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Old 08-04-2017, 08:01 AM   #1
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National RV Owners Club
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Hot water issues

Have a 99 National Coach Tradewinds with a propane water heater. Just returned from a trip and starting experiencing the following on the last leg.

When turning on the hot water from any faucet it would produce hot water for about 30 seconds to a minute at a pretty decent flow(city water connected) and then the flow would reduce down to a trickle.

On the cold water side flow was constant.
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Old 08-04-2017, 10:11 AM   #2
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There is an anti back flow valve on the back side of your water heater most likely right where the cold water enters the tank. First thing I would try is with the tank off drain it and then while the drain is open turn on the water supply and see if flushing it out helps. If not you most probably need a new valve. Not expensive but access is usually a real pain.
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Old 08-06-2017, 01:22 PM   #3
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Brian,
Thanks for the quick response. Could not find an anti back flow valve as you described. Did take your advice and disconnected the cold water line from the water heater and flushed it out, seemed to help. Couple of questions:

When the water heater runs out of hot water does the flow stop until it generates more hot water or does it turn cold?

Also if the lever is set "to water heater" and I open the peacock on the bottom of the heater eventually the water flow stops. However if I turn the lever to "bypass water heater" the flow out of the peacock does not stop....
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Old 08-07-2017, 11:21 AM   #4
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Water heater works on the same principle as a stix and brix. When you run out of hot water you just get cold out until you stop using it and let it heat back up.

When in bypass mode the water heater should be totally isolated from any water input so not sure what you are seeing. It almost sounds to me like you are opening a low point drain.

What I was suggesting in my original post was to drain the water heater using the large drain plug (probably about a 3/4 or 7/8 size plug. Depending on the brand of water heater this may also be your anode rod. If you have an Atwood water heater it does not use an anode rod but if you have a Suburban water heater and you have not changed the anode rod now may be a good time to do so. You can also buy a water heater tank rinser at Walmart and clean the inside of the tank while you have it open. I do mine about once a year.
https://www.walmart.com/ip/Camco-RV-...inser/29764286

Warning; make sure you don't have the electric element on with no water in the tank. It only takes about 30 seconds with no water and the element burns out.
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Old 08-07-2017, 12:40 PM   #5
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Quote:
Originally Posted by lruggley View Post
Brian,
Thanks for the quick response. Could not find an anti back flow valve as you described. Did take your advice and disconnected the cold water line from the water heater and flushed it out, seemed to help. Couple of questions:

When the water heater runs out of hot water does the flow stop until it generates more hot water or does it turn cold?

Also if the lever is set "to water heater" and I open the peacock on the bottom of the heater eventually the water flow stops. However if I turn the lever to "bypass water heater" the flow out of the peacock does not stop....


You are quite possibly misreading the direction of flow on your valves. Can you post a picture?
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