Hi. I have a totai 12L gas Geyser. For a while only the hot water tap in the kitchen was igniting the geyser. The shower and tap in the bathroom was not. Now the kitchen tap is also not igniting the geyser when turned on.

The only way we were able to get it on was to turn the water in the shower on first then go outside and turn the water knob to from Min to max then once the geyser ignites turn the water switch towards minimum again to get the temperature right.

Anyone have any ideas what could be the problem here?

58 minutes ago, fuzex said:

Hi. I have a totai 12L gas Geyser. For a while only the hot water tap in the kitchen was igniting the geyser. The shower and tap in the bathroom was not. Now the kitchen tap is also not igniting the geyser when turned on.

The only way we were able to get it on was to turn the water in the shower on first then go outside and turn the water knob to from Min to max then once the geyser ignites turn the water switch towards minimum again to get the temperature right.

Anyone have any ideas what could be the problem here?

 

Without knowing your Totai it does seem like there is not a high enough flow of water to get it to ignite. May be the rate of flow in the kitchen is higher than the bathroom. 

Have you checked the battery if you have a unit that ignites from battery? 

What Scorp said ^^^

In addition... somewhere in there will be a mechanism for sensing the water flow (from turning on a tap) or water pressure (which drops when you turn on a tap).

Is there a little black thing with two wires coming off it clipped to the water inlet pipe (right hand side)?  If so, it's essentially a reed switch that is operated by a magnet that moves inside the pipe when the water flows.  Could it have moved out of position?  If you have a multimeter and another magnet, you can unplug it and check it's working.  If it is, maybe the magnet could be sticking?

 

18 hours ago, fuzex said:

Hi. I have a totai 12L gas Geyser. For a while only the hot water tap in the kitchen was igniting the geyser. The shower and tap in the bathroom was not. Now the kitchen tap is also not igniting the geyser when turned on.

The only way we were able to get it on was to turn the water in the shower on first then go outside and turn the water knob to from Min to max then once the geyser ignites turn the water switch towards minimum again to get the temperature right.

Anyone have any ideas what could be the problem here?

 

The best way I've found to set my gas geysers is to turn on the tap with least pressure and then use the water flow knob on the geyser and turn it down slowly until the geyser ignites, then leave it and use the flame knob to set the temp of the water.

Also check your filter in your kitchen tap if it has one. That could be why it used to work but doesn't anymore. The geyser might also have a little filter sieve that needs to be cleaned.

Thanks all, I will try all these suggestions and revert.

An acquaintance of mine had two showers and the one also had the same problem and I advised him to clean the shower head overnight in a container with some vinegar and that worked, what he also noticed is that the flow switch that they used in that specific model would not close completely because of sediment in the water and then the burner would stay on so I advised him to fit a filter before the geyser.

In the long run I would also install a 3 stage 20 inch Big Blue filter with a 5 micron pleated filter a granular activated carbon filter and a siliphos cartridge. The 5 micron filter, filter out sediment in the water the granular activated carbon filter, filter out chlorine and organic molecules from the water and the siliphos cartridge prevents limescale from forming in the water pipes.

If all else fails contact Totai, there are a couple of manuals on their website but the pages are in a weird order - by the look of it most probably scanned from printed manuals.

https://totai.co.za/contact/
[email protected]
https://totai.co.za/service/after-sales/
[email protected]

On 2023/12/24 at 1:58 PM, fuzex said:

Hi. I have a totai 12L gas Geyser. For a while only the hot water tap in the kitchen was igniting the geyser. The shower and tap in the bathroom was not. Now the kitchen tap is also not igniting the geyser when turned on.

The only way we were able to get it on was to turn the water in the shower on first then go outside and turn the water knob to from Min to max then once the geyser ignites turn the water switch towards minimum again to get the temperature right.

Anyone have any ideas what could be the problem here?

 

It's flow that activates the geyser. 

I see two factors here - possibly working together.

1) Flow restrictors in the bathroom. I have a flow restricting shower head to save on water, and I have flow restrictors on most of the internal taps. Not on the garden and out building taps, because I don't see the point of reducing flow to a sprinkler or a washing machine.
2) You don't say where you live, but several municipalities have been reducing the output from reservoirs to counter high usage and/or losses, and that means lower pressure coming into the house. Anecdotally, it used to take an hour for me to raise the pool water level by one row of tiles - about an inch. These days two hours won't do that - we have less pressure in our pipes. Also a while back the shower just stopped working. It turns out that the shower head we have has two water restrictors in series. The first is adjustable and also removable. The plumber removed this first restricter, and now we shower happily again.

So check for flow restrictors first. They are a nice idea for saving water, but they may cause problems for the sort of geyser that you have.

If the municipality has been reducing pressure, this would aggravte the problem caused by the restrictors. 

Edited February 13, 20242 yr by Bobster.
receivable/removable

To add to all the valid suggestions. 

Have you checked the gas in the bottle and switch to the spare bottle. May be a stupid suggestion. 

We once had this problem and after setting up camp late at night they got their guy to check but no dice. The next morning they checked again and switched bottles and problem solved. 😀

1 hour ago, Bobster. said:

Also a while back the shower just stopped working. It turns out that the shower head we have has two water restrictors in series. The first is adjustable and also receivable. The plumber removed this first restricter, and now we shower happily again.

Sorry, to complete the tale: The City had reduced the flow out of the reservoir that feeds our area. There now was not enough pressure to get more than a dribble past that first restrictor. I remember about the same time wondering what the heck had happened to my garden hose.

So first thing I did was check the filters. Not much debris. Second thing I removed the shower head and it starting working. Decided to remove the filter in the shower head and it still works after putting it back on. Also made some adjustments to the dials. Thanks for all the suggestions guys.

21 hours ago, Bobster. said:

Sorry, to complete the tale: The City had reduced the flow out of the reservoir that feeds our area. There now was not enough pressure to get more than a dribble past that first restrictor. I remember about the same time wondering what the heck had happened to my garden hose.

This was my initial concern but our house has crazy high pressure maybe because we are at the bottom of a downhill not sure.

On 2023/12/29 at 10:03 AM, fuzex said:

This was my initial concern but our house has crazy high pressure maybe because we are at the bottom of a downhill not sure.

I'd still take periodic cleansing of your outlets as per advise from @GerhardK83 even if it means a simple method of using white distilled vinegar. On YouTube you can get several ideas of how to do it, using just an ordinary plastic bag. The quality of our water isn't what it used to be, globally with more chemicals now being used in some places, sadly.

It sounds like there may be an issue with the water flow sensor or pressure switch, which could be preventing the geyser from igniting properly when the taps are turned on.

Last night the vec infinity 12 geyer just stop ingniting. Where can I find a tech for it. I have 10 thumbs when tech working

Hi everyone,

I have had the same issue as this. I swopped out the batteries, cleaned all the filters (which were clear) and changed the gas out. Water pressure is constant because it runs through a booster pump that keeps the water pressure the same. It was only when I released the gas line off the geyser and reconnected it that it would fire again. It worked perfectly the first few times we used it, but if not used for an hour it stopped firing again. Only starts working again if I release the pressure - even changed the regulator out and same outcome. Fires for the first few time, but if you leave it for an hour, nothing.

It has worked perfectly until now, so I am completely stumped. ANY help or useful checks or info would be appreciated!

had the same problem with my 16l gas geyser, that it only ignited after i loosened the gas line and let the pressure out. I ended up changing the solenoid valve (R270) and it works again.

I suspect that the solenoid valve got sticky, and could not overcome the valve springs force while under pressure.

Thank you for that bit of info! I will give it a try - hopefully it works.