Atwood 10 gal HW Heater Inner Tank Replacement

[Golfinscorp]

Hi all
Has anyone replaced an inner tank on an Atwood GCH10A hot water heater? and if so, how difficult was it. Any pics or info would be appreciated.
Thanks
John

[RedneckExpress]

Unless this is something different than a standard side accessible RV water heater, there's simply a housing around a single tank which is partially welded to the front face.

You're better served simply replacing the whole water heater if this is the case than trying to hodgepodge another tank in.

[AFChap]

If you do all the labor you might save some $ in exchange for your labor & trouble. I briefly considered that option when I had leaks in mine, but then just replaced the whole thing. Swapping out only the tank will require total removal and some disassembly.

I replaced the original GCH10A3E (no longer available) with a new GCH10A4E. The 3E had switched 110v while 4E has switched 12v. We did not use the new switches for both gas & electric that came with the 4E, but created a new 12v feed to the WH so we could use the other existing wiring and the 120v on/off switch on the inside control panel.

[Golfinscorp]

Thanks for the responses, I kinda thought the "inner tank replacement" option might be more trouble than its worth. My existing tank is the same model as AFC's old one so I will probably end up with a new GCH10A-4E. Just gotta find the best price and bite the bullet I guess. I didnt realize I would have to do additional wiring tho', is this complicated?.
John

[AFChap]

I know one owner who ran a new 12v line from the house circuit breaker panel (under the bed in that case) to the WH. That allowed him to keep his existing switch setup inside the coach. On mine, I had removed an electric WH bypass that we had problems with, replacing it with a manual bypass. So when we needed 12v for the switched line we used that unused 12v which was right there by the WH. If you want to use the new switch setup you would require more extensive wiring and a place to install the switch. It was totally wrong for my panel, and much easire to keep the existing switch on the 110v line and just find a 12v source to connect to the intended switch line on the new WH. ---hope that doesn+ confuse you too much!