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gillman's avatar
gillman
Explorer
Mar 06, 2017

Atwood 6 gallon Water Heater - Not working on Electric..

Need some advice. I am new to Atwood Water Heaters (gas/electric model - GC6AA-10E). I have had 3 other RVs but they all had suburban water heaters and the most recent one was gas only (for 10 years...)

The Water heater works fine on gas. I think the electric heating element might have gotten smoked but not 100% sure. What other things do I need to check before I get to that? From the research I have done on this site and others, I don't find too much on the electric side. Almost everyone asks questions on the gas portion.

Historically, if it is going to be weeks between use, I drain the WH. I think someone turned on the WH by accident (maybe me) when we were setting up. The WH electric switch is just above my light switch in the panel.

I always drained the Suburban WH to keep the anode rod from eating away and to keep the smell away. Worked for years but it was gas only and I didn't worry about an electric element... I might not continue to drain it so often once I get it fixed.

Anyway: 2 questions: 1) what other things do I check before concluding it is the element (and how do I know that for sure?) and 2) how the heck do you change it if I need to? Is it really on the backside of the tank?

Thank you in advance for your advice!