Help Replacing Water Heater

[seredni]

From 2020 2108DS. Needs new tank. Suggestions on difficulty level and what needs to be done. Thank you!

[CJBROWN]

Unhook connections, remove, replace.
Why do you think it needs to be replaced? The tank got a hole in it?

[seredni]

Hot water tank didn’t get drained for winter. :(

Originally Posted by CJBROWN

Unhook connections, remove, replace.
Why do you think it needs to be replaced? The tank got a hole in it?

[seredni]

When you forget to drain the hot water tank and you live where it snows in the winter

[Morich]

Something to hope for if not verified yet is that it is one of the fittings on the back which froze first and leaks, instead of the tank??

We don't get the good drawings for trailers as we do for motorhomes but the idea is much the same. If you find a label of what brand and model, there can often be drawings found online of that specific model and they can show places where the lines go in and often there are check valves and such of plastic which freeze much quicker than tanks. One is they are small and hang out lonely as well as plastic rather than the big heavy metal of tanks that have insulation on them!

So if not checked for small things first, I recommend doing some real checking to see if one can get to the rear of the tank first and make sure before I pull it. Things like pulling a panel off at the rear can do it on some RV.

[seredni]

[BarryLS]

Ouch!

[l1v3fr33ord1]

seredni-

As far as I know, there are no more Atwood 6-gallon tanks to be purchased new. Dometic bought the Atwood water heater line, then discontinued it, in favor of their Dometic line. The last new tank for sale was sold over a year ago.

Your choices are:

1) Find a welder to repair the tank and guarantee the repair.
2) Install a Dometic six-gallon water heater. Unhappily, it is a different size and shape (higher and narrower, so you need to enlarge the opening and replace the door).
3) Install a Suburban "Direct Fit" water heater (link here). Suburban saw an opportunity to sell water heaters to orphaned Atwood heater owners. They claim the "Direct Fit" is a drop-in replacement for the six-gallon Atwood.
4) Install some other non-Dometic water heater.
5) Buy a used, working six-gallon Atwood.

If you go with the Suburban "Direct Fit":
1) The tank is porcelain-lined steel, so you'll have to deal with an anode rod from now on.
2) The SAW6D appears to be propane-only, while the SAW6DEL appears to be propane/electric. You should confirm this for yourself.
3) You may need to buy a new door and a new interior switch.

Let us know which way you go.

[Morich]

YUP! That froze good and solid!
I take all my thinking back as I've never seen one that bad!

[Breadbox]

Try a few welders first! My seller forgot to drain for winter and mine looked the same. Local welder fixed it for $50. Toss the foam insulation cause it will never fit again. I bet the replacement will be over $400.

[abqnm]

I purchased an atwood 6 gal tank this past july on Amazon. $375.

Atwood 91060 Mobile Products Tank Gc10A-4EAtwood 91060 Mobile Products Tank Gc10A-4E

Install was reasonably straight forward. Was a youtube video to see how.

[abqnm]

checking the ad just now it says 2 left.....

[l1v3fr33ord1]

seredni-

What is the model number of the water heater?

[abqnm]

my mistake on the july part, it was April that I bought it.

looking at the ad I'm a little confused, I think the GC-10a refers to a 10 gal tank but I definitely got a 6 gal. the seller is listed as
"Boat and RV Accessories" and shows a customer service number : 866-204-7049. Best to contact them and not rely on my somewhat iffy memory.
I still have the old tank, in the morning I will see if there's a model # stamped on it.

[abqnm]

the one I replaced doesn't look to be a match to your picture. Other than the info I copied from the ebay ad I don't have anything more.