On Sun, 12 Jan 2014 23:08:28 -0800, "Julie Bove"
> wrote:

>
>"Roy" > wrote in message
...
>On Sunday, January 12, 2014 10:13:01 PM UTC-7, Julie Bove wrote:A bunch of
>stuff about a water heater.
>>
>>
>> Anyone have any suggestions?
>
>Julie, I would say you have a "downdraft" problem. Wind is coming down the
>vent pipe and floods down around the pilot light and blows it out.
>
>I have had this problem when a strong wind comes from the north here and
>bounces off my roof and down the chimney. Since the hot water tank vent goes
>to the chimney the downdraft floods over the tank. I usually have this
>problem once or twice a year...no biggy but can be dangerous if enough fumes
>enter the house that should be going OUT.
>===
>
>---
>
>Thanks! If it were only twice a year, I could handle it but it's getting to
>where it is once or twice a week now and many times seems to happen after
>I've gone to bed. Another problem I have is that the other two who live
>here love to take long showers and allow the water to run a lot to get it
>super hot before they get in. As you can imagine, these things don't work
>well when the pilot light is out. They also don't tell me if the water is
>only warm and not hot and then the next person in the shower will get barely
>warm to cold water. *sigh*
>
>I will see if they can somehow change the way it is vented to prevent the
>problem. I think the last time the plumber did say something about
>downdrafting but thought it had to do with the tank itself. He had ordered
>a part for this but they sent him the wrong part and due to a weekend or
>holiday or something (can't remember) it was going to take several days to
>get here so... He just gave me a new tank.

Does this tank have a blinking light on the control box?
A neighbor had one of these types and it took the fifth control module
in two years to finally stop the shutdowns. They would replace the
module and the tank would stay lit for awhile then start random
failure and was extremely hard to get a stable relight.
--
Mr.E