American Standard Water Heater Codes: Flashes and Numbers

Power Vent six flashes: reset the gas control

American Standard says soft lockouts need the gas control reset: slide the ON/OFF switch to OFF, wait 10 seconds, and slide it back to ON. A soft lockout happens when a safety device trips, and the control retries on a timed basis, but it will not run again until the failure is corrected.

If the cause has not been corrected, the control will stay in lockout or go back into it. Its corrective actions for those codes are a technician’s: the blower, the air pressure switch and its tubes, the vent and intake pipes, the gas pressure, the flame sensor and the hot surface igniter. A hard lockout means the main controller has failed and must be replaced.

Power Vent four flashes: gas off, call for service

Four flashes is the ECO, the Energy Cut Off that shuts off the gas when the water gets too hot. The manual is plain: if a high temperature condition occurs, turn the main gas supply off and have the heater repaired by a qualified service technician. Its operating section adds that if the light blinks four times, the owner should call the service number on the front of the manual.

The technician’s section adds its own steps: a set point knob reset that can only be done twice, after which a third trip puts the gas valve into a hard lockout and the gas control has to be replaced. The same manual also says to replace the gas control if the four flashes are still there after a restart, so leave this one to the technician.

Hybrid 042: clean the filter and clear the airflow

For 042, Evaporator Obstructed, American Standard says to turn off the appliance, then check that the evaporator, the enclosure grill and the air filter are not obstructed. Before this or any maintenance, it says to disconnect the electrical supply, to avoid electric shock, and let the heater cool, to avoid severe burns. It recommends cleaning the filter at least once a year: the filter comes out with the clip above the casings, and you clean it with water and mild soap.

While you are there, check that the air exhaust duct and its outside end are not blocked or damaged, and that the condensate runs to a drain. If the condensate hose clogs, water spills down the outside of the unit, so clear any debris in the drain lines.

Hybrid or Demand Response: reset with the ON/OFF button

On the hybrid, American Standard’s reset for the errors is to switch the product off and on within 10 seconds, using the ON/OFF button. For 233, 321, 331, 332 and 336, its table says to reset by pressing the ON/OFF button twice, and if the error persists, it names a part to replace, which is a technician’s job.

On the Demand Response heater, the reset for 231, 232, 321, 331, 332 and 336 is pushing the ON/OFF button twice, and for 231, 232 and 321 American Standard adds: do not remove the power from the house switch. For the sensor codes, 218 and 230, its steps are checks of the sensor wiring on the main board, which belong to a technician with the power off.

Hybrid: the element runs almost all the time

American Standard lists a reason that is not a fault: the heat pump runs less and the element almost all the time if 8 days have not passed since the first start-up, a change to its Time W setting, or a power failure. Its step is to wait 8 days. Its other causes are a low supply voltage, an evaporator that is dirty or frozen, and problems in the heat pump circuit, for which its step is to check the display for error messages.