# Water heater issues



## newbie618 (Feb 24, 2016)

We just bought our first camper, a 1981 Shasta. She's a beaut! I was test running everything while learning the ins and outs and found an issue with my Atwood water heater. Here's the problem:
The pilot lights fine and stays lit. When I turn the knob to "On" it fires up and has a nice blue flame into the fire tube. Nice right?? Well, after 20mins or so the flame starts to sputter. The flame going into the HWH loses its blue and actually starts to jump all the way back to the orifice near the air vent. I took the tube off and used a brush to clean off the orifice (thought some dust was plugging the orifice). It worked great for about another 40mins then it started again. Tanks are full. Lines seem clear ( no issues at the stove burners or furnace). I e scoured forums and YouTube for similar issues, but no luck. Anyone know what could be causing this issue? Thanks!!


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## old_guy_camping (Aug 12, 2011)

Are you saying that it ran continuous for 20 minutes?


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## newbie618 (Feb 24, 2016)

Yes sir. The water heater was empty. I hooked it up to my home water thru the connection on the side of the camper and filled it up before starting up the heater. Figured it would take awhile to heat up. The water was getting warm, but not "hot" yet.


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