Aren't all Suburban water heaters the same?

[CherylB]

I have a 2000 Winnebago Adventurer 37g and a mobile RV mechanic recently came to repair my water heater and after removing it, he showed me the wiring was completely fried. He said I'd need a new water heater. He also said that bad one was a 15 gallon, which I am not completely sure of. It was a Suburban brand.



Fast forward to me finding another Suburban water heater but it was a 12 gallon. It came from a 2019 5th wheel and I snatched it up and was happy to score a nice water heater second hand and local. They were selling it because they switched out to an on-demand heater.



I went to slide it into the bay cubby for safe keeping until I can call and get the mechanic to install it and the thing won't fit. With the styrofoam encasement, it is exactly the size of the opening, which means I will have to trim some of the styrofoam off.



Why would a water heater with a smaller capacity be larger than the one I had before? Did I screw up? Did they change the darn dimensions?

[Ray,IN]

It has better insulation than the one you removed? Please list each model # of the 2 heaters for better responses.

[Old-Biscuit]

Suburban didn't make a 15 gal ---they make a 16 gal

Suburban 10, 12 & 16 gal
Cutout Dimensions are
16.38" x 16.38" (depth are different 10/20", 12/22", 16/27")

Pg Cutout Dimensions for ALL Models
https://www.rvupgradestore.com/v/vsp...tionManual.pdf


Suspect your 2000 Winnebago OEM was an Atwood Model ---- Winnebago used Atwood Brand Water Heaters

2 options for 2000
Atwood G6A-8E (Gas 6 gallon/electronic ignition)
Atwood GCH10A-3E (Gas/Electric/Motoraid 10 gal/electronic ignition)

See pg 147 2000 'G' series
https://www.winnebago.com/Files/File...00/0wfg37g.pdf

[CherylB]

Oh God. I hope I didn't get the wrong make. The old water heater was disposed of by the mobile mechanics. They said it wasn't worth salvaging anything off of it. I will have to look at the owner's manual and see. Thank you for your input. I will do further research but I was hoping there was a simple solution and something I was overlooking.

[Persistent]

Simple solution is to expand the hole to match the size required for the new heater. See installation instructions for the new heater.

Yes, I know it is not always that simple.

[Old-Biscuit]

Originally Posted by CherylB

Oh God. I hope I didn't get the wrong make. The old water heater was disposed of by the mobile mechanics. They said it wasn't worth salvaging anything off of it. I will have to look at the owner's manual and see. Thank you for your input. I will do further research but I was hoping there was a simple solution and something I was overlooking.

Suburban uses an Anode Rod 3/4" drain hole and a Steel Tank

Atwood uses a Nylon 1/2" drain plug and an Aluminum Tank

[CherylB]

It definitely had an Atwood to begin with, per the manual. This is my first Class A rig and so I wasn't even thinking that I would have to get a water heater specifically for a Class A. Now it makes sense that this came with the door cause with trailers, there is no compartment for a water heater, just a hole that it slides into in the side of the trailer, then the door closes it off from the elements.



I hope I can find a buyer for this in a hurry because I need to find one that will work in my Winnie. I'm so sick of making mistakes. Living with my own bad decisions is a fulltime job.

[Old-Biscuit]

Class A's have used Atwood AND Suburban Brands

Winnebago uses Atwood

You have an RV Exterior compartment door that closes OVER the Atwood water heater door..............exhaust screen in the Atwood door should line up with an Exhaust screen in the RV compartment door
Atwood uses a diagonal combustion/exhaust 'U' tube.....combustion on bottom right with the exhaust top left area

As shown in the 2000 Components list I posted Winnebago used a 6 gal gas only OR a 10 gal gas/electric plus motoraid (engine coolant lines to water heater

Measure the opening Height/Width/Depth where water heater goes in
and post those measurements

Also that Top left exhaust will line up with the exhaust on the RV compartment door.

A Suburban SAW10DE should be a direct replacement for the Atwood
*Atwood models no longer available. Dometic acquired them and then stopped support when they came out with their own 'design' which do NOT fit in the old Atwood openings


Your 'RV Tech' said it was a 15 gal Suburban that was removed....
Suburban didn't make a 15 gal ,,,,made 4,6,19,12,16 gall versions

Your old Atwood might have be replaced with a Suburban by a previous owner and your 'RV Tech' did remove a Suburban model
That is why dimensions (HxWxD) plus the location of the Exhaust is needed to suggest a CORRECT Replacement