Water heater temp adjustment

[cekkk]

This is similar to an old thread so I'll start anew. Our 3 night old rig has an Atwood. With mixing valve open produces water too cool to shower in comfortably. I've closed it this morning per the Jayco owner's manual and already it seems too hot. Would partially opening it work to cool it a bit?

[Flyer]

Atwood makes a variable thermostat for their hot water heaters (105-150). They sell it for $26 and it takes about 5 min to install. I just put one in, but haven't tried it out yet, Maybe that will help your shower problem,

[cekkk]

Thanks, I'll look into one.

[Gary RVRoamer]

If you have the heater that has its own mixing valve, it is producing very hot water, hot enough to burn you if not mixed at all.

I'm thinking something else is wrong if you had to close the mixing valve to get hot water. It should be at least 120 and probably 140 coming out of the heater's mixing valve. You may have some other cold source cross-feeding into the hot water lines, cooling off the water before it gets to the shower.

Have you tried contacting Atwood Customer Service to see what they think? Or taking it back to the dealer, since a 3 day old rig ought to be under warranty?

[cekkk]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Gary RVRoamer If you have the heater that has its own mixing valve, it is producing very hot water, hot enough to burn you if not mixed at all. I'm thinking something else is wrong if you had to close the mixing valve to get hot water. It should be at least 120 and probably 140 coming out of the heater's mixing valve. You may have some other cold source cross-feeding into the hot water lines, cooling off the water before it gets to the shower. Have you tried contacting Atwood Customer Service to see what they think? Or taking it back to the dealer, since a 3 day old rig ought to be under warranty?

First, thanks for the cross-feed idea. How could that be? Just so I can suggest it to Atwood/dealer. To be clear, all faucets acted alike. A burst of very hot water followed by much cooled water. Also, is there any reason why setting the valve in a partial open position, as I did, cannot be considered a solution? It worked just fine, but I wouldn't want to create another problem.

[Clay L]

You can get a cold water cross feed if the outside shower valves are on and the shower head is off.
Also a leaky diverter valve or one left a little open after de-winterizing can cause it.

The easy way to check it is to carefully open the temperature relief valve a little, and catch some water and check the temperature. The temperature for Atwoods with no tempering valves is 140 degrees F (plus or minus 5 degrees as I recall).

I don't know if it is the same for ones with a tempering valve or not but you should be able to download a service manual and get the temperature there.
You can get manuals HERE.

[cekkk]

Thanks for that answer. I'll look at the manual and check the outdoor shower shutoffs. But It's going to be well below freezing at night for the next ten days, and upper 20s the rest of the month on average. So, having rewinterized it yesterday when we got home it will be awhile before I can do wet testing. We may do a long weekend in two weeks. If so, I'll check then before rewinterizing again. If you're wondering where the heck we live, well, we live at 9000' in central Colorado and visibility due to heavy snow is less than a quarter mile as I sit and write this.

[Clay L]

Quote:

Originally Posted by cekkk Thanks for that answer. I'll look at the manual and check the outdoor shower shutoffs. But It's going to be well below freezing at night for the next ten days, and upper 20s the rest of the month on average. So, having rewinterized it yesterday when we got home it will be awhile before I can do wet testing. We may do a long weekend in two weeks. If so, I'll check then before rewinterizing again. If you're wondering where the heck we live, well, we live at 9000' in central Colorado and visibility due to heavy snow is less than a quarter mile as I sit and write this.

We are in Palisade over by Grand Junction for part of the summer - if we ever get any.
We inherited 1/3 of a commercial peach orchard last year and my wife is the executor. Because of temps in the low 20s we have had to run the wind machine several times including last night.

[cekkk]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Clay L We are in Palisade over by Grand Junction for part of the summer - if we ever get any. We inherited 1/3 of a commercial peach orchard last year and my wife is the executor. Because of temps in the low 20s we have had to run the wind machine several times including last night.

It was 11 here this morning. We went to the Peach Festival last August. Palisades has some nice winerys, even though I'm not much of a drinker. But the peaches tasted great! Just wondering, what third did you inherit, the skin, the meat or the pit?

[Clay L]

Quote:

Originally Posted by cekkk It was 11 here this morning. We went to the Peach Festival last August. Palisades has some nice winerys, even though I'm not much of a drinker. But the peaches tasted great! Just wondering, what third did you inherit, the skin, the meat or the pit?

The part we got was mowing over two acres and running the irrigation sprinklers at least one day a week. My other job is hauling the harvest to the sorter/packer/buyer. I hauled 87,000 pounds of peaches last fall.

The good news is that we have a real good guy hired to manage the orchard. He does the spraying, irrigating, creasing, disking and maintenance on three tractors, the sprayer and all sorts of other equipment. He really takes ownership.

One thing about Palisade peaches - as far as I am concerned they are the best peaches I have ever eaten.