No hot water flow, stopped up ?

[MrWizard]

Atwood G6A-8E, RV 1997 Fleetwood Bounder 36S
The WH is in a sealed box next.to water bay, this is outside under the RV, no access to connections.at back of WH,
Water goes into the water heater , it does not flow out the taps, I.removed the drain plug and only clear clean water comes out, no sediment, leave drain open turn on water pump.lots of Clean clear water comes out,
When I turn Bypass valve to bypass mode, hot water taps have cold water good flow,
I.have tried compressed air into the hot water drain in an effort to clear any clog and flush the water heater afterwards, it did not work, I have done this to both HW and CW drains and lines taps closed water heater drain open, I'm.ready to buy a borescope to examine inside the wh to look at the HW outlet, also going to remove and look at the bypass valve, some pix.to explain







Last photo underneath RV looking up at the sealed box, metal covered with vehicle undercoat, the two flexible LP lines are visible, they goto WH & the rear furnace

I hope our resident experts can shed some light on fixing this, I'm hoping for.flex lines inside the box, so I can slide the water heater out, maybe it's a clogged check valve of some kind

Sorry about the photo size, I'm on my phone, not as easy to manipulate pages and photos

[todsme]

May already be posted. Did you try removing tank anode /drain plug? flush or run city water through.

[HTElectrical]

JBarca wrote:

HTElectrical wrote:
I would not use CLR.to Caustic.
There is a product called RYDLYME Biodegradable Descaler Great stuff. I service Steam generators, and Boilers, and this is the industry preference.

Hi HTE,

The Rydlyme looks to be some good stuff, wish I knew about it for work as we had to clean out steam and water cooking tanks. I did not see it rated on aluminum. I may have missed it, have you used it on 7072 aluminum which is what the Atwood water heater tanks are made from?

Just checking.

Thanks

John

It is used for commercial steam cleaning in food service, also.

[HTElectrical]

The rule of thumb is that if the alloy is designed for use in a water system (aluminum engine block, aluminum mold, etc.), the alloy should be compatible with the RYDLYME solution. Otherwise, it is recommended that the RYDLYME be diluted 50% or more with water when cleaning.

I personally Dilute 70/30 when cleaning boilers. (70 water/ 30 Rydlyme).

The reason for that is the procedure for descaling calls for the unit to brought up to temp., and if excessive foaming occurs, the heating element will literally explode. $900.00 element

[MrWizard]

John & HTE
Thanks get much for the info, I will pickup some vinegar and try that procedure

Yes John I would like to see those pictures thank you

[JBarca]

HTElectrical wrote:
I would not use CLR.to Caustic.
There is a product called RYDLYME Biodegradable Descaler Great stuff. I service Steam generators, and Boilers, and this is the industry preference.

Hi HTE,

The Rydlyme looks to be some good stuff, wish I knew about it for work as we had to clean out steam and water cooking tanks. I did not see it rated on aluminum. I may have missed it, have you used it on 7072 aluminum which is what the Atwood water heater tanks are made from?

Just checking.

Thanks

John

[HTElectrical]

I would not use CLR.to Caustic.
There is a product called RYDLYME Biodegradable Descaler Great stuff. I service Steam generators, and Boilers, and this is the industry preference.

[JBarca]

MrWizard wrote:
Yes there was some calcium deposit, I cleaned out of the elbow, there could be some in the WH but all I ever get when flushing or draining is clear water, any deposits are harden and pre-existing from the previous owner, I was surprised when I saw the deposits in the elbow and check valve,
I thought about removing the pop off valve and pouring a few gallons of CLR into the water heater via a funnel and letting it soak overnight, put it on bypass leave it turned off,
Then drain & flush the next day
Any body try this,
I've been looking at Cellphone Borescopes online , it's been several times now that I could have used one to inspect a problem situation

I'm not sure about the CLR treatment, but I have done the Atwood white vinegar boil out on several Atwood water heaters. Atwood had instructions for this in their service manuals, I did not come up with this myself. The basics are on a 6 gallon water heater, add 4 gallons of white vinegar with 2 gallons of fresh water. I drained the water heater, then pumped the vinegar in using the camper winterizing valve at the water pump, followed with 2 gallons of fresh water. Let the system heat and soak with it on and hot. I have left them on and hot overnight when the scale is real bad. Drain all vinegar and flush.

The Attwood procedure shows up on the page 27 of the 2004 Atwood service manual and other years service manuals tweaked slightly pending the publication date. See here on Chris Bryant's site, all the way to the bottom under Miscellaneous Documents. I knew I could find it here for you.
http://bryantrv.com/docs.html

I have borescope'ed the heaters before and after the vinegar boil out. It has been very effective in removing the scale build up. I have some pics inside if you want, I'll hunt them up, just let me know.

Hope this helps

John

[enblethen]

I have used white vinegar on faucets and shower heads. 50/50 vinegar and water.
If it is the bottom (where it normally is) you would not mush over two gallons of mix.

[MrWizard]

Before being removed



Before being separated and cleaned

[MrWizard]

Yes there was some calcium deposit, I cleaned out of the elbow, there could be some in the WH but all I ever get when flushing or draining is clear water, any deposits are harden and pre-existing from the previous owner, I was surprised when I saw the deposits in the elbow and check valve,
I thought about removing the pop off valve and pouring a few gallons of CLR into the water heater via a funnel and letting it soak overnight, put it on bypass leave it turned off,
Then drain & flush the next day
Any body try this,
I've been looking at Cellphone Borescopes online , it's been several times now that I could have used one to inspect a problem situation

[Gottahaveit]

Woooo Hoooo George !!! Glad you got it fixed and have some awesome hot water again. Miss seeing you and happy to see your posts. Had us Mods worried for a bit 🙂

[enblethen]

No offense, but I think I would have replaced the check valve with a brass one.
I also saw what looked like calcium type deposit in the one fitting. That could be an indication of build-up in water heater tank. How often do you flush the tank?

[MrWizard]

Schlep
I installed it the correct way, there was no way to put this one.backwards, in this install, input end is male threads into the wh, the output is female, brass elbows is male on both ends , HW..line female connect to elbow,
Found the plunger/gate no spring, the first elbow in the system is the one attached to check valve, I think that spring rusted away sometime ago, nothing but water came out when I blew out the line
Before cleaning

[MrWizard]

Doug thanks for the info,
I don't winterize , because I'm full-time,
I'm just glad to have hot water flowing again