust is clear and there there are no nests.....that would be my last rabbit in the hat before you'd need to call in the heavy hitters here to help.

[scottanlily]

alot of the time you get spider web inside the small openings that cause disruption in the flame .Id blow out the burner tube and other parts to clear
it .most likely that will get it going .

Scott

[overlander63]

There is a mix tube before the outlet for the burner. Look for a slotted piece of pipe with a screw in one of the slots. Loosen the screw slightly, and slide the mix tubearound until you get a nice blue flame. This is after you clean our the mud dauber nest or spider web that is likely blocking it...