Hot Water Heater...

A couple of weeks ago I started to notice that occasionally the hot water that came out of the tap was not as hot as it usually was. I didn't think much of it at first but as the problem persisted and eventually got worse, I started to notice a pattern. Usually, when we do something that uses enough hot water, you will hear the hot water heater come on to create more hot water. While I was hearing the hot water heater blower start, it would only last for a short period of time and then stop (not long enough to heat enough water to replenish what was used). When I went downstairs, I noticed the green light on the water heater was blinking a series of six blinks. I read the instruction manual for the A. O. Smith FPSH 50 Series 260 and found several reasons that it might be blinking like this. The six flashes meant the system was in lockout mode - meaning that it had a problem during normal operation and shutdown to the lockout mode. Once in lockout mode, the system would wait a long period of time before attempting to light the burner again to create hot water.

Looking on the internet I found several discussions that suggested the problem was due to a corroded flame sensing wire. This wire is responsible for making sure the gas hot water heater is indeed burning gas as opposed to dangerously leaking gas into the environment. I turned off the power and gas to the hot water heater, removed the bottom access panels, and investigated the components located at the bottom of the tank. I saw the flame sensing wire had some brown rust like corrosion on it. I took a small bit of steel wool and lightly removed the corrosion, replaced the access panels, and tested the system. It has now been several weeks and the hot water heater has been operating perfectly.

A BIG 'Thank You' to the numerous people that posted their similar experiences, your advice saved me from having to purchase a new hot water heater or call a service technician. :-)