Suburban not hot enough

Needs a new thermastat did you clean it out as well put in a new anode rod

First, check and make sure your shower is turned off at the faucets, not just the hand held shower head. Also, if you have an outside shower or faucet, make sure the same is true there too. Turn the faucets off, both of them.

This is the absolute #1 reason for warm, and not hot, water.

If that does not take care of the problem, let us know.

I think that I would try flushing out the tank and getting the sediment out the best that I could. Sediment impedes the heat transfer which could cause the water to only be warm. You have nothing to lose but your time. JMO

IS this the WH in your 2007 Starcraft Antiqua?

It's going on 7 yrs old......so a good cleaning/flushing first and a new anode rod (if needed....no need to replace until 75% of rod has deteriorated)

Check the shower hot/cold knobs being closed vs just handle shut-off as suggested.......hot/cold being left open allows cold to mix with hot causing just warm water

Then remove the set of t-stats (both are on one bracket held in place with one nut)
Check tank area where t-stats contact tank wall and make sure they are clean.

The t-stats either work or don't.....just a simple snap-disc that open at 130*F (normal) and 180*F (high cut off)
Usually you will get 'very hot' temp due to poor tank wall contact (or normal t-stat not opening) vs warm.

After a heating cycle you can check temp of water via PRV (pressure relief valve). When gas shuts down..turn water supply off, open facet hot side to relieve pressure then open PRV in outside compartment with lever (caution) and see if water is HOT.
IF it is then WH is heating....just have cold being mixed (either shower OR WH BYPASS valve is still open)
IF water coming out of PRV is just warm..replace the set of t-stats and flush tank real good.

Moved from Forum Technical Support

Thanks for the tips. How does one go about flushing a WH?

mcoley wrote:
Thanks for the tips. How does one go about flushing a WH?

Cleaning wand on end of garden hose....pull WH tank drain plug....stick the wand in and flush away

One style of cleaning wand......

Available at most any place that sells rv parts.


OR you can pull drain plug and turn water supply on and let it flush out the drain.....helps but doesn't allow you to direct water stream up/around inside of tank like the wand does.

Hey O-B,
Hasn't anyone come up with a SuperDuty Tank Cleaner? Something friendly to aluminum but dissolves the scale and loosens any calification? I dunno....maybe vinegar would do it but there might be an aftertaste with that.

westend wrote:
Hey O-B,
Hasn't anyone come up with a SuperDuty Tank Cleaner? Something friendly to aluminum but dissolves the scale and loosens any calification? I dunno....maybe vinegar would do it but there might be an aftertaste with that.

Yep...
Atwood has a step by step vinegar treatment in their manual.
Real good for dissolving/removing scale build up BUT time consuming

Drain tank thru drain plug...flush/rinse..then install drain plug
The remove PRV and using a funnel pour 4 gallons of vinegar into WH tank (2 to 1 ratio----6 gallon tank)
Reinstall PRV
Turn on water supply and fill WH
Turn WH ON to heat solution (do this 4 times...this is the time consuming part---have to wait for WH to cool/heat/cool/heat/cool and don't open any faucets during cycles)
After the 4 heating cycles...turn water supply off....open a faucet to relieve pressure
Drain WH tank via drain plug..then rinse/flush several times

Inside of tank and electric element will be clean as a whistle

DutchmenSport wrote:
First, check and make sure your shower is turned off at the faucets, not just the hand held shower head. Also, if you have an outside shower or faucet, make sure the same is true there too. Turn the faucets off, both of them.

This is the absolute #1 reason for warm, and not hot, water.

If that does not take care of the problem, let us know.

Absolutely wrong. I have no idea where this wives tale comes from. I have 34 years as a RV tech and have fixed HUNDREDS of warm instead of Hot problems. NEVER, in 34 years have I ever seen a outside or inside faucet with a shower head shut off and the valves open causing warm instead of Hot water. There are reasons for that, I have NEVER seen a RV shower head with a POSTIVE leak proof shut off. They ALL will drip even with the shut off button closed---THAT is a design of RV shower heads to prevent excess pressure blowing out the thin wall flexible shower hose. Since the outside shower head are NOT leak/positive shut off, IF you have left any valve OPEN, you will see the water dripping out of the area.
The Number 1 cause of this complaint is the BYPASS valves are not in the correct position. Doug