I have a Bock 80 gallon commercial water heater with a spark igniter that is just over a year old. Of course its out of warranty Every so often, it would spark several times, but the burner will not fire up. It will do this a few attempts till it goes into lockout mode so I will have to power cycle it and then it will be fine for a few days.

I had the igniter and ground rod cleaned but it seems like its still doing it every so often. Any ideas? Thank you!

just some ideas...

Is the igniter mounted so it is close enough to the gas port where it ignites the gas when firing?

It may just take a small mounting adjustment to get the igniter into a better position. I've not seen your particular model WH but it could something like the placement of the igniter relative to the gas portal.

Also, is that area clean around the igniter?

Could there be some drafty airflow nearby that is affecting the gas as it nears the igniter? You could temporarily put something loosely around the base of the water heater to act as a draft shield to see if airflow is disturbing the ignition process.

Does your WH have a safety step during the firing procedure where it turns on a small fan that blows into the exhaust vent ductwork and measures the back pressure to ensure the vent isn't blocked? If so that may be creating some airflow coming in at the bottom of the WH.



Edited 8 times.

thank you for all your ideas! no draft fan. the igniter seems like its just sits over the burner tube area and not sure if there is an adjustment

pages 14-16:
[www.bockwaterheaters.com]



Edited 2 times.

Is the water heater in an enclosed room? There is likely an air vent or two for the room, maybe on the wall or door? I think that is typically the code requirement so the WH burner can draft air properly. What about windy condition where you are, could the wind across the roof WH exhaust vent be doing something with air flow around the igniter? Does your WH vent ductwork go straight up and thru the roof, or does it connect to something like a nearby chimney or other route? If the igniter is working ok, which I assume it is since it was recently worked on, then I'd start looking at something interfering with the gas sample that's supposed to flow near the igniter when it's firing. Or you could try replacing the igniter, that might take care of the problem.

Bock has a tech support help line or you can email them. They've probably run into this before and may have some good suggestions or advice:

Bock Technical Support
Technical Support Hotline - 1-888-784-8322
Bock Water Heaters Corporate Offices - 1-800-794-2491
e-mail - info@bockwaterheaters.com



Edited 2 times.

Thank for the input. There are a couple vents going into the room but nothing blowing towards the water heater. The duct work ties in with the boiler nearby and from there it goes to a chimney 2 stories up.

Can it be a bad ignition control module? Not sure how reliable those are. It may be providing spark but it may not be sending a signal to the gas valve to fire the burner?

I'm not sure, that's a good question for the Bock tech support guy.