Need Hot Water Heater Advice
Last weekend I went to turn on my hot water heater and had some issues. After a few minutes I saw and smelled a smoke and a burning smell coming out of the outside vent on my rig. Since this smoke w...
Forum Discussion
I see you have a retired Cruise America unit. As such, you have the Atwood G6A-8E water heater. I've replaced many of these things. What you are describing is water leaking out of the tank. For whatever reason, either corrosion, a burn-thru or poor winterization, water is leaking out and you will either need to replace the tank or replace the entire water heater. The tank is about $200 and a new water heater is about $400. Either project can be done in a couple hours with a few simple hand tools. Considering the age, I would probably do a complete replacement if it were my rig. Burner, t-stats, circuit board, etc. are all life limited components and are probably nearing the end of their service limits on that unit.
The only upgrade worth considering in my opinion is to consider a water heater with both LP and electric heating. As you know, your water heater is only LP because that is what Cruise specs when they buy motorhomes. For a few extra bucks, you can get one that is both electric and LP so when you are plugged into electric at your campsite, you can heat your water off electric and conserve LP.
One thing though ... before you do anything, just make sure that you actually have a breach in the tank. A couple of times I have seen the ECO (emergency cut out) switch fail which kept the water heater on after desired temperature was reached, which ultimately caused an overpressure condition in the tank and venting of steamy hot water through the overpressure relief valve. This scenario could manifest itself with the symptoms you describe, but it would take a considerable amount of run time for it to happen. If this all occurred in the span of say 10 minutes run time, then my bet would be on a tank breach versus an overtemperature/overpressure/venting overboard scenario.
The only upgrade worth considering in my opinion is to consider a water heater with both LP and electric heating. As you know, your water heater is only LP because that is what Cruise specs when they buy motorhomes. For a few extra bucks, you can get one that is both electric and LP so when you are plugged into electric at your campsite, you can heat your water off electric and conserve LP.
One thing though ... before you do anything, just make sure that you actually have a breach in the tank. A couple of times I have seen the ECO (emergency cut out) switch fail which kept the water heater on after desired temperature was reached, which ultimately caused an overpressure condition in the tank and venting of steamy hot water through the overpressure relief valve. This scenario could manifest itself with the symptoms you describe, but it would take a considerable amount of run time for it to happen. If this all occurred in the span of say 10 minutes run time, then my bet would be on a tank breach versus an overtemperature/overpressure/venting overboard scenario.
