Atwood Hot Water Drain Plug

yankee camper wrote:
I think what I called the thermostat isn't. What I mean is the long copper looking rod that is attached to the gas valve. #2 My drain plug broke off in the tank I got it out but my new nylon plug will not thread into the tank? I thought the threads my be bad so I threaded in a brass fitting that went in perfectly. Any thoughts on why the nylon ones won't catch?

The 'long copper looking rod'.......??

Do you mean the gas line that supplies propane to your water heater?


The new nylon plug.......
If the brass fitting went in easily it should have cleaned up the drain plug threads.
Sometimes the nylon plugs can be frustrating to get lined up due to angle they have to go in. If the starter thread on nylon plug is not distorted it should go thread in.

I have to hold my tongue just right sometimes :B

revump wrote:
My Atwood Hot Water Heater has a slow leak ... where is the drain plug

Bob.....
The drain plug is in outside compartment.
Some are located to left of gas valve and behind gas line
Some are center bottom under burner tube

My Atwood Hot Water Heater has a slow leak ... where is the drain plug

One thought, if you have the nylon plug, go buy a six point socket to use in removal and installation of the plug. Keeps from rounding off the corners of the plug. And I also use Teflon tape on the threads, works for me.

By water heather plug is nylon as well, will be watching for leaks. Thus, far I have seen none

Never had a nylon drain plug leak. HMMM

pianotuna wrote:
Hi,

Mine is Nylon but requires teflon tape to prevent it from leaking.

Yep. Mine too.

Hi,

Mine is Nylon but requires teflon tape to prevent it from leaking.

Good question?
but I'll take my nylon drain plug any day.
On my first trailer, I never had a problem with it, and now on the one I have had for the past five years, I haven't had a problem with it.
I just snug it up tight, but not too tight.

I hate brass fittings. You need the Teflon tape with them, and then sometimes they leak and other times they cross thread.

Jack L

pigman1 wrote:
How do you spell cheap??

I don't think it is a matter of cost. Atwood was actually quite smart when the specified the nylon drain plug. If you cross thread the drain plug when you install it, it's much better to sacrifice a nylon drain plug than the threads on the hot water heater. And it's one heck of a lot less expense for an owner to replace the nylon drain plug every 5-10 years than having to fork over $15 for a Suburban anode rod/drain plug once or twice a year. I've owned rigs with Atwood and Suburban, and I'll take the Atwood version any day.

Drain plug is nylon, the others are probably brass. Neither will corrode but nylon is much less expensive than brass.