atwood GHC6A-10E water heater

[bmwdriver2019]

good morning and hello to all ,
im new here , and glad to be here , i retired form bmw and purchased a rv for my fiancée and myself, we totally enjoy rving and the people , but as stated, im new ,doing my best to learn
on our rv, a winnebago vista 35f , we have the atwood water heater, it has power from 110 volts/LP / and has motor aide where it uses engine coolant to heat the water in the tank , the dometic company has purchased atwood , and the line of water heaters has been slashed to a few, out water heater is 6 gallons, has anybody had this water heater replaced , it is very common , and if so with what model
any help would greatly be appreciated , the dometic line has no water heaters with motor aide
thank you so much in advance
safe travels to all
michael

[bmwdriver2019]

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

[dougrainer]

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

[dougrainer]

RLS7201 wrote:

dougrainer wrote:

RLS7201 wrote:

dougrainer wrote:
To those that feel you can weld a Atwood tank. Usually the "burst" is so extreme, that to remove the water heater from the RV, you have to destroy the Styrofoam Insulator blocks. Once welded, you then have to find new Insulator blocks. I don't know if anybody sells just the Insulator styrofoam blocks. Also a New replacement comes with the 2 round trim rings that secures the inner tank to the metal front. I also don't know where you can get those rings without buying a replacement tank. It is better to just buy the replacement tank assbly. Doug

Doug, the rings are still out there.

Richard

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



Do you know if they sell the styrofoam? Doug

Styrofoam insulation

I wonder if one could remove the insulation, very carefully, with a handy knife and glue it back together?
I can appreciate your position of time and money but DIYs are not paying an hourly rate for their own time........

Richard

[RLS7201]

dougrainer wrote:

RLS7201 wrote:

dougrainer wrote:
To those that feel you can weld a Atwood tank. Usually the "burst" is so extreme, that to remove the water heater from the RV, you have to destroy the Styrofoam Insulator blocks. Once welded, you then have to find new Insulator blocks. I don't know if anybody sells just the Insulator styrofoam blocks. Also a New replacement comes with the 2 round trim rings that secures the inner tank to the metal front. I also don't know where you can get those rings without buying a replacement tank. It is better to just buy the replacement tank assbly. Doug

Doug, the rings are still out there.

Richard

Do you know if they sell the styrofoam? Doug

Styrofoam insulation

I wonder if one could remove the insulation, very carefully, with a handy knife and glue it back together?
I can appreciate your position of time and money but DIYs are not paying an hourly rate for their own time........

Richard

[dougrainer]

RLS7201 wrote:

dougrainer wrote:
To those that feel you can weld a Atwood tank. Usually the "burst" is so extreme, that to remove the water heater from the RV, you have to destroy the Styrofoam Insulator blocks. Once welded, you then have to find new Insulator blocks. I don't know if anybody sells just the Insulator styrofoam blocks. Also a New replacement comes with the 2 round trim rings that secures the inner tank to the metal front. I also don't know where you can get those rings without buying a replacement tank. It is better to just buy the replacement tank assbly. Doug

Doug, the rings are still out there.

Richard

Do you know if they sell the styrofoam? Doug

[RLS7201]

dougrainer wrote:
To those that feel you can weld a Atwood tank. Usually the "burst" is so extreme, that to remove the water heater from the RV, you have to destroy the Styrofoam Insulator blocks. Once welded, you then have to find new Insulator blocks. I don't know if anybody sells just the Insulator styrofoam blocks. Also a New replacement comes with the 2 round trim rings that secures the inner tank to the metal front. I also don't know where you can get those rings without buying a replacement tank. It is better to just buy the replacement tank assbly. Doug

Doug, the rings are still out there.

Richard

[Grit_dog]

dougrainer wrote:
To those that feel you can weld a Atwood tank. Usually the "burst" is so extreme, that to remove the water heater from the RV, you have to destroy the Styrofoam Insulator blocks. Once welded, you then have to find new Insulator blocks. I don't know if anybody sells just the Insulator styrofoam blocks. Also a New replacement comes with the 2 round trim rings that secures the inner tank to the metal front. I also don't know where you can get those rings without buying a replacement tank. It is better to just buy the replacement tank assbly. Doug

Lots of "creativity" from this group for sure.
Busted water heater tank = figure out how to remove it and install a new one, IMO.

[dougrainer]

To those that feel you can weld a Atwood tank. Usually the "burst" is so extreme, that to remove the water heater from the RV, you have to destroy the Styrofoam Insulator blocks. Once welded, you then have to find new Insulator blocks. I don't know if anybody sells just the Insulator styrofoam blocks. Also a New replacement comes with the 2 round trim rings that secures the inner tank to the metal front. I also don't know where you can get those rings without buying a replacement tank. It is better to just buy the replacement tank assbly. Doug

[dougrainer]

Gdetrailer, Having an Aluminum tank does NOT protect from "bad" water. 40 years ago, I had a customer that took his new trailer to the Rio Grande Valley of Texas for the winter. He came back after having the unit 8 months and came in with a Atwood W/H leak. Atwood refused to warranty the Inner tank and we replaced the Inner tank. A Coworker wanted to cut the old tank in half to make a BBQ smoker. After he cut the tank in half we found caked to the interior all sorts of minerals and such that corroded the Aluminum from the inside and caused the pin hole leaks. Fitting example of why it is a good idea to flush out the tanks on a regular basis if your water supply may be suspect. Doug

[dougrainer]

Gdetrailer wrote:

dougrainer wrote:

CharlesinGA wrote:
Weld the tank. that heater is no longer made in that size and shape. The Texas deep freeze of a year ago went thru all of the stocks of the old Atwood design.

Suburban does make a Atwood compatible replacement but its a Suburban with its steel tank and I would not want one.

The heater disassembles rather easily and you only need a couple of sleeves that fit the outside of the flame tubes, They press in and easily done with a piece of large PVC pipe as a driver.

The H in the model number GHC6A-10E is what tells you it is a heat exchanger model.

Charles

After 43 years as an RV tech, I don't understand WHY you would not want a Suburban Water Heater. It has a porcelain-lined, steel water heater tank. I would state that the rate of freezing and causing a destroyed inner tank is 10 to 1. 10 Atwoods for every 1 Suburban is about what I have experienced over the years. Granted, you cannot buy a Suburban replacement inner tank, but they are more forgiving in freezing weather than the Atwood Aluminum tank. Doug

If you don't drain either before freezing weather, neither will survive in my area.. No advantage to steel or aluminum for freezing but aluminum does tip the scale on being able to deal with some pretty narly water quality issues that tend to eat out steel water heaters in a hurry..

Wished I could get a all aluminum 40 gallon water heater for my sticks and bricks, would beat having to replace steel tank water heaters every two to three yrs, the last steel tank gas water heater for my sticks and bricks cost me $520.. And yes, have anode, water softener plus used electrically isolating connections to reduce the electrolysis effect my high iron and dissolved mineral content. My water is tuff on things, even ate a pin hole in the middle of a 5yr old copper pipe!

OP believes the motor aid is a very popular item, well, I suggest that the OP could have a aluminum fabrication shop copy the design of the tank (can't be a direct copy, have to make some design "improvement" adjustments to avoid any patent infringements), then build a few extra copies, get the tanks pressure tested and certified and then offer a refurb/rebuild service.. If what they say is true, they should be a millionaire in a short amount of time..

Do you drain and flush your Stick W/H twice a year? Some models it is advisable. That gets the sediment out of the bottom that contributes to corrosion. Doug

[Gdetrailer]

dougrainer wrote:

CharlesinGA wrote:
Weld the tank. that heater is no longer made in that size and shape. The Texas deep freeze of a year ago went thru all of the stocks of the old Atwood design.

Suburban does make a Atwood compatible replacement but its a Suburban with its steel tank and I would not want one.

The heater disassembles rather easily and you only need a couple of sleeves that fit the outside of the flame tubes, They press in and easily done with a piece of large PVC pipe as a driver.

The H in the model number GHC6A-10E is what tells you it is a heat exchanger model.

Charles

After 43 years as an RV tech, I don't understand WHY you would not want a Suburban Water Heater. It has a porcelain-lined, steel water heater tank. I would state that the rate of freezing and causing a destroyed inner tank is 10 to 1. 10 Atwoods for every 1 Suburban is about what I have experienced over the years. Granted, you cannot buy a Suburban replacement inner tank, but they are more forgiving in freezing weather than the Atwood Aluminum tank. Doug

If you don't drain either before freezing weather, neither will survive in my area.. No advantage to steel or aluminum for freezing but aluminum does tip the scale on being able to deal with some pretty narly water quality issues that tend to eat out steel water heaters in a hurry..

Wished I could get a all aluminum 40 gallon water heater for my sticks and bricks, would beat having to replace steel tank water heaters every two to three yrs, the last steel tank gas water heater for my sticks and bricks cost me $520.. And yes, have anode, water softener plus used electrically isolating connections to reduce the electrolysis effect my high iron and dissolved mineral content. My water is tuff on things, even ate a pin hole in the middle of a 5yr old copper pipe!

OP believes the motor aid is a very popular item, well, I suggest that the OP could have a aluminum fabrication shop copy the design of the tank (can't be a direct copy, have to make some design "improvement" adjustments to avoid any patent infringements), then build a few extra copies, get the tanks pressure tested and certified and then offer a refurb/rebuild service.. If what they say is true, they should be a millionaire in a short amount of time..

[dougrainer]

CharlesinGA wrote:
Weld the tank. that heater is no longer made in that size and shape. The Texas deep freeze of a year ago went thru all of the stocks of the old Atwood design.

Suburban does make a Atwood compatible replacement but its a Suburban with its steel tank and I would not want one.

The heater disassembles rather easily and you only need a couple of sleeves that fit the outside of the flame tubes, They press in and easily done with a piece of large PVC pipe as a driver.

The H in the model number GHC6A-10E is what tells you it is a heat exchanger model.

Charles

After 43 years as an RV tech, I don't understand WHY you would not want a Suburban Water Heater. It has a porcelain-lined, steel water heater tank. I would state that the rate of freezing and causing a destroyed inner tank is 10 to 1. 10 Atwoods for every 1 Suburban is about what I have experienced over the years. Granted, you cannot buy a Suburban replacement inner tank, but they are more forgiving in freezing weather than the Atwood Aluminum tank. Doug

[Gdetrailer]

bmwdriver2019 wrote:
this is more common than people know, imagine if you are a full time rver and you decide to stop , for lunch or what ever , you have hot water from the system, it just makes things more convienent and easy , and why it was installed in the first place , personally , i like it as well as many other people
dometic should have given it better thought then simply trashing all of atwoods product line

Hate to be the bearer of bad news, but it is not as "common" as you think.

This application ONLY applies to MOTOR HOMES (IE something with a water cooled engine).

There ARE many more travel trailers and 5th wheel trailer built that motor homes and in motor homes most likely less than 1% of those will have this water heater..

As far as some sort of "advantage", there isn't.

The standard off the shelf RV water heater can bring 6 gallons of water up to a scalding 135F within 15-20 minutes.

So, if you WANT hot water at your next lunch or dinner break, simply turn on the water heater to gas, fix and eat your meal and by the time you are done eating you have plenty of hot water to clean the dishes..

With the Attwood water heaters, they have pretty decent insulation, they WILL keep that water very hot for many hrs after you turn them off. So, get it hot at breakfast, turn it off and by noon time the water will still be pretty hot.. Turn on the water heater on gas at your lunch break and within minutes you will have scalding hot water..

You just need to slightly adjust what you do and will still have hot water quickly at any stop.

The manufacturer is not going to bring this feature back no matter how many times you complain about it.. It is a numbers game and obviously if the manufacturer thought that it was cost effective to continue making them, they WOULD. The manufacture has and knows the exact numbers of what they sell, they are not stupid and when the numbers tell them to stop production they are smart to head those numbers.

If you really must have this feature, then simply by a new Dometic/Attwood and as long as it is still aluminum tank, take the tank to a welding and fab shop and have them simply weld an aluminum tube to the tank just like what you have.

OR, as I mentioned before, take your existing cracked tank to a welder/fabrication shop and have them WELD the cracks shut. Aluminum CAN be welded provided you have the correct equipment and a welder who has good experience with welding aluminum..

You are lucky to have aluminum tank, it CAN be welded, Suburbans with the steel tanks cannot be welded since the welding will damage the glass (porcelain) lining on the inside of the tank and will be subject to rust out at the weld site..

[CharlesinGA]

Weld the tank. that heater is no longer made in that size and shape. The Texas deep freeze of a year ago went thru all of the stocks of the old Atwood design.

Suburban does make a Atwood compatible replacement but its a Suburban with its steel tank and I would not want one.

The heater disassembles rather easily and you only need a couple of sleeves that fit the outside of the flame tubes, They press in and easily done with a piece of large PVC pipe as a driver.

The H in the model number GHC6A-10E is what tells you it is a heat exchanger model.

Charles