Whirlpool Flame Lock water heaters, reviews, troubleshooting, repair and support.

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Cass

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By the way I have bought several houses over the years that have caught on fire becuase of water heater malfunction or improper installation.

Ray

If you have that many homes that have caught fire because of the water heater then any home you buy in the future you should change the heater from gas to electric...you are jinxed...I do work for a LL that has close to 200 scattered single family rentals with about 90% or more of them gas water heaters and in the almost 20 years I have been working for him can't recall 1 fire he has had caused from a water heater...
 
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Master Plumber Mark

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the secret...

I have a Whirlpool Flame Lock LP water heater. Wish I didn't. Model # BFG1F5040T3PV. Bought it March 10, 2008 from my local Lowe's in Newton, NJ. The unit crapped out last Sunday. Pilot won't stay lit. Whirlpool or American sent me a box containing an entire burner unit assembly. Only needed a thermocouple. Got the new TC off the new assembly and replaced my existing. This one lit once and won't light again. Whirlpool is disappointing.


you got to get it more air, it needs more air...
changeing out the thermocoupling is simply not enough...
 

Kingsotall

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Flamelocksux,
Did you test the thermocouple with a multi meter¿ Or how are you determining that it is the thermocouple¿ Worked on one the other day and tested the thermocouple first, it went up in millivolts DC like it should. Pilot still would not stay lit. Called American told them I tested the tc and they overnighted free of charge a gas control valve. Did the trick. Oh, yeah, due to a "glitch" in their system the part took two days.

Disconnect thermocouple from gas control, set multi meter to millivolts DC to a range within 200, attach with alligator clips red test lead to copper part of thermocouple and black test lead to silver end of thermocouple. Follow pilot lighting procedure and once pilot light lights with red button on gas control pushed down watch the multimeter. If it goes up from 0-12 millivolts or more thermocouple is good. One I tested went to 17 before I called it good.

wp_gas_control.jpg
 
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agk

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Got refund from Lowe's!

We purchased a Whirlpool 30gallon water heater with the flame lock model in November of 2007 from Lowes. As many people have reported, the pilot light would not stay on. My husband first went to our local small business plumbing supply store to get a replacement part. The owner told him that he hears about this problem at least once a week! My husband researched the model number and found many complaints about customers dealing with both Lowes and Whirlpool.

So, we decided to attempt returning the faulty water heater back to Lowe’s and request our money back $348. At first, the customer service manager told us that the standard procedure to correct the problem is for us to work directly with the manufacturer. We told her that we researched the repair on-line, were shocked to find the many customer complaints and that we did not want to spend the time and energy in repairing it. We printed the first 5 pages of the water heater complaints from the Consumer Affairs site and showed them to her, pointing out the 182 total pages with the most recent complaints on 3/3/2009. We told her that we were very surprised that Lowe’s continued to sell an inferior quality water heater, even after a class action suit. She picked up the phone and talked to another manager. They both agreed they had not heard about this issue before, but agreed to refund the money. Lowe’s returned our money! Way to go Lowe’s.

I hope that others can benefit from our experience and can get their money back. As some of the writers said, when a water heater goes out, one does not make the time to research because it really is an emergency to get hot water running in the home. So, don’t buy one from Lowe’s!
 

Redwood

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Almost 54,000 views of this thread...
We'd like to think it did some good!:D
Evidently in your case the research worked.
I do hope that you picked up a Bradford White or, Rheem as a replacement.
 

Master Plumber Mark

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fooling with an LP gas unit

I have a Whirlpool Flame Lock LP water heater. Wish I didn't. Model # BFG1F5040T3PV. Bought it March 10, 2008 from my local Lowe's in Newton, NJ. The unit crapped out last Sunday. Pilot won't stay lit. Whirlpool or American sent me a box containing an entire burner unit assembly. Only needed a thermocouple. Got the new TC off the new assembly and replaced my existing. This one lit once and won't light again. Whirlpool is disappointing.


I know that I am just repeating myself,
but fooling with an LP water heater is fairley dangerous ,,,

and then to be expected to break it down every so
often to clean the air screen is absolutely insane.

why not give a monkey a loaded revolver with the hammer
cocked back and see what will eventually happen???


and they send you the wrong parts so you can play russian roulette
with your LP water heater... I think that is just wonderful.



I wonder what kind of insurance Whirlpooh has that allows
them to send out parts to people that have never
messed with GAS water heaters before??.



either way good luck...be careful


.


http://weilhammerplumbing.com/galleryiii/






t
 
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dougmiceli

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whirlpool heater

The thermostat control valve is turned all the way up and as a matter of fact I had this problem before a tech came out and replaced it so what else might it be???
 

onealmr

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Whirlpool or American sent me a box containing an entire burner unit assembly. Only needed a thermocouple. .

It's not going to be the T/Couple. It's going to be the G/Valve. Let me spell that out just so you're not confused...... it's going to be the gas valve. The t/couple is protected by the thermal switch. I recommend you clean the ft-vent at least twice a year. Go through Whirlpool to get the g/valve. Lowe's doesn't have any. I think they can ship it to you for free and for overnight.
 

Redwood

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I think they can ship it to you for free and for overnight.

No, they charge extra for expedited shipping...

Somehow I find it odd that their good will for the customer expects that someone would wait without hot water in the home, for free shipping via bicycle courier across the country....

Just one more good reason to tear it out and return it to Lowes...
By the end of the day you could have a Bradford White installed in it's place and never have to wonder if the water heater is going to work or, not...
 

dougmiceli

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I gave up on the 3 yr swirlpool

I love the pedal the part on a bicycle across the country. Funny. After replacing everything but the tank I pulled it out and it's sitting on my porch. I bought a rheem and even when you first open it you notice the quality difference. The vents are on the side of the tank. All the way around the tank I might add also very large! So from the brass drain valve to the piezo starter quality the Rheem is a beauty. I didn't buy the whirlpool because of price originally I bought it out of ignorance. Guilty...My tenant is so happy she invited me to shower with her. Maybe that's why they call it a Rheem..Hmm
 

brianko

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FWIW, those with the FG water heaters can simply walk into any Lowe's with model number in hand and ask for the "FlameGuard conversion kit." It's the complete manifold assembly (minus the orifice and burner, which you can move from the old manifold assembly), and also includes an adapter that changes the left-hand thread to a right-hand thread to accommodate a universal thermocouple. There's no cost to the consumer. Whirlpool no longer stocks the left-hand threaded thermocouple, so don't even bother trying to contact them to purchase one.

Anyone with reasonable mechanical skills can handle installation of the new manifold.

I apologize if this has been posted earlier; I simply didn't feel like reading through 20 pages of forum posts. This forum post saved me quite a bit of time and research after my third (or fourth, perhaps?) thermocouple failed.
 

dougmiceli

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dont bother

replaced both those items and it still didn't work. I gave up after two weeks without water.
 

Cass

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Did you shop vac out the air intake located under the heater...were you carefull to be sure the end of the wand was up against the screen...then vac it out from the inside of the burner area...
 

Master Plumber Mark

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what does she look like??

I brass drain valve to the piezo starter quality the Rheem is a beauty. I didn't buy the whirlpool because of price originally I bought it out of ignorance. Guilty...My tenant is so happy she invited me to shower with her. Maybe that's why they call it a Rheem..Hmm


Whatever she looks like,
that only spells trouble in my mind.....
 

dougmiceli

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of course I vacumed out the whirlpool

Yes she is good looking. Try going two weeks with intermittent hot water. You'll be the happiest person around when you get it back.I did everything and installed everything properly and then I gave up. Vacumed it from the inside while I had the burner out. Also used a brush to scrub the screen.I was truly looking for solution not for a reason to go spend money on a new water heater. Besides it's ridiculous. I know most of you are plumbers here my experience was the Navy as a H/T and of course 40 years of life. So maybe you guys do cobble together water heaters BUT I DOUBT IT. Mostly you replace them because the tank is shot. Just a guess. My point being is you put a water heater in it last 10 12 or 20 years like my old one and then you replace it. No one I know piece meals the water heater along to keep it working after three years. Its just unheard of and stupid. And yes I agree sending parts out to be installed by unqualified people is so ridiculous and scary it negates all the benefits that this new style flamelock W/H is supposed to provide. Mainly to keep people from blowing themselves up. The units and there parts are junk. The design is poor at best. They contunue to sell them that's what I don't get. When I talked to my friend and picked up my rheem replacement. He told me rheem does all their engineering testing and so on in house. He also told me they hold 95% of all the patents related to water heaters. Interesting. The girl is really pretty actually but I can't go there it opens a whole new can of worms.
 

dougmiceli

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tankless heaters

I'm not sold on tankless. Consumer reports isn't either. Unless you have elephants to wash why bother. Look it up. Although I think they have been using them overseas for years with some success. I'm not a plumber and there are plenty of pro's on here that have seen it all and done it all over the course of years. I defer to them. My Rheem tank heater lasted twenty years. Yes 1988 died last year. RIP.
 

dougmiceli

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ha ha ha ha

redwood to funny! Yes grasping for straws or trying to deflect the truth that American water heaters are the biggesr fraud ever thrust on the plumbing world since PVC pipe for sanitary water lines. To funny! You always tell it like it is! Hey maybe he needs the paycheck from AWH. First of all apples to oranges second of all print these out and put them end to end maybe they would run the length of my basement then print out the AWH complaints and we could make paper dolls from here to the space station and back....and back again. Nice try idiot there still junk fact not my opinion...Read what the pro's on here say...a resounding F-.
 
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