Water Heaters - Pilot lights burner then goes out. 6 Flash LED A.O. Smith

Hello, as a reader for a while I thought I would try a post.

Bought a house built 2002 and WH was fine at inspection. Woke up this morning and water was warm. It was hot last night.

Water heater is a A.O. Smith Model FPSH 50 260 with a part # of FPSH-50-M00N010000.

Pilot lights the burner stays on for a few seconds then goes out. Does this a few times then the LED just flashes 6 times pauses then repeats the 6 times over and over.

I noticed the blower blowing a lot when we first moved in last night but didn't think much of it. I can feel the air outside moving pretty fast so doesn't seem like a block.

I lowered the temp, turned the switch off at the blower waited 5 minutes and then turned it all back on per instructions. I have looked online but can't find anything that directly relates to the 6 flashing LEDs on my model.

Also somehow was able to get the water nice and hot this morning but when running the hot water for a while the unit doesn't kick back on. Water has been hot all day but the LEDs are still flashing.

Thanks for any and all responses.

Dan

see page 31 in this manual for LED codes:
http://www.hotwater.com/lit/training/tc048r6.pdf

Thanks! Im guessing it is something to do with the one of the below.

4. Flame sense rod dirty or incorrectly positioned.

6. Flame sense/HSI wiring condition/connections.

9. Damaged, defective, or incorrectly positioned HSI.

Now to figure out what these are. Thanks for the manual. I hope it is something simple.

Well I got out the multimeter last night and couldn't find anything electrical wrong. Then after about an hour of doing those tests I turned everything back on and it was working fine. There has been hot water all day, but then when I went downstairs it was doing the 6 flashes again. I guess it is time to call in a pro because I am stuck.

I took the flame rod out checked it with a nickel, bent it just a tiny bit and put it back in. All is working now, but yesterday when I ran thru the electrical tests it worked when I was finished. Its running now so at least we can get hot showers in.

Did a soap test on the parts I removed and didn't find any leaks. Checked the outside vent and a lot of hot air is coming out. So should be safe for the night. Lets hope tomorrow it stays running. If not I will check out Lowe's and see if they have the part I need.

Try cleaning the flame sensor with a piece of steel wool....just make sure you dont touch it because it will make it dirty.....

Actually I got it fixed by doing that and one other thing. I bent it up a little bit so it was a nickels width away from the burner. Glad that did it, it feels good to fix it on my own (and the help of forums.)