Replacement for the Atwood water heater

[Eagles01]

What water heater did you replace the Atwood water heater in your Grand Design
( 6 gal,gas /electric). I looked at the Dometic 94002SP /WH-GEA (BAD REVIEWS).

 

[WhittleBurner]

We are just replacing ours too. I ordered one today along with the exterior door. We ordered a Suburban part#SAW6DEL , it is supposed to be a direct replacement for the Atwood. We called Suburban to verify it will replace the Atwood GC6AAA-10E as a plug and play so to speak. We ordered from Dyers, there were cheaper prices out there but not by a ton and those had sketchy reviews.

Suburban suggested to research who you order from, the Suburban RV supplier that comes up has no affiliation with Suburban water heaters

 

[Steven@147]

We are just replacing ours too. I ordered one today along with the exterior door. We ordered a Suburban part#SAW6DEL , it is supposed to be a direct replacement for the Atwood. We called Suburban to verify it will replace the Atwood GC6AAA-10E as a plug and play so to speak. We ordered from Dyers, there were cheaper prices out there but not by a ton and those had sketchy reviews.

Suburban suggested to research who you order from, the Suburban RV supplier that comes up has no affiliation with Suburban water heaters

Marcy, We have the Suburban SW10DEL and it has been great, well all except for the plastic check valve that started leaking, not the fault of the H2O heater. I replaced it with a brass one. I just clean out the tank every time I check the anode rod. The other thing I did was remove the "Push To Reset" black cap from the thermostats and checked for pinched wires. Yup ours had the wires for the thermostats pinched under the black cap. I filed a grove in the cap for the wires to run through so they are not pinched and bent the metal in to clearance the wires.

 

[Eagles01]

Thanks for all the information.Two questions on the Suburban Saw6DEL
Did the replacement door cover the front hole and did anyone change out the switch. Thanks for all the help.
Bill

 

[WhittleBurner]

Marcy, We have the Suburban SW10DEL and it has been great, well all except for the plastic check valve that started leaking, not the fault of the H2O heater. I replaced it with a brass one. I just clean out the tank every time I check the anode rod. The other thing I did was remove the "Push To Reset" black cap from the thermostats and checked for pinched wires. Yup ours had the wires for the thermostats pinched under the black cap. I filed a grove in the cap for the wires to run through so they are not pinched and bent the metal in to clearance the wires.

Thanks for the tip about the thermostat wires. I hadn't heard about tat. Will definitely do the same. Great to hear what I had heard that the suburban does work well.

 

[dryfly]

Thanks for the tip about the thermostat wires. I hadn't heard about tat. Will definitely do the same. Great to hear what I had heard that the suburban does work well.

Are you going to change out the plastic check valve before installing the heater? Sure would be easy, and I would think the valve would be easier to remove when heater is new.

 

[WhittleBurner]

Are you going to change out the plastic check valve before installing the heater? Sure would be easy, and I would think the valve would be easier to remove when heater is new.

Especially after reading Steven's comments on it. From what I have read I will be replacing the pressure relief valve too. From reading on doing this it is strongly recommended to replace the valve too. In fact we had a over heating problem and our shut off thermostat did not shut the system off and the relief valve did nit open. We are lucky we still have a trailer. The tank got so hot it burnt up the yellow wire, melted the insulation off the tank and one of the element wires was burnt up and broke off the element. Think the element may have shorted out on the tank. Not taking chances and replacing everything. This problem may have been coming for some time. We have had two wires at the relay burn up. Thought at first it might have been from a loose connection causing resistance.

 

[WhittleBurner]

WOW, ordered from Dyers on the 27th and the order arrived today. That's a fast turn around. Hope we get it installed this weekend. Gary can't do it due to hand surgery a few weeks ago, so we are having my son do the install

 

[WhittleBurner]

Thanks for all the information.Two questions on the Suburban Saw6DEL
Did the replacement door cover the front hole and did anyone change out the switch. Thanks for all the help.
Bill

The door covers the hole, great fit. The installs not quite done but heater is in place and the door is on and fits well

 

[Jason-Texas]

Did anyone have to replace the inside switch? My heating element just went out and I am thinking about switching out the water heater.

 

[WhittleBurner]

We haven't replaced the switch. But will order and replace if necessary. The switch it's built into the control panel and see no reason to replace them unless they don't work.

 

[WhittleBurner]

Did anyone have to replace the inside switch? My heating element just went out and I am thinking about switching out the water heater.

We were having trouble with the resistors burning out, had gone thru 3 in the last 10 yrs. We think this time the element shorted inside the tank . It over heated the tank to the point it boiled out the water, melted all the styrofoam off and charred the floor. We feel lucky it did not burn down the trailer or the house it's sitting next to.
I went in for something else and smelled the electrical so it was caught just in time.

So I guess my point is if it's an old Atwood tank , change it out for a new one

 

[Hoopy Frood]

Did anyone have to replace the inside switch? My heating element just went out and I am thinking about switching out the water heater.

Are there other issues with the water heater? Changing the heating element is not that bad, or expensive. More of a pain on an Atwood, but as long as there's access, it's doesn't seem to warrant replacing, IMO anyway.

 

[Jason-Texas]

Are there other issues with the water heater? Changing the heating element is not that bad, or expensive. More of a pain on an Atwood, but as long as there's access, it's doesn't seem to warrant replacing, IMO anyway.

The water heater stopped heating on electric, so I was using propane only and then it stopped heating on propane. I replaced the power module bit it still would not heat on electric, only propane. Thats why I figured the heating element is bad. At this point, I am just tired of throwing $$ at it. We are up in Maine, slowly making our way back to Texas, so don’t want to replace it on the road. Probably do it once I get home next month.

 

[Steven@147]

@WhittleBurner Hey Marcy how's your new suburban water heater doing?

 

[WhittleBurner]

Hey Marcy how's your new suburban water heater doing?

The little we tested/checked it appears to be working great. We'll be giving it a better/longer test very soon to be sure it's as good as we think before hitting the road in mid Oct.

 

[WhittleBurner]

@WhittleBurner Hey Marcy how's your new suburban water heater doing?

UPDATE: The new water heater rocks!! it's doing everything it should and nothing it shouldn't (knock on wood)