Water heater propane smell

[Bonitafarms]

72 23' Safari has a slight propane odor in the street side closet when the water heater is operating. Flame is well adjusted, pilot does not seem to adjust and is a little yellow (rich). Turning off the heater removes gas odor. Doesn't appear to leak from the Roberstshaw contol or fittings.

[AlumaCave]

Sorry to hear about your predicament.

I don't know much, but I don't mess with leaking propane. Keep windows open and fans going. Shut propane off at tank. Do you have a propane detector? One other thought is propane does not have a smell. They add sulfur to it so we humans can smell a leak. Just maybe it is the hot water that has some sulfur in it from well water or a water heater that needs to be cleaned.

If it was me I would get help from someone that knows propane

Please be careful

Caveman

[Lumatic]

What is the make and how old is the water heater? Ditto on getting a propane detector. You can also use a propane sniffer to help pinpoint leaks. By the way in addition to a propane detector it's a good idea to have a CO detector and a smoke detector. I think there are units that do all three.

[Bonitafarms]

It's the original Bowen, I replaced the Robertshaw control about 5 years ago. But think about how the water heater works, Its a water tank with a burner that goes in at the bottom around the tank and out the exhaust at the top. I suspect here could be a leak in the flue/ hot exhaust sytem but since the flame is good where is the odor from? I doesn't appear to be incomplete combustion, but since the odor stops when the gas it turned off at the control, it must be past that point. I have smoke detectors and CO detectors but run with scissors.

[Lumatic]

It sounds like you are on the right track. I'm sure you considered it may be time to replace the heater. Is the smell raw propane or flue gases?

[Inland RV Center, In]

Originally Posted by Bonitafarms

72 23' Safari has a slight propane odor in the street side closet when the water heater is operating. Flame is well adjusted, pilot does not seem to adjust and is a little yellow (rich). Turning off the heater removes gas odor. Doesn't appear to leak from the Roberstshaw contol or fittings.

Does the water heater main burner make a "roaring sound" when running?

Andy

[Woody.303]

Originally Posted by Bonitafarms

.............. but run with scissors.

Kinda like Edward Scissorhands?!?!?!

Woody

[HowieE]

Since the smell is only while the burner is on check the orifice to make sure it is screwed in tight. It has to be that or the piping from the gas valve. I have seen them loose and gas leaking out there. Sometime seeing a flash flame there while the burner is on.

[jcanavera]

One last thought....is the propane tank near empty? Many times the chemical added to give propane its odor will be concentrated at the bottom of the tank. When the burner operates on that last amount of propane, you will detect the odor during the burn.

Jack

[richinny]

good point. that odor will linger a while too!

[Bonitafarms]

Thanks for all the input !! The tank is 3/4 full; no roaring sound, ( can adjust flame to make it noisy); seems to be a propane smell, it is slight, but enough wife finds it objectionable. noticeable inside the rig, not outside;connection to control, pilot and orifice are secure.

[HowieE]

If you smell it inside you have a leak in the lines not in the heater. Make a solution of Simple Green and spray every connection under and in the trailer until you see small bubbles.

I just found the elbow below the tanks had worked it's way loose at the Flared joint. My wife could smell it about half of the time. Tank drained in a month.

[Bonitafarms]

The odor is only there when the heater is operating. I shut it off at the Robershaw control, not at a petcock. If it was a line before the control, it would be there all the time. We ran it 30 minutes this weekend at a rally, no odor before, none afterward. Stove and oven work fine, didn't use furnace (It's 92 degrees in Sandy Eggo right now). I am leaning to it being a flue leak, So much for replacing the spongy bathroom floor this weekend.

[Bonitafarms]

Good news, bad news. worse news. Ok so I decided to buy the water heater. It arrived and today I went to put it in. This involved emptying the closet and I saw light...from the lamp indicators MOUNTED DIRECTLY ABOVE THE EXHAUST VENT FOR THE WATER HEATER. Odor was probably flue gas leaking in through the bottom of the plastic housing. Duct tape would have fixed it !
Since I had the water heater, figured I might as well put it in. Pulled the old heater out and found some termite droppings. Pushed my finger through the floor in several places, so I will have to replace some flooring.
Good thing we have the Argosy moho to go out to the next rally in,