B190 Enthusiasts

Well, Skater I like your logic. You should be able to work on everything from the exterior panel. The MOR-FLO did not allow that option. I do have the grey pipe, but my ends are female water hose type connections. Yeah, we do not have to do much winterization here in the deep south. Do either of the two brands have anything special that make them unique? Just want to make sure I get the biggest bang for the tight buck!!!

Kyle wrote:Do either of the two brands have anything special that make them unique? Just want to make sure I get the biggest bang for the tight buck!!!

No, although if you really want to be careful you might mosey down to your local RV place and see which they carry more parts for.

One thing - you want a 6 gallon water heater. 10 won't fit.

As you can see, there aren't a lot of choices when it comes to RV water heaters. Your biggest choice will be whether you want electronic start or manual. Electronic is nicer - flip a switch and you've got hot water brewing - but it costs quite a bit more, too. The price difference between the two was more than I expected.

As far as I know all the B190's came with Atwood....

Kyle....for a good look at all the details and front and rear views of the water heater installation look in this other thread. I put in lots of pictures. Also some rear views of the tank installed

In this thread below note the red-handle ball valve I installed to be able to isolate the hot water tank....

http://b190.com/modules.php?name=Forums ... opic&t=133

The hose barb with the clear plastic hose attached will serve the purpose skater mention but I actually put that on because during the process of these water tanks going from totally cold to the point they are hot and the electronics shut the flame off the brass pop-off valve will always weep some water out...thats even mentioned in the paperwork that comes with a new pop-off valve...therefore you can have water dropping down on the temp controls and electrical wires...not good

Kyle....I suggest you purchase a new 6 gallon DSI Atwood (without the 120 volt option) do your homework so you don't pay too much....these things are on eBay from Dealers all the time at 40% off....along with other items like our furnaces also..

In addition....on all of these new Atwoods you'll see they come with a aluminum tubular piece welded to the rear of the tank where the tank can have water lines ( like heater hoses) hooked to them from the vehicles engine to help keep the water hot while traveling.....thats not something you'd want to attempt to do with these water heaters located in the rear.



Our rigs use a gray plastic flexible water line material and all the joints have copper crimped clamps....this material is designed to handle high pressure. Once you've cut these clamps at the tanks (2) about the only replacement is regular stainless hose clamps, I found it difficult to get these tight enough to not leak a little....by the time I got done with that project I wished I had purchased the crimping tool and the copper clamps to put back on....I may still do that as I don't trust the hose clamps as they are not designed to be used on the hard gray plastic tubing.

DO NOT use any hose in your installation, not even the type that has the nylon braid in it....it will not withstand the pressure, especially on the HOT OUT fitting on the tank

One other thing that comes into play here thats important...as the hot water tank goes from COLD to HOT the line pressure increases a lot and thats when you'll have leaks.

During that 20-30 time period I try to crack a faucet to let that pressure off the system

Other than the back of the hot water tank, due to those 2 new clamps, the first 2 places you look for water leaks is the little in-line water filter down mounted to the floor under the sink (next to the fresh water tanks in most of our rigs 1990-1996)....that filter has a small piece of clear plastic hose on each side of it with hose clamps and it loves to leak when the line pressure is high due to the heat-up cycle of the hot water tank.

The other location to look for a leak is the back side of the city-water hookup, this unit is also a pressure reducer to reduce city water (sometimes as high as 65 psi down to 40 spi I believe) ....open the left-hand back door and look in there with a flashlight, you'll see that same gray plastic running to the back of the unit.

These plastic units are a poor design and there isn't anything better to replace them with. I've had them apart, tried sealer, made a gasket, put in an o-ring, and finally got them to stop leaking by super-gluing them together

1997 and newer B190's do not have that unit....they have a very nice brass unit mounted to the right of the spare behind the rear doors

The concern here for these small water leaks that you wouldn't normally notice is they create black mold....I've dealt with that shit twice and you don't want any of that.

The installation of a new tank is pretty simple actually...the only difficult area is working through that small access hole in the rear to hook up the lines and work in there. I made that opening somewhat larger but also ended up removing the small floor section in the closet which gives you perfect access to working on the tank installation.....look at those pictures, the very last picture over there will give you a view with the closet floor removed, which makes working in there much easier

PICTURES TOMORROW....Stay Tuned

skater....I've looked at those pictures of the back of your hot water tank.

It has the tell-tail signs of a tank thats leaking.....anytime you see the water stains on that cardboard covering you're in trouble....where that water stain is, thats the HOT OUT and thats where the tank goes bad first.....electrolysis eats it there on the inside......I ran my old tank through the bandsaw to look inside

Its wise to keep an anode in place of the drain plug...

You're about ready for a re-line or a new hot water tank also

I also noticed the clamps on your plastic water lines are aluminum...mine were copper, no big deal as either will work fine

Alaskan wrote:It has the tell-tail signs of a tank thats leaking.....anytime you see the water stains on that cardboard covering you're in trouble....where that water stain is, thats the HOT OUT and thats where the tank goes bad first.....electrolysis eats it there on the inside......I ran my old tank through the bandsaw to look inside

I don't think it is now - I've been watching it and haven't seen it actually wet. Also, the system maintains pressure almost indefinitely when I'm running off the pump. But I'll keep an eye on it, thanks.

You're about ready for a re-line or a new hot water tank also

How can you tell?

Just those water stains near the hot out....but if its holding pressure you might be ok for now

Problem is with that....when it leaks behind that cardboard cover the water follows the the curve of the tank and the water get to the bottom and then it runs outward under the tank to where there is a recessed area near the edge of the body and its trapped there

When I was sure that my tank was leaking I removed that cardboard, as it was soaked, while the tank was still in place so I could see what was happening...once I pulled the unit I found water puddled in that recessed area also and it had been there for quite some time

Look at picture 4 in the other thread. Just outboard of where the vinyl covered plywood floor ends there is a large area there about 3/4" deep where water can collect when there's a leak anywhere on that tank......I sealed that area and put in a small hole so anytime in the future water there can at least drop out of there.

I used a 1 1/2" holesaw to create new corners then connected between them to make this opening larger to be able to actually work in there..





Removing the closet floor makes the installation of a new water heater somewhat easier also...



Another place to watch for water leaks due to hose clamps is the under-counter water filter at the bottom of this picture...the carpet gets wet, which you don't notice, then the plywood under it gets wet and with no air circulation pretty soon you have black mold under the carpet and on the plywood...

This unit is the city water hook up/ pressure reducer......they frequently leak on the inside, at the base of the 4 screws that hold it together.

This one I have sealed with 3M 5200 as seen in white here...

Below this regulator in our rigs there is a large area where the water is trapped....

Alaskan wrote:I used a 1 1/2" holesaw to create new corners then connected between them to make this opening larger to be able to actually work in there..

What are the two lines on the right side there?

To clarify, the small filter in that picture would only leak when the tank has water in it - it's only used to filter the water from the tank to the pump.

Satellite Antenna....

skater...that little water filter is directional, mine has a little one-way valve in it to keep the pump primed I'd would guess.

During the warm up process of the water tank the pressure seems to pass the rubber pump impeller, therefore the line to the right of that filter becomes pressurized enough that it likes to leak a little water til you crack a faucet

I'd like to put a gauge on the water system to see how much the line pressure increase during the warm-up process...I know it a significant amount.

Other option is to turn the pump off during warn up, crack a faucet...or I have the little drinking-water carbon filtered faucet that was original equipment on the right side of the sink...I can flip the lever up with the pump off and that prevents any additional line pressure.

When they burn correctly they are quiet and with a nice solid blue flame...

This is the city-water pressure reducer in the 1997 and newer rigs...solid brass and quite different form the plastic ones use prior to 1997

I finally broke down and bought a new water heater. After doing some research I found that the Suburban SWD6 would fulfill my needs. I am expecting to install it this weekend. We will see how it goes.

Kyle wrote:I finally broke down and bought a new water heater. After doing some research I found that the Suburban SWD6 would fulfill my needs. I am expecting to install it this weekend. We will see how it goes.

Good luck! Did you decide to go with the electronic ignition?

Yes, it has the electronic ignition with it. I am now wandering how hard is it to connect the existing water and gas lines to the new setup. Will I have to cut the exisitng pipes and re-route them? These are just a few questions that I am going to be asking myself from now until Saturday. I maybe looking pretty desperate on Sunday. It is VERY difficult to justify $150 install fee!!