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Black soot from water heater

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DogFlight

RVF Newbee
Joined
Mar 18, 2022
Messages
1
Location
Calvert, Texas
RV Year
1999
RV Make
Fleetwood Flair
RV Model
34D
RV Length
35
Chassis
Ford
Engine
Ford Triton,10 cyl, 4xx CI
TOW/TOAD
2015 RAM Promaster City
Fulltimer
No
I'm a newbee to RV's and this forum, but have an important question... what would cause my water heater to emit black soot?

My '99 Fleetwood Flair has a Suburban propane WH, I believe. It has been working just fine, but we woke up to this sight yesterday morning. It's certainly looks frightening. Any thoughts on what has happened? I'm researching the issue, but I though I'd post a quick question to those with much more experience.

Great forum. Thanks for any insight.

Soot.jpg
 
This looks like insects nests or rodent stuff burning in there, but you could also have something blocking combustion air (again likely from pests) which would cause the fuel mix to be too rich and result in soot.

But this looks more like something caught fire in there. Have you opened it up and inspected? Whatever it turns out to be, do not use it until this is resolved. Turn off propane and power to it first thing. Looks like an RV fire waiting to happen.
 

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