On my natural gas hot water heater, the flame is insufficient to produce enough heat to reach needed temperature? I've got a one year old Rheem water heater. Apparently, there is a problem involving the amount of air that is entering the sealed combustion chamber. There is sufficient natural gas pressure. No problems with the thermostat, that has been replaced TWICE. The entire burner assembly has been replaced and the system is venting properly. Yet the flame, an orange one, never gets as hot as it should. Since it is a sealed combustion chamber, there is no way to adjust the intake of air. The inlets are not blocked, clogged, or otherwise. The heater is in an open basement, with two feet of open space surrounding it. Two customer service reps at Rheem say that the combustion shutoff device is likely tripped, and if that's the case, the only way to remedy the problem is to replace the unit because the tripped device can not be replaced or repaired. The manager of the technical department says that if the device were tripped, there would be no flame at all. What else could be wrong?
- posted
16 years ago