To Wet Feet!
How to replace an RV water heater yourself--
before its too late!
Upon investigation, I discovered that my water heater, located under the kitchen sink, was dripping. It apparently had been doing so all night. Several hours and a couple of fans got the carpet dry. It also gave me some time to develop a strategy for this new experiance to me.
It would be a good idea for you to read and understand what I tried to do... and then don't do it! The steps, which seemed logical at the time, were a great exercise in futility and I'd like to spare anyone else the trouble. Many things on an RV are repairable. Water heater tanks are not among them.
and then don't do it!
Clues I Missed
A couple of clues which I managed to misinterpret or ignore should be mentioned here, before going further. One of the first things that I did when I bought my RV two years ago was to give it a good washing. In the process, I noticed rust marks coming from the water heater on the exterior of the RV. I've been scrubbing them away, every so often. But I didn't know what to do-- or even if this was abnormal. So this is at least a two year old problem.
The second clue was that I would frequently see a bit of water coming from the water heater outside. This was particularly visible during the freezing winter months, where it would form a small icicle. Again, I didn't know what to make of it and passed it off.
Sooooo.... my next clue was a wet kitchen floor. I picked up on that right away!
Removal
The water heater unit is the most inaccessible of all the appliances on my RV because one needs to disassemble the shelving under the sink and remove the doors to get to it. This is probably fairly standard with RVs. It was first turned off. The propane was shut off at the tanks and the gas line drained by running another appliance for a moment. The gas and the water hoses were disconnected and the system was drained. After removing the securing screws on the exterior of the RV, around the water heater door, it came out-- to the inside of the RV.
My water heater was an older one, about seventeen years old. Believing that
many older things were built better then newer ones, I had a strong desire to
repair it if possible. Not to mention the expense of a new one I was trying to
save. The heater itself was contained in a metal case, padded by insulation.
Removing it from the outer case revealed a tank that, despite its age, was in
such good shape that it really couldn't have any leaks from the exterior
surface of the tank. Even with the water heater removed, there was really no clue as to
where it was leaking.
Most water heaters have some method of running the flame through the tank. Mine had a cylinder, intruding into the tank for almost its full depth. This pocket in the tank is where the flame is applied. A flat plate is welded side-to-side across this cylinder. A flame is shot into one side, it turns 180 degrees and the exhaust exits the water heater from the other side, going straight out perpendicularly from the RV. This way, almost all of the heat is absorbed by the tank.
The system works very efficiently. In fact,
the exhaust is not very hot if one puts their hand up to it. Most of the heat
has been used.
This flame chamber is where one might suspect that the stress would be in a water heater and that proved to be the case here.
By capping off the water connections and filling
the tank with air through the pitcock, we could hear a faint hissing sound from
the flame cylinder mentioned above. By turning the tank on end and filling
this space with water, bubbles could be clearly seen and the leak was pinpointed.
The place where the metal divider plate had been welded to the inside of the
flame cylinder had cracked, right on one of the welds. We ground and sanded
the interior wall as best we could and took the tank to a local fellow to weld
it closed. It didn't work. We took it back. It didn't work the second time
either. In fact, with each try, it got worse.
Finally, as a last resort we tried regrinding the inner surface and applying JB
Weld, which is supposed to be very durable, but didn't know if it would
withstand the heat. We never got the chance to find out, because the JB Weld
didn't get the tank sealed, either.
A New Water Heater
OK. We're done with the things not to do. I have to believe after my experience that it is always very difficult to fix a water heater. And even if you do-- you may be setting yourself up for a second failure when you least expect it. I mean, after all, water goes everywhere! I was beginning to see the virtues of a new water heater.
The company who made my old water heater, Mor-Flo Industries, is now out of business. Two companies dominate the current RV water heater market; Atwood and Suburban. The styles of their water heaters are slightly different. The Atwoods tend to use a duct through the water tank. Suburbans seem to use the flame cylinder approach. I found an exact replacement from Suburban through Camping World, where I was able to take advantage of a unit on sale. They shipped it and I received it in a couple of days.
Anode rods, which are removable,
reduce corrosion on the inside of your tank
and should be replaced periodically.
Most of the work was in building a new
and better mounting system for the water heater in my RV, which was not done
very well
originally. Gas, water and three electrical wires are all that are necessary to
connect. The rest of the work is in physically securing the water heater with
screws and caulking around the exterior door.
One additional small problem was that the water heater is located where the trim on the RV
has to stop around the mounting hole. This trim needed to be cut back a little
further due to the fact that the new door is about 1/2" larger than the old
one.
of a leaking water heater again--
Hot water! Ahhhhh!
Exterior View
Things All Put Away Again
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