new water in place

[jpancini]

First I want to than the forum folks for teh kind and encouraging help at the start of this project. I had some difficulty putting the new 6gal water heater in the place where a 9 gal I think, but I swear it was bigger, tank had been.
Attached are the before and after pics. I painted the door with a quality aluminum paint.
[IMG]file:///C:/DOCUME%7E1/Dad/LOCALS%7E1/Temp/moz-screenshot.jpg[/IMG][IMG]file:///C:/DOCUME%7E1/Dad/LOCALS%7E1/Temp/moz-screenshot-1.jpg[/IMG]

[purman]

looks great, I might have to do this too...

[overlander63]

Originally Posted by jpancini

First I want to than the forum folks for teh kind and encouraging help at the start of this project. I had some difficulty putting the new 6gal water heater in the place where a 9 gal I think, but I swear it was bigger, tank had been.

John, you were not imagining. Your coach originally had a 10, not 9, gallon water heater.

[Mexray]

I feel for you...I'm just finishing up the exchange of the 6 gal unit in our Ambassador!

Our rig has soldered copper tubing fresh water plumbing...really a pain to deal with, also AS used 5/8 and 5/16 somewhat oddball sizes when they plumbed these older rigs...

I'm sure AS originally installed the water heater before mounting the cabinets around it...making the replacement without tearing out all the cabinets, a much 'tighter' job, to say the least!

I went back with a poly hot/cold 5/8 tubing to the heater on both the cold and hot sides...I adapted to the existing copper tubing using 5/8 compression type fittings...after giving up on trying to reuse the original plumbing at the water heater.

I went back in with an Attwater 6 gal heater (like the original) with the pizo ignition system...it was easy to mount the switch in the cabinet above the heater, using the 12 volt supply to the water pump next to the heater.

I'd previously installed a new variable speed 12 volt water pump...an improvement over the original.

After all my bruised fingers and sore knees recover ,I'm sure I'll fell much better about this 'upgrade...right now I'm resting my sole with a nice toddy while taking a brief rest...

[Mexray]

Here's some pic's of our water heater as mentioned in the above post...6 gal with electronic ignition.

Our Ambassador is a twin bed, rear bath model...the water pump and water heater are in a compartment on the road side, just forward of the toilet...not much room in there to move stuff around...at least I could lay down while working on the inside...

The plastic tubing and compression fittings worked OK...the fittings have brass ferrules that fit inside the tubing to seal...had a couple of them 'leak' on the first try...if you use this kind of set up - tighten those compression nuts real good! I fitted things a couple of times before finally hooking up the wires and sealing the outer flange against the skin...fun job!!!

I got all the fittings at Home Depot, but had to get the tubing 5/8 OD x 1/2 ID Hot/cold, at Lowes...lucky for me, they are both across the street from each other in my neighborhood!

Any questions?

[jpancini]

Thanks overlander63 for confirmation of my tanks size. I know it was huge compared to what went back in.
John

[jpancini]

Mexray,
The install looks great. I am worried that I may have some leaks when I get mine under pressure if so I would do the plumbing similar to what you have got. I wish I had taken some pics of my plumbing. I had to use 2 sections of flex line on each the hot and cold line to get it all hooked up.
Thanks
John

[D Bishop]

Originally Posted by jpancini

First I want to than the forum folks for teh kind and encouraging help at the start of this project. I had some difficulty putting the new 6gal water heater in the place where a 9 gal I think, but I swear it was bigger, tank had been.
Attached are the before and after pics. I painted the door with a quality aluminum paint.
[IMG]file:///C:/DOCUME%7E1/Dad/LOCALS%7E1/Temp/moz-screenshot.jpg[/IMG][IMG]file:///C:/DOCUME%7E1/Dad/LOCALS%7E1/Temp/moz-screenshot-1.jpg[/IMG]

I was glad to see the pictures of your installation. I will start the replacement tomorrow, weather permitting on my 1965 Caravel. I hope mine turns out as well as your looks. I will let you know. I was dissapointed that the cover was white so was glad to hear you painted yours aluminum.

D Bishop