Water Heater, How long do they last?
The Atwood hot water heater in our 2004 National Coach no longer heats with the electrical element. The propane system heats the water fine. Access to replace the heater element will require first rem...
Forum Discussion
You don't need to replace the water heater. Sounds like only the electric heating element is dead. This is caused by 2 things. The same is true in your home electric water heater.
1. The heater was turned on when there was no water in it, and it only took about 10 seconds (or less) to burn out the element.
2. Calcium build up on the bottom of the tank is now touching the heating element, causing it to short out, which means, it's dead and needs to be replaced, but the calcium build up needs to be clean out too. This is true in your home, the bottom heating element is usually the first go because lime builds up on the bottom of home water heaters and over several years, it gets deeper and deeper, until it touches the element. The top element will keep heating, so this could go for a long time before you realize the bottom element is not working, if you don't have high volume hot water usage in your home.
But, RV water heaters only have 1 element. So when they go! There's no second back-up!
Keep the heater, change the element.
1. The heater was turned on when there was no water in it, and it only took about 10 seconds (or less) to burn out the element.
2. Calcium build up on the bottom of the tank is now touching the heating element, causing it to short out, which means, it's dead and needs to be replaced, but the calcium build up needs to be clean out too. This is true in your home, the bottom heating element is usually the first go because lime builds up on the bottom of home water heaters and over several years, it gets deeper and deeper, until it touches the element. The top element will keep heating, so this could go for a long time before you realize the bottom element is not working, if you don't have high volume hot water usage in your home.
But, RV water heaters only have 1 element. So when they go! There's no second back-up!
Keep the heater, change the element.
