2800BH Water Heater - Luke Warm

[Rspillers84]

Hello! This is my first RV and it's a GRAND one ;-) We did however experience an issue on the first two trips we took, which were all local and were great for getting to know our RV and finding out what items we still needed to purchase before taking a longer trip or inviting friends/family etc. It certainly paid dividends to do this. AND if you were thinking of renting out your unit you'd also want to do this kind of trip to make your checklist etc.

SO....we had a great first day and were all ready to shower. We had bled all the air out of the faucets as I'd already researched and learned about, and had our water heater set on electric mode because we had left it on for several hours which should have been plenty of time for it to heat up. I turned on the hot water knob and a 2 second blast of cold water was followed by a 2 second blast of HOT water and then it was lukewarm the rest of the shower. If I turned the water completely off and waited a second and turned back on, it would repeat. Cold, HOT, lukewarm. We were tired, it was dark, luke warm it was.

The next morning I read all about the hot water heater system in my manual and the hot water heater manual itself. It gave really good information and I learned that I must have a valve open allowing the hot and cold water to mix, this is normally opened when winterizing. I went to work trying to find the valve. No luck. Looked everywhere I could think...under the bunk bed, under the unit, inside the hot water heater compartment which is on the rear of the vehicle. So then I decided to check the P/T valve to see if the water was indeed hot. It was. So I confirmed it was a valve. I did not find the valve this trip, which was 2 days. So 2 days of luke warm showers. Hey...that's ok I actually regularly take cold showers as I enjoy them, but my Wife and son were not as enthusiastic.

Fast forward a month to our next trip. I again bled all the faucets, including the exterior spray down ports JIC. I fired up the propane AND electric modes simultaneously. Still luke warm showers. So I removed the lower bunk plywood panel the next morning searching for the access. It was not there, just another layer of wood but that layer was nailed down so I knew that could not be it. There was nothing more I could do as I still was not able to locate the access panel.

When I returned I called the dealer and spoke with the service advisor. He agreed it was likely an open valve but could not direct me to the location of the access panel and could not acquire a schematic of the system. He did provide me with the information of a Grand Design Tech and so I reached out. The tech also confirmed that it had to be a valve open for the winterization and he mentioned that the access panel must be near the water heater and must be easily accessible for winterizing purposes. This gave me the confidence I needed to head to our storage yard and open her up once again. This time I decided to check by the outdoor stove/refrigerator compartment and lo and behold I found the access panel! All I needed to do was remove two (very well secured) screws and there it was, in all it's glory. The winterizing valve!! And it was open. I simply closed the valve and whammo hot water is available and nice and HOT. Happy Family.

I was very surpsied though that this information wasn't readily available to the dealer or the tech, so I hooked them up with the information and photos I've presented you with here. IF you have the same issue, rest easy, just two screws, twist a valve and you'll be back in business! :-)

[huntr70]

Yep, that really should be pointed out to you during your pdi/walk through.

You'll need that info when it is time to winterize.

FYI, sometimes the valves for the outdoor shower are turned on also, and it will blend the hot and cold water.