Pardon the basic question, Cleaned hot water heater yesterday....so tank is now empty.....Question: how is the tank filled? I know there is no direct hookup, and I'm guessing it is a function of filling the fresh water tank. I also sanitized the fresh water tank yesterday. I just want to be sure the hot water tank has filled before I turn on the 110v heating element. Sorry for the "are you serious" question, but don't want to run the risk of burning something up because I don't understand the process.
Thanks,
dave
Hi Dave
Before you turn on the water heater. When you've filled your water tank, turn on the pump, open the pressure relief valve on the water heater,(best to put a hose on this valve directed outboard). This will let air out and water into the HW tank.
Cheers Ric 8)
That's exactly what I needed to know....Thanks Mr. Turtle!
dave
Or simply open the hot water at the faucets. If the pressure relief hasn't been opened in a while it may leak when you try to close it. Mine hasn't been opened since iv owned the coach 12 years, I do carry a spare though.
Yup, that is all I do (turn on pump and open a faucet set to hot water side). When tank is full of water, air coming out the faucet turns to water, you are done.
I just installed an Atwood 10 gallon 3 way XT model in our park trailer... It is the same as the one in our coach, with the addition of the mixing valve on the rear. For those not familiar with the concept, the preset thermostat is set at a higher temperature than the standard model, and a mixing vale that works similarly to an automotive style thermostat, opens to let cold water mix in on the output side to drop the temperature to about 130ยบ. This is supposed to have the effect of making the 10 gallon water heater the equivalent to a 16 gallon unit. So I get the thing installed and find out that the electric element isn't doing anything! >:( A bit of troubleshooting and I find that the control board does output 12.5V to the relay when the thermostat engages, but the relay doesn't close... so bad relay. I swear that I seem to be batting about .300 in terms of buying appliances online and having them work out of the box (not counting the fact that half of the time, I have to send them back when I discover that they have been trashed in transport!). This one had the sheetmetal bent up and out of square, but otherwise looked okay. So ordered a $10 relay to try... One weird thing though (wish I could find an actual service manual for this unit!), when the thermostat kicks in and the LP switch is on but the electric switch is off, the yellow control wire from the board puts out 9.5VDC. When I turn the electric switch on, it ups the voltage to 12.5VDC. I would expect that it should put out 12,5 when the electric switch is on and zero VDC when off, regardless of whether the propane switch is on. I suppose it is possible that the 9.5VDC is below the threshold that will cause the relay to switch on, but I wonder what the purpose could be of the 9.5VDC or if the control board is bad...
Don
Is that 9.5 v measured during "off" without any load (relay not installed)? It could be just circuit leakage current that drops to zero volts when the relay coil load is there.
Good point! I will try another measurement with a test light in the circuit to see if the voltage drops to zero or thereabouts under load...
Don