Vulcan Freeloader Gas Hot Water System Questions & Answers

problem solved. hot water pipe leaking under brick paving

Turn the gas on and use a long lighter to light the burner

Sometimes you need to run the gas through for a minute to purge the line

Heat setting 4-5 is more than hot for me. I would suggest you contact your Rheem Service department ASAP. Rgds.

Seems to be a fault with their ignition system. Had to call RHEEM and the man came out and replaced the whole system with a new one. Since then, perfect. Call RHEEM and see what they say. Cheers.

Make sure the dial is between number 3 to 6. Get down and look to make sure the flame is big like a gas stove on high not just the pilot light. Try turn to setting 6/max if that does not work

Hi there, you will have to go online with the model number and then follow the guide there. Be warned, there was/is a batch with faulty ignitions. I had trouble a few months back and the Rheem man had to comer and replace/adjust pilot. Good luck. Mine was all under warranty and no probs.

I have never had a problem in 5 years with this model. Pilot light has never blown out and the unit has functioned flawlessly.

Hi Zoey, sorry for delay, the email went into the junk file for some reason. Strange you mention the Pilot light. After writing my review, went on holiday and turned unit onto "vacation"and when I returned could not relight the unit. The Rheem man (thank you Bob) came promptly and replaced the lighter system and had a fiddle around with the pilot and since then (4 months) it has been perfect. Hope this helps. Am still giving this HWS a high rating. Cheers

It's rusted out in the bottom. Time to buy a new one.

No. If the pilot is out you will need to follow the steps to re ignite it.

Hi Peter, NO ! There is a temp dial and recently was away for 3 weeks so turned the marker to the DOT after temp gauge 1 and this will leave the pilot ON but not reheating through the thermostat and thus saving gas for having hot water when you are not there. When I returned I moved the dial to 4 and boom (you could hear the gas igniting) and within 17 MINUTES, I had hot water again. So much so, that after a day I had to turn the dial down to 2 as the water was far too hot especially for the shower. Best $1200 I have spent in years. Hope this helps. rgds David.

Hi 21 years is a great effort for your Gas Hot Water. Going by my experience from many years ago you could possibly need the thermocouple cleaned or replaced and I think it would be the latter, but either way you need a plumber. I hope this helps. Pat.

You don`t mention how old, it could just need the Thermocouple replaced you would need to ask a plumber to have a look.

Take the bottom cover off and check what number it's set to. 3 will only barely give you two hot showers. Adjust to number 5 or 6 for winter and 3 for summer.

I was going to say the same, except I have mine between 2- 3 and I have plenty hot water and it`s the middle of winter, in the summer I have mine on 2. My thoughts are if your water is scalding hot you are wasting money because you then have to add cold water to use it, more money down the drain as they say.

1. Make sure you have a Water Saver Shower Head. It may be a simple matter of too much Hot Water flowing down the drain. 2. Make sure your Thermostat is not too High where the recovery is taking too long to reach the Temperature set-up. 3. Avoid having "Baths"on a daily basis. They use horrendous amount of Hot Water. 4. Stop family members from singing very long songs or Arias (Opera) in the Showers.
Richard Boudville 5th Oct 2018 Perth.