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campingcareys's avatar
May 07, 2018

Low hot water temp.

Hello,I have the Atwood GE16 EXT hot water heater in my jayco,this spring the water coming out when try the hot water was very foamy,redrained/purged air out of tank/lines,turned on water heater,fires up,runs constantly ,it just gets Luke warm at faucets (90 degrees), 140 degrees coming out at bypass outside at tank.any ideas ?, I've never had an issue like this,I'm baffled,thanks

7 Replies

  • Hubby didn't shut shower off at faucets, but just shut off the hand held shower head instead and I couldn't get hot water. Discovered that, shut off with the faucets and immediately had hot water. Check indoor shower too.
  • janstey58 wrote:
    This Atwood water heater has a "mixing valve" on the rear of the heater that may be plugged or inoperable. It allows the water heated to be hotter than normal, then the mix valve adds cold at a pre-set level to bring the water temp down to normal hot. You might check that.


    Water Heater T-stat allows water to be heated to 160*F

    Mixing valve has HOT IN and a COLD IN....set for 130*F out to hot water system

    Hot In from tank to mixing valve gets clogged up and either get warm or cold water out of it (depends on how clogged hot in is)

    Remove mixing valve and clean it out (CLR, Vinegar, Lime Away etc)
    Rinse/flush out the HOT OUT on tank
    Rinse/Flush Water Heater Tank thru drain

    New OEM Mixing valves are expensive........other types can be used that are cheaper (still costly) from Home Depot, Lowes, ACE etc
  • Thanks for the replies. I did check the outside shower already. The bypass valve,how do I check that?, remove it ?, thank you
  • This Atwood water heater has a "mixing valve" on the rear of the heater that may be plugged or inoperable. It allows the water heated to be hotter than normal, then the mix valve adds cold at a pre-set level to bring the water temp down to normal hot. You might check that.
  • You can also have a stuck open or partly closed check valve on the outlet.

    If getting to the check valve is difficult and you want to check it, put the rig in bypass, drain out the HWT by removing the plug (be extremely careful if it's hot water in there.

    Leave the plug out and run the pump. Water should not come out the plug now. If it does, you are letting it in backwards through a stuck open check valve. I spilled antifreeze all over the place when winterizing and I did not know my valve was stuck open.
  • Sometimes the indoor, or outdoor shower is left on, but shut off at handle, which will allow cold water to mix with the hot.

    Jerry

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