Atwood Heater waterproofing issues

[Adair]

Have had my atwood installed since summer. formed an infill panel so that the modern Atwood would fit the void left by the original. When the rains came and there was a river running accross the floor behind my bathroom cabinets I attributed it to an error in my installation. I scoped things out in a rather hard-to-observe location and I couldn't see any fault in the vulkem job that I did.

As it was, the fault is with the design and manufacture of the Atwood heaters. They very poorly designed. The access side of the heater is not even intended to keep water out. It pours in from above and the vent screen isn't even louvered so it pours in from the face.

Where does the water go that collects inside the access panel? It sits in the bottom where, if you look closely, the sheet metal has cold joints at the corners right where the hinge pins clip into place. This was the source of my leak and the only solution was to fill that corner with vulkem. I can't imagine that everyone with an Atwood water heater has this same issue.

I am elated to have alleviated this chronic leak, and sad that so much plywood in my bathroom floor is now saturated until I can dry it out. I am very curious if anyone else has struggled with this and will be amazed if I am the only one. Perhaps this gripe of mine will help another newbie address the issue before it is a problem. Of course with my record, there is a probably a page in the install manual that fell out concering waterproofing after installation.

Best,

Adair

[Fyrzowt]

Now you make me wonder...and want to go out and take a look at mine. Glad you found the problem.
Dave