New Water Heater Won't Light

[EZinColo]

Uh boy,

First plumbing now electrical. For those readers keeping score, this is the same new Suburban water heater that I had plumbing issues with (Post "Water heater won't fill") but resolved thanks to help from GS Forum experts.
But now the WH won't light. Here are the details:

I installed a new Suburban WH (gas only), hit the WH switch and heard the burner light. The tank was empty so I turned it off immediately. After going through the plumbing issues detailed earlier, I got the tank filled, hit the reset button on the face of the WH, toggled the WH switch and the "pilot out" light went on. I cycled the switch a few times (per the manual) and this light went off, but no ignition.

I got down and checked the three wires you have to connect to the WH for installation (red, blue and yellow). I used crimp connectors - which I'm not crazy about, although the coach is full of them - but thought maybe one was loose. So I gave each a couple tugs. I also read about cheap controller boards failing (burned component) so I opened the controller board enclosure, checked the board, the multi-wire connector and the high voltage wire to the ignitor. Everything was good so I screwed it back to the wall.
I guess I'd left the WH switch ON because about 10 seconds later the burner lit. Woohoo!

Assuming the crimp connectors were indeed the problem, I turned off the WH switch and decided to go outside and solder those connections (can't reach wires from the inside). Before I did this I wanted to hear the burner light again, so I turned the WH switch back on - no joy.

I went ahead and soldered the connections anyway and tried the WH switch (after hitting the reset button again) - nothing. But I didn't get the "pilot out" light either.

I've also checked the DC fuses several times - nothing blown.

At this point I'm out of ideas. Does anyone have a suggestion?

What am I missing?

Thanks a lot.
Eric

[PopPopK]

with city water hooked up the tank should fill automatically. Always wait a few minutes before re-lighting, then try again. Once lit let it burn for a few minutes, when lighting you should hear a faint :"whooosh". Let it run and check for hot water. Always blow out the fire box before lighting. (cob webs, spider nests etc)Good luck.

[THenne1713]

PILOT OUT is often air in gas line, and cured by lighting stovetop first; WH or furnace may still take 2-4- attempts to light first time properly; Make sure filled, valves in proper position and bypass closed and outside shower valves closed for normal operation. Then FLOW water to put cold in tank, as burner will not light if water in tank is hot. Good Luck

[EZinColo]

FINALLY, got this thing figured out.

Turns out the problem was in the control panel, specifically, the Water Heater ON/OFF switch and the "Pilot Out" light. Apparently, the switch was intermittent, meaning I would turn it on and it would sometimes disconnect - old contacts in the switch and 25 years of dirt, etc.
Also, the light would occasionally NOT illuminate when it was supposed to be ON, even though it was sent 12V from the controller ckt board.

Thanks to all for the input and help, I really appreciate the support from everyone. On the bright side, I got a crash course in RV wiring and plumbing, so there's that.

Thanks again,
Eric