I had to replace the GE twin (gas + electric) heater recently due to a leak, and now find that it heats on mains but not on gas. The replacement unit was sourced on eBay and is marked as tested & working on gas + electric, but that's not a definite test.
There's water in the tank, no air locks and water flows freely when the hot tap is on. The control switch panel shows only a green LED for however long I leave it switched on but there's no evidence of ignition. The Red & Amber LEDs don't light.
There is a 15v on the green wire at the plug that pops onto the back of the control unit on the heater, and there's gas arriving - with the pipe disconnected from the heater it's clearly getting there.
Suggestions welcome as to what to do next to check it or get it working. How does the black box containing the control unit come away from the heater body, to check fuses etc?
Welcome to UKCS.
There are so so many threads about this heater, but the bottom line is that it ceased production many years ago.
TBH, there are so many variables (I speak from experience of a Carver Cascade), you’d be as well getting a mobile habitation service engineer or a gas engineer to try & sort it. Some parts aren’t available any more (eg we couldn’t replace the corroded gas burner, so ours used EHU only until something else went, and we got a Henry - other heaters are available).
Thanks Fiona. You’re right, plenty of threads but none really answer the question of ways to test it if the correct LEDs are lighting etc, or how to get at the control unit. Someone has clearly tried as the plastic case is broken.
It may require a service engineer etc to look at it but it’d be useful to exclude anything simple or obvious before going down that route.
If anyone is trying to find out how to remove the burner and control unit of the Carver GE heater, it’s actually quite straightforward.
Standing outside the van facing the heater, remove the four screws that retain the outer cover and remove it, then unscrew the two x small screws to remove the thin aluminium cover and expose the burner. To the right is the gas valve, look carefully and identify and remove the two screws holding that in place. You should now be able to get the burner + plastic box that contains the control unit out by pulling it all forwards away from the heater body. It’s a bit of a wriggle and you might also need to try pushing it out from inside the van.
What a journey of discovery this has been. I’ll put this here because I won’t be the last person to go down this rabbit hole…
The original GE heater failed last year, and the best option then seemed to be a replacement tested and working heater off eBay, which was fine on mainstream voltage but never worked on gas. After having the burner unit tested but still getting nowhere it became apparent that the burner on the replacement heater is a Carver unit but the wall switch and wiring are the Henry copy. The two are incompatible, so the Henry switch was never going to ignite the Carver burner unit.
But… they’re similar enough. The Carver burner control unit pin sequence is green, white, yellow, red: +12v, -ve, yellow LED, red LED. The Henry unit is red LED, yellow LED, -ve, +12v. It seems to me that swapping the wires in the Henry wiring loom at the 4 pin plug to match the pin input for the Carver burner unit resolves it. Has anyone done this? Do you now have a permanent look of surprise and frizzy black smoking hair that stands up like Tom & Jerry?
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Topic: Carver Water Heater not igniting - next s
via mobile 28/7/2026 at 8:22pm
