low water pressure 2004 Itasca Horizon

[Kim Petersen]

we are camped near Yuma az. yesterday morning the hot water was barely trickling like it was almost frozen but outside temp was 41 F. turned the bypass valve to bypass and got full pressure. checked the water heater and it is empty. turned valve to normal and it doesn't fill the water heater tank. took the valve apart and it looks OK to me, one way routes water to the water tank and cold faucets, the other bypasses the water heater. seems it would take a lot to plug a line. I am not having much luck trying to figure out what next.
2004 Itasca Horizon 36' with 10 gallon Atwood lp electric water heater

[emiddleb]

On the back side of your water heater there are check valves where the cold water goes in and the hot comes out, at the end of the two pipes right at the heater. Sounds like the check valve on the input side has become blocked since you are not getting water into the tank. You will need to probably replace (or remove) the check valve. Getting to them can be a challenge depending on your floor plan.

[Kim Petersen]

that is good news, I will get under there tomorrow and see what I can do. Thanks emiddleb

[cbeierl]

As long as you aren't trying to winterize you should be able to safely remove the 'guts' of a failed check valve to restore operation until you can replace the check valve.

[cbeierl]

Btw, the check valve probably looks like this: Valterra P23415LF 1/2" Lead-Free Check Valve

[Jakm]

My inlet check valve (the one at the top) failed on me last summer. Mine has an access panel on the back of the bay. It was in there pretty tight, I used a 1” deep socket and a breaker bar to get it out. My inlet is just threaded into plastic fittings. As stated, you can knock the inner plastic plunger and spring out of the brass fitting and reuse to get your water flowing, but I’d recommend replacing.

[Chaffeekid]

If your electric water heater element was on when it ran dry it may have burned out. It can be replaced on most water heaters

Safe travels

[Jakm]

Originally Posted by Jakm

My inlet check valve (the one at the top) failed on me last summer. Mine has an access panel on the back of the bay. It was in there pretty tight, I used a 1” deep socket and a breaker bar to get it out. My inlet is just threaded into plastic fittings. As stated, you can knock the inner plastic plunger and spring out of the brass fitting and reuse to get your water flowing, but I’d recommend replacing.

Sorry, my outlet (the one at the top) plugged up and just trickled water at all hot faucets.

[Kim Petersen]

thanks, yes that is what it looked like, a new one fixed it up, and now I'm singing "back in the shower again"!