atwood GHC6A-10E water heater

IF you have access to the back of the water heater you could possibly cut out the Styrofoam. BUT, most installations give no real access inside the RV to cut it out. Just enough access to disconnect the water lines. When you remove a burst water heater and you have not had access to the strofoam, the burst part of the inner tank protrudes up and out and will push the styrofoam up and cause the styrofoam to stop the W/H from pulling out of the mount hole. Since you are usually replacing the Inner tank and the new tank comes with Styrofoam and mount rings, you don't care that you have to manhandle and destroy the styrofoam when removing. You sometimes have to use a pry bar to get the W/H out once you have moved it a few inches. I would think the cost of welding the Aluminum tank would kind of negate the cost to a replacement tank that has all the parts included. Doug

to those who have read my post, let me ad that the engine coolant never comes in contact with the rv water system , all the heat exchanger is a short angled tube which the to and from coolant lines connect to , thats it, the tube is externally mounted outside the tank , , no in order to replace the tank , the heater must be removed from the vehicle, disassembled , repaired or replaced the leaking tank , and put back together , and hopefully ALL GOES WELL,
after much research i had found that dometic makes a replacement for the atwood unit , part number 96163, same specs as the atwood , i really dont care that there are numerous trailers and 5th wheels out in the field, but there are numerous motorhomes using the atwood system , and it was a good one, i simply dont care for what dometic did , they bought atwood and discontinued most of their product and water heater line, and many were models with motor aide, its not the point, its what they did , very simply they could have made a slight modification , and have as a kit a motor aide ad on, attached with stainless steel clamps to support the motor aide fitting to the tank , and styrofoam sections, , and two hose clamps , done deal , so now YOUR stuck with a choice they made , and you have a expensive piece of equipment , not doing as designed to do