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Old 12-04-2020, 12:12 AM   #1
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Atwood Water Heater Fitting Leak

2005 Journey 36G
Atwood Water Heater Model GCH10A-4E

Water has been dripping from under the water heater. Removed panel from under the rear of the water heater and found that the leak is from what appears to be a 2 piece plastic compression hose fitting that attaches to a brass elbow on the rear of the tank.

Is there an O ring inside one of the plastic fittings? Has anyone reading this disassembled these fittings and then reassembled them? Any advice will be greatly appreciated.
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Old 12-21-2020, 05:41 PM   #2
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Before you take the fitting apart you might try cleaning all that calcium with CLR... and then try to tighten the fitting.

...But do not tighten too much! That plastic cannot take much torque or it will crack. Plus an old Hot Side fitting is even more brittle than an old Cold Side plastic fitting. ...Still it's worth trying to fix a drip. Only an 1/16-1/8 turn may do the trick!!!

If you choose to take the fitting apart, you probably will find a rubber cone looking part. These can be bought at any Camping World or trailer parts store for about $1 each. I would buy 2 and keep one as a spare. You cannot buy these at HD or Lowe's, but maybe your ACE Hardware store will have them? IDK

Also, here's a tip: To save hot water when boondocking, or to reduce or eliminate hot water pulsing in the shower... you can install just one Shark Bite Check Valve in the hot water like that goes into your bathroom sink.

In the pictures above, it appears OP system is using a good quality quality check value ibetween the plastic female fitting and the hot water tank nipple.

For the rest of use using a cheap Camco check valve, I would like to say: "These things are junk!" ...And most Camco check valves fail at some point leaving you with lots of hot water problems or no hot water when you need it camping.

This happened to me, on the road of course, and I could not find any shop to fix it because they all (4 of them) said they were too busy. Ultimately, I decided to drill my Camco check valve centers out... and then reinstall it as a pipe nipple! This worked great. Cost me $0 to fix. And then I had hot water again.

FACT: You do NOT need any check valves for your hot water tank (system) to work.

Also, if you are having hot water pulsing problems or you just want to save hot water every time you turn on your hot water in the shower (when boondocking when saving hot water counts the most) you might consider this:

Just cut the 1/2" hot water line ("cleanly" with a PEX cutter) as close to the bathroom sink as you can, but before the "T" fitting hot water line that goes to your shower... and insert the Shark Bite.

This is just a 2 minute upgrade... after you get to the right area by your bathroom sink. And that is the toughest part of this upgrade!
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Old 12-27-2020, 10:43 PM   #3
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Yeah, CLR first or vinegar or whatever. I don't think you'll find an 'O' ring there.

A long term leak like that suggests to me that the plastic coupler or the brass had some debris in or on or part of the treads when it was put together. Take it apart carefully, clean up the male/female threads really well, and then use Teflon tape. 5 layers. That should do it. Yes, I know, you're not suppose to need Teflon tape with plastic plumbing connectors but my experience is that it works MOST of the time to stop very slow leaks, which it looks like yours was for a long time.
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