Kenmore gas

by Mily
(Calgary)

How to check is my gas-powered Kenmore water heater working properly?

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Oct 19, 2013
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by: Mark

If your Kenmore is atmospheric vented unit you can apply the following steps to check the water heating operation: check the draft and gas combustion.

Proper draft check requires water heater operation for at least 15 minutes. When performing the test make sure that other appliances in the room are running and the all doors are closed. Use the match flame and put it in the close proximity of the draft hood, a space between the heater and draft hood.

Observe the flame pattern; if it flutters or is extinguished, the flue gases are escaping into the surrounding instead being drawn into the draft hood. Shut down the unit as it is obvious that there are some obstacles in the flue/vent pipe and that the proper draft is not established for removing the flue gases out.

Gas combustion can be checked by observing the flame pattern when water heater operates, and by looking through the viewport on the water heater. If everything is OK with the gas combustion, the flame should be light blue with the steady pattern, while the yellow or red flame means that is something is wrong and requires corrective action.

The recommended action might be from simple cleaning of the gas burner and combustion chamber to replacing complex features such as the gas control valve.

If you see that the burner flame is yellow and lazy this is what you should check and correct: call the utility company if the gas pressure is low. Clean the vent / flue system if it is blocked and make sure that the combustion air is sufficient by providing the proper ventilation to the unit.

Clean the main burner orifice, the gas manifold and combustion chamber from debris. If something is wrong with the combustion the odds are that there will be a strange combustion odor, smoking and sooting – carbon formation.

Also, the burner flame can float and lift off the ports and the troubleshooting requires the change of the orifice as it is too large, eliminating the cold drafts and cleaning the blocked flue and vent systems.

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