Atwood water heater - oops

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mswolson

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Oct 6, 2017
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We've got a LQ gooseneck horsetrailer and, when we went to fill the water tank at the end of spring, we blew water out of the outside of the trailer through the water heater.  We don't have a holding tank, only gray water, that drains out the side of the trailer and neglected to open the drain when we turned on the hose to fill the tank.  Could this be the cause of the leak (gushing, not dripping leak) and have we ruined the heater? 

I looked up the owner's manual for the unit, MPD 93756, but it doesn't address this problem, hence our thinking that not opening the drain caused the air in the system to be forced by the incoming water to blow something on the heater.  :-[

Thanks!
 
Did you remove the drain plug to winterize?  Otyerwise the tank is designed for normal water pressure. Maybe you forgot to drain it and it froze?

Ernie
 
As Ernie said, many/most RV water heaters are drained and left with the drain plug out for winterization, sounds to me like you neglected to install the drain plug before hooking the water back up. If you can't find the plug, they're available at any hardware store for not much money. Just ask for a 1/2" NPT plastic plug.
 
I think Steve nailed it.  Simple tap water pressure should not be enough to damage a water heater - or any other plumbing.  If it gushing out, there must be a valve open or a plug out.  I doubt any damage was done except to your ego.
 
If it was a Suburban water heater then it has an anode rod attached to the plug. You can get one for less than $10 at any RV dealer or probably at camping world.  They will corrode pretty quickly without it. Atwood heaters do not use an anode.
 

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