Rheem Water Heater Pilot Light Issue
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- Опубліковано 9 лют 2025
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This is a video discussing the issues with Rheem Water Heaters and quick way to tell if your heater is having the same issues as many other Rheem owners. I have found many folks on the internet complaining of issues with Rheem water heaters produced in the last few year, with most failing around the 12 month mark. I have had no luck contacting their warranty call center, other than waiting for an hour only to be disconnected. I have tried emailing, web site contact and social media. No one seems to be able to help with this issue.
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In full fairness, I wanted to report that I finally got ahold of someone helpful at Rheem today (thanks Amanda). No wait time and she was able to help. I explained my issue, she told me she was sending my order to "the warehouse" and they would send me an email when it shipped. I thought sure they will. Before the end of the day, I had a FedEx tracking number and an invoice for what appears to be the correct gas control valve. I will update once received. Of course, this was after 5 days of "a technician should be with you in the next 59 minutes", daily emails, daily social media contacts and a lot of frustrations.
This is by far and away one of the most helpful diy videos I've used. I'm incredibly appreciative and so is my family. Easy to follow, simple instructions and how to. Thank you so much. It was a comfort saver in the middle of the night.
Thanks for watching and commenting. Hope the video helped.
Totally agree. Life saver! It solved my water heater issue. I got the same issue and it’s been three days and the part ordered from Rheem will not be here until Monday. I have a newborn at home and can’t wait no more.
My 11 month old Rheem went out yesterday! Got ahold of Rheem and they are sending me a new control valve. But in the time being I have been looking for
help online just to get the thing lit to take a shower. Did the nail trick and it fired right up! Thanks for taking the time to post and help a lot of us out. I called
the plumber that installed the water heater last year and he told me he can't come by for service for over a week, but for $200 he could come out and bypass
the system until he could! Thanks again Mudd Flapp!!
Happy to help. Once I made contact with Rheem, they did overnight the new gas control valve. The replacement appears to be identical to the one that failed, the nice lady I spoke with at Rheem did tell me they have upgraded the replacement valves. Time will tell
Have any one left the nail for a long time and check that the flame turned off and function right?
This video really truly made my life so much easier and saved money as well. Purchased my Rheem water heater and installed it January 2021, here I am in April 2023 with no HOT water. WOW! Like many others, replaced the thermocouple but issue was not resolved. Called Rheem, agent said it was probably the Gas Control Valve not the thermocouple based on her experience. I thought maybe she was wrong so proceeded to install the thermocouple anyway. It was 11:48pm and I saw this video, I was tired and had to work very early the next morning, I removed the sensor (white wires-emergency shut off) from the top of the thermocouple, put a nail in and made certain contact was made with the top of the thermocouple and I am enjoying HOT water today. Thank you so much for this video!
Mine just failed after a year and half. My plumber took one look at my Rheem, turned around and went back to the truck and grabbed a new thermostat assembly. He keeps them stocked on the truck because he sees so many of these failed units. He told me that he so over replacing these thermostats. Fortunately it was under warranty and cost me nothing. Thanks for the great video.
Thank you for this information!! No hot water tank for 4 MONTHS. Changed everything on unit pilot igniter, thermocuople assembly. cleaned burner diffuser plate vacuumed inside bottom. Changed main gas line and installed new shut off valve. My ancient one snapped off at top then had to get gas company to shut off my main outside. Wish I had saw your video 4 months ago. Thank God for outdoor propane instant water heater for camping!!
Thanks again !!!
so relieved I don't need a brand new hot water tank. Again 😃
Glad it helped
Just had my plumber in to change out the original control on my
That is awesome! Good have a plumber willing to help so fast.
The hero we didn’t know we needed…bypass worked first time- thank you so much! Rheem being called about warranty but I’ve got warm water in the meantime
Hero might be a bit strong, but thank you for the kind words.
Thank you for this video! I had the same issue, unit was just 2 years old and the gas valve had to be replaced. The service I called was Griffin out of St. Johns in Florida and they were wonderful. They were able to get the pilot lit so I had hot water for a shower that afternoon but then I had to use your fix (I used tin foil) from the video as the pilot light would not relight that evening. My serviceman, Jim, also called Rheem and had the part delivered, under warranty, in two days and then came out and installed it. I want to mention, they did not charge me for the first visit to light the pilot or make the call to Rheem which I thought was incredible service. Also, the replacement part is now metal and looks to be a much better part than before. Good luck everyone and thanks again for the video!
I bought this water heater ua-cam.com/users/postUgkx8G49mV71sAzUl9shXyLW-r3XgHH9EVh1 for use in my bus conversion. I installed it under my kitchen sink and it is fed by a high efficiency on-demand LP water heater. It is both a backup hot water source as well as a water saving device since we have hot water on demand rather than having to wait for the gas on demand water heater to finish its ignition cycle. I decided on this water heater due to the fact that it only draws 1300watts when it's ON instead of the 1500 watts that most Water heaters this size draw. In an RV a couple hundred watts can be a big deal. With very low standby losses, I don't have to worry about excessive power consumption. When propane is not available for our gas water heater, in conjunction with our low flow shower head there is enough hot water available to shower, albeit we won't be taking "hotel showers." Also very happy with the recovery rate of this water heater. Granted, it is quite small, but it does exactly what we need it to do.
Thanks for watching!
I very much appreciate the thorough explanation including how the mechanisms actually work. I have the same problem going on, install date was almost exactly 1.5 years ago.
Glad it helped. Good luck with your repair.
So was mine when it went out
THANK YOU!!! THANK YOU!! I’m a very independent 57 yr old female that thinks I can do anything with You Tube and thanks to your video I FIXED IT!!! I haven’t been able to find anyone to come out and it’s been 2 weeks without hot water! Hallelujah!
Awesome! Glad it helped.
Dude thank you. Couldn’t get my pilot to light. My Rheem water heater is only 3 years old. Watched some videos of people taking it apart and what not. Saw your thought I’d try it first. Bypassed it with a nail just like you and I got it to light and stay lit. I’ll call Rheem tomorrow. This was the EXACT issue with mine. Awesome thank you so much. Very much appreciated. Family of 5 and I try to do as much diy as I can to save us money especially in this day and age. Thank you Sir!
Glad it worked for you! Thanks for commenting
Perfect! Same water heater, same problem, and fix that works as advertised. Cold showers might have been a necessity in my youth at times, but the old body now prefers the warm water. Thx for keeping my household comfortable until warranty parts arrive in next couple of days.
Thank you for watching. Glad it helped. I agree, cold showers are no fun.
Dealing with this issue as we see this video.
Had the Rheem repair man out today and said it was a kinked thermocouple line.
No parts on stock, had to order and wait 1 week before repair.
Came out and installed pilot/burner assembly and said all good.
One day later, no hot water.
Attempted to light pilot three times and would go out after releasing.
Water heater installed 1 year ago and under warranty.
Was going to go and perform this repair but did not want to run the risk of voiding warranty die to "customer" tampering.
Will call for repair again in the morning.
Thank you so much for posting this. Just got home from vacation and noticed my pilot light was out and came across this video as I began troubleshooting. Sure enough - stuck an allen wrench in place of the sensor and we're back in business until Rheem can get us the replacement valve.
Glad it helped!
Thank you for all the information. We have the exact same issue, one year after installation. Rheem is not easy to get through to either. We were told by a plumber, better to junk current unit and start all over with another brand. Our previous tank lasted 25 years! So maddening.
Had same problem…son in law rigged it with rivet…called Raheem’s…they sent new unit and are paying for plumber….you are a genius…thank you so much!
Glad to help. Good luck with your repair.
Same. I called Rheem today to ask about replacement parts. A plumber installed mine 2 years ago. They were willing to sell me a couple hundred dollars worth of parts plus shipping! And said 2-4 time for shipping. They were unwilling to pay for ANY of it! Nada. Said 1 yr. warranty on parts and 3 years on the tank neither of which do me any good. Basically I bought a lemon. Sounds liked planned obscilesense. Water heaters used to last 25 years. And it sounds like more American greed to me, esp. because the price of water heaters has almost doubled since COVID.
Thanks much! I have had the gas valve replaced twice on our 14 month old Ruud. Started going out again last week. I could relight it everyday until today it wouldn’t stay lit. Last time the tech charged my wife and then told her that if it goes out again they will have to replace the whole exhaust pipe through the house! >$1000. Did your bypass trick and it worked right away.
Thanks for watching! Glad to help.
Man thank you so much I went a week with no hot water and watched a couple of videos. Came across this one and it worked instantly.
Glad it helped, Thanks for watching and commenting.
Thank you for this video!! I called three plumbers who all said I needed to replace my water heater ($1400-2200.00) I used the jump (I used a copper wire to replace the solenoid) which I never would have known if not for ur video and the water heater works perfectly!!
Thanks for watching and commenting.
Thanks! The aluminum pop rivet bypass worked to keep the pilot light on. The thermocouple measured 10mv in the closed circuit and now the burner functions until I get a new valve from Rheem under warranty. I tested for continuity across the wires on the over temperature part and it measured less than 1 ohm, so in theory the over temp device is still ok, but the pilot did not work until I did the bypass with the rivet stem. My water heater is only 17 months old.
Resistance for the emergency cut out should be less than 2 milliohms. Mine was measuring about 40 ohms.
I have the same issue. And of course it stops working on a Saturday afternoon so this was a life saver! Thank you! 🙏🏻I am keeping the nail in until Monday. Hopefully, our local plumber who installed it 1 year and 7 months ago will have the part.
Glad it helped, hope you get it repaired timely.
Hi this solution worked for me and I was wondering if that nail held through Monday lol this solution worked for me and I just wanted to see
You are the real MVP 🙏🏻👏🏼 Thank you for this video. I was able to light my water heater. Out of all of the days in the week this has to happen on a Saturday night 😂
Thanks for watching. Glad to help.
yes worked on my water heater 8 hours and tried this worked perfectly ty
It’s 24 degrees outside and now I have hot water you the real MVP!
Glad it helped. Thanks for watching and commenting!
Thank you so much for such a helpful video and explanation. We fixed it by bypassing the sensor ( temp Fix) I called Rheem and was on the phone with them for over 1 hr. to have them send me the correct part needed. They finally agreed to send me the Gas Control (Thermostat). Now have to find a plumber to get it install. Thank again.
Thanks for watching an comment! Hope it helped
Thank you for taking the time to post this, the information helped me solve issue for my mums hot water service with pilot light going out issue, cleaned the contacts on the thermo coupler and all working again.
I wish I had found your video first as it explains everything. My water heater cut off for the first time during a big storm so I am not sure if that is what caused it to turn off. My house and water heater are only a year old. I haven't had a chance to try and reignite it yet. I came here to learn how to do so.
Hope this helps you
@@MuddFlappRanch You had mentioned in the video if Rheem had fixed this problem and Rheem told me that they have. They said during covid they couldn't get the parts from the place they have always gotten them so they used another manufacturer and they are the ones that supplied the faulty parts. They are excellent at quickly sending me a replacement and reimbursing me for the labor cost.
@@awperonline6576 I am fairly certain that the replacement I was sent was manufacturer by SIT Group, which is the same one that made the faulty ones. But I was told that they had upgraded the faulty gas valves. I guess time will tell.
I’ve got a Honeywell unit on a Rheem. Still not sure exactly how it went out, but after three attempts to light the pilot and keep the burner on, it seems I’ve finally got it going and it’s staying on. And I didn’t blow myself to smithereens. 😂 Thank you!
I have a Rheems that is about 3 years old. It would not stay lit after going out.
Before following another video in which a little glass safety feature under the burner is replaced, I removed the thermocoupler but I think the model I have is more recent (has a Honeywell igniter/temp control). The thermocoupler did not have any obvious problem but I wiped it down (even though it looked clean) and put it back in 'snugly' as you suggested. Not sure why, but now it works again. Go figure...but thanks.
😢😢😢 Plumber installed my Rheem almost a year ago. He hasn’t returned my call yet, but it’s only been hours. I break everything I touch, but thanks for sharing this info. I can light the pilot on my furnace! And I guess I would’ve had this relit had it not been for a faulty part. Thank you
Thanks for watching! Hope you get repaired quickly
I have the same problem now with two Ruud water heaters. My installer has ghosted me for three weeks. Have another plumber coming tomorrow. Thanks so much for this video!
Thank you for this video. Had my Rheem PROG50-38N installed February 2021 (manufactured August 2020) and had the exact same issue. Followed your instructions and the pilot is now back on. Thank you!! I have someone coming in tomorrow to take a look at it, but at least I have hot water and the wife's happy.... :)
Thank you very much for posting this one. I've been troubleshooting mine (have 2 identical heaters) without success. That sealed-black-box type of controller is impossible to scifer down. I changed the thermocouples though they were reading in the 20mA range to "see if anything got better". I tried pulling the wafer off the box but it's a sealed feed into it. After I got your video, I bridged it and abracadabra! stays lit. At least tonight and for a few days we will have hot water for showers. Will chase Rheem and try to get the spare parts. God Bless.
Glad it helped! Most viewers (myself included) have had good luck with calling Rheem and getting a replacement gas control valve shipped out quickly. Some have reported that Rheem covered some or all of the labor if you are not comfortable changing it yourself.
Can’t thank you enough for making this video, I’ve been going crazy for three days thinking I had a bad thermocouple, then maybe a clogged pilot orifice, last thought was maybe a bad solenoid. Then I found your your video, put a bit of tin foil to bypass and the pilot stayed on, FINALLY! 😅 Thanks again!!
Glad to help! Good luck with the repair
You covered exactly what has been going on with the Rhemm tank, that is also a 2020 tank now after 1- 1½ yr ago. I'm going to try your suggestion, thanks I'll let you know if it works!
Hope it worked for you.
Watched this video to figure out how to light the pilot do to my 3 year old turning the knob off without me knowing 😂 worked like a charm!
Glad it helped
I have the exact same water heater, same rough build date. Just went out today. Same exact issue... Oh boy should be fun to deal with this. Luckily 6 year limited warranty as well so I'll see how they will respond.
Thanks so much for this video. I at least will get some showers while I figure this out.
To add, Mine lasted 1 year 2 weeks. Installed 2 days apart from yours.
Thanks for watching and commenting! I had no issues once I finally got ahold of Rheem. I told the technician my issue and she said she would send the request to the warehouse. I had the part the next evening.
Yup, new hot water heater installed 11/11/2020. Just went out last night. Thanks for the video. Much appreciated.
Glad it helped
Haha! It worked! Plumber would only sell me a new water heater because mine is 10 years old, but our water has low minerals and the tank is fine. I replaced the thermocouple, then the whole pilot assembly, and while looking for a reset before replacing the valve found this video. THANK YOU! So I guess no way to replace that faulty sensor switch, which means leaving the water heater in this state. That's...distracting.
Unfortunately, the cut out sensor is not replaceable without replacing the whole gas valve.
Good video. I had the same problem just before Xmas and took a week to get the replacement from Rheem. They did send me the White-Rodgers valve this time.
Hope it helped. I was finally able to reach the Rheem call center and they overnighted me a new gas control valve. It looks to be the same Sit Group valve that have been such a problem. Time will tell.
Great Video! My pilot would stay lit if I left it in the "on" position. Anything higher than that and it would be too hot and shut off. This work around has made my wife one happy camper. My water heater was manufactured Dec 2020. Talking with Rheem now.
Glad it helped. Happy wife, happy life!
Thank you for this video! You were spot on about the problem and the fix. My nephew was very impressed
With the easy to follow vid
Thanks for watching and commenting. Glad to help
I had this problem, contacted the local plumber and after fiddling around for over 2 hours, he gave up and told me to call the warranty number. Rheem overnighted a new gas control valve and gave me the number for the warranty plumber. Had hot water within 48 hours of calling. Plumber told me that Rheem had to switch manufacturers because of a high failure rate on units made during the pandemic. Mine is a Richmond brand sold at Menards. Turns out Richmond is actually Rheem.
Yes, I think they use Rheem/Ruud/Richmond for the same water heaters, depending on the market. In any case, all three brands are made by Rheem and use the same gas valves.
@@MuddFlappRanch Anybody remember the water heater fiasco Lowes had when the Whirlpool Flame lock units first came out? For a while, you could just walk in a lowes and they would hand you replacement parts after a class action lawsuit. That was 15-20 years ago. It was a mess if you had rentals.
@@ripvanrevs Sounds like a similar deal. I don't really fault Rheem, they seem to be sending out replacement parts with no questions asked. I have heard a few reports that they are covering labor (which they should). Not everyone is comfortable modifying a gas appliance based on some yahoo in a UA-cam video 😂
Thank you for the info. I will be calling the number tomorrow as ours has been out for 2 weeks.
@@MuddFlappRanch I called Rheem today to ask about replacement parts. A plumber installed mine 2 years ago. They were willing to see me a couple hundred dollars worth of parts plus shipping! And said 2-4 time for shipping. They were unwilling to pay for ANY of it! Nada. Said 1 yr. warranty on parts and 3 years on the tank neither of which do me any good. Basically I bought a lemon. Sounds liked planned obscilesense. Water heaters used to last 25 years. And it sounds like more American greed to me, esp. because the price of water heaters has almost doubled since COVID.
Thank you! the temp fix does work I called Rheem and they are overnighting a gas valve. After speaking to my builder this is a huge known issue. Still under warranty so it will be replaced.
Thanks for watching!
Great job Mudd Flapp detailing a temp fix. Having the same issue. Pilot goes out once I release the pilot button. W/H is only two years old. Had tech over two days ago and he indicated the gas valve needed to be replace. He gave no indication that he was aware of over temp sensor issue. Been without hot water for three days now and currently hosting out of town company. Getting frustrated and embarrassed. What I don't understand is if the sensor is inside the tank and all we do with this fix is bypass the sensor 's connectors (understand a temporary fix to get hot water), how does replacing the gas control valve correct the problem? Is it a different design? Read other post on another sight where control valves were replace two and three times on heaters less than two years old.
The emergency cut off sensor (over temp sensor) is in the part of the gas valve that screws into the tank.
i have had 2 valves replaced in 2years each valve works great for 1 year want but no Rheem any more
BROOO THANK YOU!!!!! I have the exact same issue!!! I did the exact same thing!! Now it works!! I’ll still contact rheem! While I was trouble shooting I did hear some “drops” sounded like something was leaking and stopped it. Didn’t wanna risk anything.
Hope you get a quick repair
Was there a leak? Mine is making dripping sounds too after doing this
@@chel4783 The leak is in internal leak issue and it is extinguishing the pilot light. I had my heater warrantied for that reason a year ago and now I have the pilot light issue.
Great video!I had the same problem on my two year old Richmond water heater manufactured by Rheem twice. Had the gas valve replaced last January and am now having the same issue. Your fix worked great. I used a piece of copper to fill that gap. Thanks for getting my hot water back.
Thanks for watching. Glad it helped.
Did you keep the copper in like that since then? Any issue so far?
@@shanetseng6040 Yes, I have left the copper piece in the heater and I have not had any problems with it. I contacted Rheem and they sent me another gas valve but it looks identical to the one in my heater. I will keep it as a backup. 👍
That’s exactly a problem I have I did exactly what you did enough to get one tank hot water to get shower. I will deathly gonna call the company tomorrow to come and fix it because my boiler only one year a half old and you video helped me so much to get enough water to get showered today Thank you very much for your help you are the best 😅❤❤🎉🎉
Happy to help, good luck with your repair.
Thanks for this video! I did the nail trick and my plumber said he took a picture and is going to show the office tomorrow bc he’d never seen anything like that. But hey I had 5 days of hot water with that mail prior to his arrival 😊
No problem, glad it helped
Have this same problem thank you! At least I’ll have hot water in a few hours. Called rheem they are shipping me a new gas valve but I will need to pay someone to install the new valve or do it myself. They did say they would reimburse me up to $175 for the install but who knows how long that could take. Thanks again for the great video
Thanks for the commemts.
**update: I filled a complaint with the bbb and just before the 30 day respond window expired, someone from "rhymes with cream" contacted me by email and said they will reimburse me for the labor in both instances. While this is a good gesture on their part, I'm still at the mercy of this part failing again in 1 year.
Exact issue. Mine was installed on Jan 11, 2021. Valve went bad one year later. Flash forward, one year from the replacement, the coupler has gone bad again.
You da man! I ran the diagnostic test, then called Rheem and they are sending me a new gas control valve. My heater was purchased in 2020.
Glad it helped! Thanks for commenting
I have a Honeywell gas valve, same problem different gas valve, I believe the problem is the heat sensor, which senses if too hot, shuts off the thermacoupler, thus pilot light keeps going out.. supposed safety thing.. the dreaded red blinking light on Honeywell gas valve. I believe you mentioned it as the emergency cut off, different gas valve-different wiring setup. Water heater worked fine for a couple years, going in today to clean the dirty burner to see if helps, Rheem heat sensors out of stock.. thx for posting this video.
You are the man. Thank you good brother. My water heater is 1.5yrs old and it went out however your temporary solution works.
Glad it helped! Hopefully you can contact Rheem in a timely manner. It took me multiple tries, but once I talked to the warranty department and told them I had a faulty gas control valve with a bad emergency cut off, then overnighted the new control valve. The trick is actually calling and getting ahold of someone.
I have this exact problem. Rheem Water heater is a little over a year old . Haven't tried the connection test yet. But it's doing exactly the same thing as described in this video. The old water heater I had was over 20 years old. In my mind this is ridiculous.
This just now worked for me!!!!! Christmas Eve night!!!!! You helped me save Christmas for the family!
Glad it helped! Merry Christmas
Kudos to you sir! The coldest weekend here in Austin, TX 2022 is here and my dang Rheem pilot went out. My Rheem water heater is under 3yrs old so I'm certain this is my problem. I emailed Rheem and hope they make this right. Thank you!
Thanks for watching and commenting.
Hello, I just had the same problem, I followed these steps and it works perfectly like you were showing on the video, almost a year and stop working.
Thanks for watching, They all seem to be failing right around the 1 year mark. Hopefully the replacement will last longer.
Thank you I got this problem a day ago, on a Friday and no one to fix it on weekends
Thank you for the video.. 💎
Glad to help, thanks for the comment.
Thank you! This was very helpful. I contacted Rheem Support and supposedly they are sending the upgraded gas control valve although I have not yet received an email confirming so. I did the trick you described above (without a nail) and the pilot light stayed on. I am hoping that Rheem can send out the replacement soon so I can get it professionally installed soon.
Thanks for letting me know it helped. That’s the only reason I make these videos.
Man, so happy I came across this video. My 13 month old Richmond (same company from my understanding) just started having pilot light issues. Was about to replace the thermo couple until I saw this. Figured I'd give it a shot. Bam, it works again. I still gotta call them about the issue since I have a 6 year warranty, but for now, I don't have to go back to boiling water for a bath like when my last water heater blew haha. Thanks for the heads up! You saved me a headache and a potential sledgehammer to the side of the water heater.
Thanks for watching, glad it helped. Good luck with your repair.
I had the same exact problem with a Richmond I installed 12 months ago
@@Currdog I still haven't called to see what the company will do about it. Kinda curious what the actual fix is.
I have not wither seeing as this just happened a few hours ago. I am going to call tomorrow and from what I can find online they will send a replacement part and compensation for some of the labor.... I just want the part hahahha
I will keep you posted
My thermo couple went out last summer and I had it changed by a friend. Here I am a year later and its going out again but I can still get it to light. Would it make sense to replace it again or just get a new water heater?
But are the replacement valve assemblies a solution to the problem, or do they have the same design that's prone to early failure?
Had the same issue with my RUUD 50 gallon water heater today. Very happy with your video! Thank you so much! I installed my RUUD water heater on March 2021 and already having issues. The only other problem I noticed is a dark discoloration on the paint above the site glass on the outside metal, not sure if that’s normal for a water heater only 1 1/2 years old.
You are very welcome. Hope you get it all repaired
Thank you. Same issue. Installed heater 3/21 now its 11/22. delivery of new Valve they say 1-2 days, will see if that happens, (day 2 today) if so sounds like they have caught up on the Supply end. Thks again
I just thought I'd just add this for info. I called Rheem this morning and placed an order (6yr warranty on parts) or if I could find the replacement locally (part # verified), they would reimburse me. Ten minutes later my service tech call and said the found the gas valve and would be here before 5pm today Please use your own discretion on this but Rheem told be that because my S/N ended in "RH" I should not execute this temp fix as it would void the warranty. I'm waiting a few more hours for a hot shower, but I'm close to executing the fix. As for my previous question, I've been told (by Rheem) that the replacement gas control valve is engineered to correct the issue and this should not recur. Still don't see how. I'll try to wait for the tech. Good luck all and thanks again Mudd Flapp.
I was also told that Rheem (or their gas valve supplier) have corrected the issue on the replacement valves. I have had several commenters say that they had a similar failure with their replacement. I guess time will tell.
@@MuddFlappRanch My replacement has been working fine so far although it doesn't look like my original (as depicted in the video). the replacement has separate ignition and temperature controls. I did not use the one sent by Rheem but let tech do his thing with his part. He did caution me that while holding the pilot button in during lighting he did get a bit of a shock when his finger brushed the metal cylinder of the water tank. Evidently there is some exposed circuitry while the plunger is engaged. After the fix, I returned the Rheem part without ever opening the package but now having second thoughts. Maybe I should have held on to it, just in case two years down the road, "Guess what"? But the contractor installation and part were no cost to me so I sent it back thinking maybe the next person may need it. I did take pictures of the replacement part if interested. Thanks again for the help.
I called Rheem today to ask about replacement parts. A plumber installed mine 2 years ago. They were willing to sell me a couple hundred dollars worth of parts plus shipping! And said 2-4 time for shipping. They were unwilling to pay for ANY of it! Nada. Said 1 yr. warranty on parts and 3 years on the tank neither of which do me any good. Basically I bought a lemon. Sounds liked planned obscilesense. Water heaters used to last 25 years. And it sounds like more American greed to me, esp. because the price of water heaters has almost doubled since COVID.
Thank you!!!!! I've had to replace 4 of these tanks on our property!! You Rock brother!
Install July 2020. Fail July 2021. Menards replaced tank. New water heater failed August 2022. Took whole assembly off of an extra water heater I had that had a different control valve. Installed and fired right up. Hope this manufacturer is better!! What was interesting is that when I pulled apart the first time thinking it was a thermocouple, the thermocouple had a date on it of 2014. Why would there be a 6 year old thermocouple in a new water heater?
Any time!
Yes, Happened on a Friday. about to give up Sunday after i replaced Thermalcouple and still couldn't get Pilot to stay lit. Found this video and yep . thats the same issue here. Able to use a screw and Get it to stay lit. Just finished my Hot shower and the rest of the family is ready for one too. Life saver Video. Mama not happy when the shower was cold. We have a Plumber coming to repair it. guess I did the troubleshooting work for him when he sees the sensor bypassed. lol
Glad to help, hope you get it repaired quickly!
Thank you for the information, my water heater had the same problem. I got two years out of mine.
Glad it helped
Same. 2 years only.
This worked to get the hot water back on - thanks for a great video and great step by step.
Thanks for watching and commenting! Good luck with your repair.
I have two units. One failed after a year. Second unit just failed. So I knew about this bypass. Problem is that yes the valve can be replaced under warranty but you still have to pay for the plumbers labor cost.
Helpful video! This same thing happened to my 2020 Rheem. Pilot light would light with the button depressed but would go off as soon as it was released. It had the same issue in 2021 when I was away and the plumber fixed it - no idea what he did to it. This time when it went bad, I first replaced the thermocoupler and that did nothing. I tried this trick and it worked! I used a piece of 14ga copper wire instead of a nail; it was barely big enough and 12ga would have been better. What's weird is that I put a multi-meter on the high temp sensor and it was showing a closed circuit (no resistance), meaning the sensor should have been working. That makes wonder if there's a connector issue.
Glad to help. I don't remember the exact numbers, but the difference between a good emergency cut off sensor and a bad one is less that 0.5 ohms.
@@MuddFlappRanch For mine, at least, I'm thinking it's less about resistance and more about the overheat sensor kicking on at a way too low temperature. The circuit was closed while the water was still cold. When I came back and tested the circuit again after I did your fix while the water was warming up, the sensor had an open circuit; so the overheat sensor must have kicked on after the boiler was on. This makes sense because the first time I tried to relight the pilot light (the water was cold) the pilot light lit and stayed on for maybe 5-10 minutes before shutting off again. Regardless, thanks much for doing this great video!
@@cmiller6391 That is the typical failure mode for the ECO.; you will notice the pilot is out, it will relight just fine once or twice, then never again. If I was guessing, I would say the thin plastics film that waterproofs the thermostat and ECO fails and allows water to enter the ECO.
Hello friend, good idea. A nice solution to the geyser pilot light problem. Thank you for showing the details. You always do great work. see you later. Stay healthy and happy. Big Greetings.
Merhaba! Thank you for watching
@@MuddFlappRanch 👏👏
14months and yes, the bypass test in this vid worked. Thanks.
You're welcome!. Thanks for watching .
Appreciate the info. Most videos cover changing thermocouple, while I already knew and did. When it still failed to work , I hoped to fine another solution. So the emergency bypass is my problem and I have disabled while we wait for warranty repair. At least we have hot water until then.
Thanks for commenting! Hope your repair goes smoothly.
@@MuddFlappRanch did. Bypass worked until tech arrived a couple days later to so warranted repair. Thanks.
Thank you!! This was the solution I needed to get my family hot water tonight!
Happy to help. Thanks for the comment.
Called Rheem's 800-number and they sent me a new valve. The new valve's number is SP21195C. It was an easy install. Only downside was having to "throw away" 40 gallons of water.
Glad to help!
You sir, are a life saver!!!!!! Just saved me $1400 for a new tank
Thanks for watching and commenting.
This video was absolutely beneficial. Thank you so much for sharing your knowledge.
Glad it was helpful!
This just happened to me, I thought it going to be the thermocouple, just seva us from waist time and money, now I will call Rheem and see what they say, we bought this house a year ago, end the sales person buy this new heater, another one goes bad in barely a year. Thank you so much.
Thanks for watching. Glad to help.
I called Rheem today to ask about replacement parts. A plumber installed mine 2 years ago. They were willing to sell me a couple hundred dollars worth of parts plus shipping! And said 2-4 time for shipping. They were unwilling to pay for ANY of it! Nada. Said 1 yr. warranty on parts and 3 years on the tank neither of which do me any good. Basically I bought a lemon. Sounds liked planned obscilesense. Water heaters used to last 25 years. And it sounds like more American greed to me, esp. because the price of water heaters has almost doubled since COVID.
Thank you very much for doing this video. I found this to be the problem and after 58mins I should atleast be on the list to get a new control valve.
You are very welcome. When I finally got to talk with someone, (about 9:00am) they said they would send my request to the warehouse. I figured I would be calling back weeks later, but I got an email that afternoon that it shipped. Arrived the next day.
Happened to my sons 1 1/2 year old Rheem water heater, yesterday. The (new) subdivision plumbing company knew about, and came out. Replaced the valve under warranty (no charge). He says it’s a known problem (not if but when), they carry replacement valves on their trucks. He says they went cheap on the valve.
Can I leave it like that all night or should I turn the dial to the off position after so long
I raised my temp to hot and triggered the emergency cutoff. Putting the screw in the thermocouple fixed the problem. I will leave the screw in and never increase the temperature past medium heat
Had the same issue today. Removing the sensor clip fixed it. I don't want to keep flipping it out everytime I need hot water so I hope Rheem can be quick about it
I just slipped that sensor out and repositioned the thermocouple and it's working for now.
My issue began Christmas night. I noticed that the pilot was out, so i lit it and it stayed lit. Problem fixed, or so I thought, but I still looked for reasons that it might have gone out. I passed it off as a fluke until the next morning; it was out again. Lit it again, and it was good for a while. Around lunch, I checked again: out. That night, out again, and the next morning. Lunch time yesterday, it was out, and it wouldn't stay lit. Did some looking and found these Rheem videos, and I didn't have time to do anything with it until this morning.
Can I leave it like that for a couple days or should I take it off after every use
Having same issue. What size rivet did you use?
Great video. My Richmond I bought from menards doing exactly same thing. Just about a year old as well. Too much safety junk in our lives these days. Bypass the SOB and let it eat. Ha. Even if u buy better quality crap, its all the same junk parts. Thanks again for the video.
Thanks for the video mine just went out again it was installed in December of 2013 but the previous owner of the house replace it last year in April it looks like I’m hoping to have to replace it again! I replace the thermocouple thinking that was the problem nope!
Glad it helped
The wires are exposed on the side of the safety valve disk - I used a paperclip (held in place by electrical tape) to bypass the faulty safety valve with no need to loosen the therocouple nut.
Great idea! Thanks for the tip
I cut the wires and twisted them together
Very helpful. I have had this problem 2x with my 50 gal Rheem. Thanks for the insight!
Very welcome!
I cut the wafer off and tied the two wires together, inserted making contact with thermal couple and now works. Can I leave like this?
Thank you so much, my heater is working again. Question about this, I know that the tank is safe to use because it has a working T&P valve, but what does this safety that we bi-passed do?
Thanks for watching and commenting. The emergency cut out is designed to break the electrical connection to the gas solenoid in the event of a thermostat failure. If your thermostat were to fail by not detecting the set temperature of the water, the burner would continue to heat the water until the T&P valve tripped. The T&P value tripping will only reduce the temperature and pressure in the tank, but not shut off the gas supply.
@@MuddFlappRanch Thank you, I am going to call Rheem tomorrow to get a replacement gas valve.
@@Static1701 what did rheem say? My plumber wants $94/hr plus parts
Thanks. Very helpful. Ordered a new valve , meantime paper clipper did the magic.
Glad it helped
Thank you for the video. This was my problem as well with our water heater. I at least have hot water until we can get permanently fixed.
You are very welcome. Hope it all gets fixed for you.
Have the same issue recently. Thank you for the video. But I have a question. Do I need to turn off the gas before the work?
You do not need to shut off the gas supply. You are not opening the gas system, but you should definitely know how to shut off the gas, in case things don't go as planned.
@@MuddFlappRanch Thank you very much.
TY these steps worked. I just used a common screw and now it works.
What size aluminum rivets would you use. 1/4?
That stupid sensor/circuit breaker thing is my problem. I removed it and I tightened the fitting on the thermo couple as much as I could and I wedged a wooden block under the thermocouple near the floor to push up and the pilot light works and I'm now heating water. I tried to put a short piece of copper wire into the gap but it wasn't making contact for some reason. I wasn't a fan of using an aluminum pop rivet - it felt like to many different metals. After I get the 40 gallon tank heated, I'll try again with the piece of copper wire. A new gas valve is being shipped by Rheem so I hope that I don't have this make-shift set up for more than a few days.
Thank you so much, you were right on the money. Its 330 in the morning but the wife and kidz will wake up to hot water
Glad to help. Cold showers are not pleasing to most wives.
called the rheem number on the heater... the tech said they're sending me out a new gas valve as soon as she saw the serial number and my pilot light won't stay on. didn't have to do any troubleshooting. they only are reimbursing $150 in labor since its out of warranty.