Troubleshooting An Atwood G6A6 RV Water Heater

Question:

Hi there, I am having trouble keeping my hot water heater on in my 1992 Terry Resort 19E trailer. The heater is an Atwood G6A6. Pilot light stays on but I cant get the heater on and when I do, it stays on for 5-10 minutes and then turns off. Serial number - 96202183207 6 gallon 8800 BTU Can you tell me what tank to get to replace this please? Of if there is a part that will fix this without replacing the whole tank. THanks so much!

asked by: Jess

Expert Reply:

Unfortunately Atwood has gone out of business and all of their replacement parts are secondhand at this point so you'd be looking at replacement of the entire unit. To me it sounds like an issue with the T-Stat since it is heating and then shutting off. You could try looking around but you might end up getting priced gouged for a simple parts since there aren't many available.

If you instead have to replace the entire unit then I recommend going with the Furrion RV Tankless Water Heater # FR48SR. Newer units like this one are all a bit smaller at 12-5/8" wide x 12-5/8" tall so you'll have to frame the new unit in a bit. It doesn't have to be fancy and you can use the plywood to fill in the gaps since it will all be covered by the access door. You'll want to use butyl tape # AL28FJ on both the unit and access door mounting flanges as well as non-sag sealant # 344270341437-1 on the outer edge of the access door for a waterproof seal.

It is quite a bit of money to replace the whole unit versus just replacing a part, but the performance upgrade and lower maintenance requirements of the Furrion Tankless Water Heater will be worth it. These units have a 13,000 to 60,000 BTU rating, whereas the G6A6 only has an 8,8000 BTU rating. With no tank you won't have to complete as much maintenance or be as limited when it comes to gallons of hot water produced. These units offer up to 144 gallons of on-demand hot water per hour.

expert reply by: Kevin C