I'm helping an older lady with her 1998 Fleetwood Wilderness. We have it hooked up and the hot water heater is heating the water but the flow is very restricted to all faucets. There is a single bypass valve. If I turn on the outside shower which seems to be the first connection on the hot water line then the hot water will flow normally to all the facets. Could it be that there is something in the line at that junction that is blocking the flow but when the outside valve is open it is allowing the water flow past?
hot water issue
- Thread starter nzipfel
- Start date
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scottydl
Site Team
How many valves are on the back of the water heater tank? (Accessible under the kitchen sink on many RV's, or through another access panel.) If it's a 3 valve system, the middle blend/bypass valve may be partially closed which is restricting the flow. Although I'm not sure how the outside shower would factor in...
Rene T
Site Team
scottydl said:
Scott, in normal operation, the middle valve, if they have three valve system, should be fully closed. The other 2 valve would be open.
Rene T
Site Team
Don't know about the outside shower but it sure sounds like the outlet check valve of the heater has failed which is quite common. Look at the outlet pipe of the tank (top pipe). Drain the system once it has cooled down. Disconnect the top pipe. Then remove the next fitting by unscrewing it from the tank. That's the check valve. If there will be never any need to winterize this RV, just take a screwdriver and a hammer and knock out the internals. Then put everything back together.
Some manufacturers also install one on the inlet (bottom pipe) but that's rare.
The check valves are available at Home Depot etc.
Some manufacturers also install one on the inlet (bottom pipe) but that's rare.
The check valves are available at Home Depot etc.
Bill N
Well-known member
Not sure about how rare it is to have two check valves Rene. My 2002 Winnebago Adventurer has two check valves which were extremely difficult to work on without removing the entire water heater. Previous owner had them moved to an easy to access area a foot or so from their original location. But I have read many posts about two check valves on some Atwood water heaters. Not sure if it is just Winnebago putting them in but I don't believe they are rare. Perhaps others can comment.
Bill
Bill
Rene T
Site Team
Bill N said:
Thanks Bill. You may be right. I've just never seen many.
Gary RV_Wizard
Site Team
Since nzipfel says the water flows properly when the outside shower faucet is opened, I think we can disregard the heater check valve(s) and bypass valve as the source of the problem. Those don't magically change when a certain faucet is opened...
Is the problem with the other faucets lack of any water flow, or simply that they don't get very hot? If it is the latter, then most likely the outside shower faucet is open (water turned off only at shower head) and the hot & cold are cross-feeding through the shower faucet. Just turn off the outside shower hot & cold taps.
Is the problem with the other faucets lack of any water flow, or simply that they don't get very hot? If it is the latter, then most likely the outside shower faucet is open (water turned off only at shower head) and the hot & cold are cross-feeding through the shower faucet. Just turn off the outside shower hot & cold taps.
