Community Forums

Billybobtx · 01-18-2020, 11:38 PM

My TT is only two years old and I thought it was time to maybe drain the water heater. I have an Atwood 6 gallon and have always used the blue in-line water filters. I opened the cover and found this plastic part laying in the compartment. It doesn't show in the parts manual so I am assuming it was left over from installation?

Also do Atwoods have a heating element and is it just not accessible like the Suburban? My experience is with home heaters and for the life of me I cannot wrap my head around a heater not having an element.

Bill 3rd · 01-19-2020, 07:21 AM

I found that back in 2016, it is nothing, just a thread protector, that was removed during installation. Just toss it. What do you mean by heating element? Is it just gas, or gas and electric? If you mean an anode rod, Atwood doesn't require one, that is why there is none on the plastic drain plug, which is on the lower left corner.

stinger608 · 01-19-2020, 08:28 AM

I'm sure as Bill stated, it is just a thread protector sleeve.

As for the heating element, if you have the electric/gas Atwood water heater then the electric heating element is on the very bottom in the back of the unit inside an electrical box with the wires for the water heater.
I had to replace the element in our unit and it was a pain in the butt to get to LOL.

I just ended up pulling the whole water heater to ease in the removal and installation.

Billybobtx · 01-20-2020, 01:03 AM

Thanks for the responses. Okay, I will toss the thread protector.

The water heater is both gas and electric. The manual said the element is "NS". All the other parts had numbers next to them on the diagram. I am thinking that meant "not shown" which makes sense since it sounds like it is not accessible from the front of the unit (detailed in the diagram). All the more reason to prevent a problem and start flushing on a regular basis.

Great responses, both.

Gary RVRoamer · 01-20-2020, 09:37 AM

Get the free Atwood service manual for your heater - it shows where everything is and how to diagnose.

http://bryantrv.com/docs2/docs/atwoodwaterheater.pdf

Ray,IN · 01-22-2020, 05:14 PM

The 120VAC heating element is a generic short version unit found at any hardware store. There are 2 types bolt-on and screw-in, take a picture of yours when mounted, then you may compare the picture with the store stock.