Water heater leak

[tinkerreknit]

I have an Atwood C6A6 (LP only) water heater. It is on a '91 Coachman and has started leaking rusty-looking water from behind the gas control. I am asking for any tips or suggestions before I start taking things apart. I don't understand why the tank has a threaded port behind the gas control. Perhaps it is part of the control's thermostat? I plan on removing the control ASAP and then determining if the tank is leaking or if there is a threaded nipple that is loose or corroded. It appears to be aluminum, but I am not sure at this point. Any advice out there?

[SUMDALUS]

tinkerreknit,

You are correct. An integral part of the water heater's gas contol valve is the thermostat (it actually sticks into the water in the tank). The whole unit screws into the Atwood aluminum tank body. Here's a picture to show you what it looks like.



You can try removing the control valve, then clean the threads in the tank body as well as the threads on the valve. Probably a lot of corrosion where the two meet since aluminum and brass don't really like each other. Atwood used pipe dope when originally installing the valve. You can use pipe dope, or teflon tape on the valve threads before reinstalling the valve.

Hope this helps.

[TXiceman]

More than likely for that old of a unit, just replace the water heater and don;t mes with repairs.

Ken

[tinkerreknit]

Thanks, SUMDALUS and TXiceman - this is just the kind of help I was hoping for! I have decided to try to get through one more trip coming up in 3 weeks. After that, I will pull the old heater out. I think it is probably so old that it might have other problems soon enough, so I am prepared to buy a new unit. But I will take the thing apart and just see what kind of leak I have. If it happens to be something like the control valve being too loose but not too much corrosion, I might shine things up and tighten things and leave the old unit in.