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Old 11-21-2011, 03:44 AM   #1
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Want to know the water is ready for shower ?
Just install a diode with a resistor of 1600 ohms (brown,blue,red) in series somewhere near the water heater. Run two wires (#18 to 24) from the diodeand resistor . from the+ side of the diodeone wire to the brown BRN 1 on the bottom of the exterior connection on thestrip, from the - side to the green GRN 5 or green GRN 6 ( #5 or 6 on the connection strip counting from the bottom) which are both ground connections. These instructions apply to the Atwood water heater propane and electric. When the light is on the heater is on, light off the water is hot so no demand. This works on electric or propane, connected to 120 volts or boondocking.. If the diode doesnt light reverse the connection. Remove the 12v fuse to the heater circuit before working and dont forget to put it back on after......or cold shower. If not sure what to do, ask a jack -of-all-trades friend.
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Old 11-21-2011, 10:42 AM   #2
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I like the idea... Where did you run the indicator light too?
















































































































































































































































































































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Old 11-21-2011, 11:26 PM   #3
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Want to get immediate hot water to the shower? Before getting in shower, bring your coffee pot to the shower and fill it with water using the hot water supply. By the time the pot is full for a new pot of coffee, the hot water line should be cleared of cold water. Been using that trick for years.
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Old 11-22-2011, 06:37 AM   #4
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I use the "finger under the faucet" method, no wires required. About 15 minutes after turning on the hot water heater there is enough very hot water for whatever. If I use propane (usually never) the water is hotter quicker.
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Old 11-22-2011, 06:48 AM   #5
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You mean, when you get up in the morning, step into the shower, turn on the water - you get hot water right away??? Wow, not in any rig I've ever owned! Lucky you. My water heater is in the rear of the camper, shower up near the front next to bedroom. There has to be a half gallon of cold water in those pipes before the hot water gets to my pudgy old body and I simply can't find myself filling the gray tank with that perfectly good coffee pot water.

Happy Thanksgiving to you all. I'm off to the cold North; Caribou, Maine, for Thanksgiving.
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Old 11-23-2011, 02:16 AM   #6
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No and I don't get hot water immediately in my house as well. You always need to run the hot water for a short amount of time (depending on the season) to get the 145 degree water to that particular spigot unless it is the one closest to the HWH. Jeez, have we gotten that soft that we cannot wait 30 seconds for the hot water to flow?
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Old 11-23-2011, 02:28 AM   #7
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Well, it wasn't the waiting that taught me to pour water into the coffee pot to get the cold water out of the lines. It was the thought of filling my gray tank with good clean water. I knew we were good for 6 showers before having to dump and this trick bought me an extra shower.
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Old 11-23-2011, 05:35 AM   #8
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I thought that might be your concern. We generally camp in full hookup places so this is no concern to us. Just go out and pull the gray dump valve and we are ready for another 40 gallons in each of the two gray tanks. Camped over 200 days this year with no issues but probably would not like it if it were January up north.
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Old 11-23-2011, 05:56 AM   #9
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Quote:
Originally Posted by salda01
I like the idea... Where did you run the indicator light too?















































































































































































































































































































In my CF30SK 2006 I Put the led at the end of the spice rack below the sink right hand side. You can put itanywhere you choose , the lenght of the wires doesnt count. The closer to the tank,the easieer it is. My led is 2 ft from the back of the tank.

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Old 11-23-2011, 06:04 AM   #10
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Quote:
Originally Posted by NH Horseman
Want to get immediate hot water to the shower? Before getting in shower, bring your coffee pot to the shower and fill it with water using the hot water supply. By the time the pot is full for a new pot of coffee, the hot water line should be cleared of cold water. Been using that trick for years.
I

Iam not too eenthousiastic about drinking the water coming out the HW tank. With the magnesium anode slowly dissolving and the Legionary Sickness.......hmmmmmm
I used your method to save water during our stay boondocking in Quartzite AZ ; 9 days w.40 gals of water. We evenused a pail at our feet when rinsing our bodies in the shower not for coffee but for wc water. My led trick is to show that the water in the tank is hot.
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Old 11-23-2011, 06:41 AM   #11
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Oh, I chlorinate my water and purge the water heater before going out. Our camping has usually been water and electric hook-ups but no sewer so we need to dump, usually on the way back home. My motorhome only had a 44 gallon gray tank. I'll be in heaven with two 40 gallon tanks now.
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Old 11-23-2011, 09:48 PM   #12
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Quote:
Originally Posted by denism28

Quote:
Originally Posted by NH Horseman
Want to get immediate hot water to the shower? Before getting in shower, bring your coffee pot to the shower and fill it with water using the hot water supply. By the time the pot is full for a new pot of coffee, the hot water line should be cleared of cold water. Been using that trick for years.
I

Iam not too eenthousiastic about drinking the water coming out the HW tank. With the magnesium anode slowly dissolving and the Legionary Sickness.......hmmmmmm
I used your method to save water during our stay boondocking in Quartzite AZ ; 9 days w.40 gals of water. We evenused a pail at our feet when rinsing our bodies in the shower not for coffee but for wc water. My led trick is to show that the water in the tank is hot.

If you have the Atwood hot water heater you should not have an anode rod to dislove. It is an aluminum tank and doesn't need the rod.
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Old 11-24-2011, 05:34 AM   #13
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Chrisnan23

Quote:
Originally Posted by denism28

Quote:
Originally Posted by NH Horseman
Want to get immediate hot water to the shower? Before getting in shower, bring your coffee pot to the shower and fill it with water using the hot water supply. By the time the pot is full for a new pot of coffee, the hot water line should be cleared of cold water. Been using that trick for years.
I

Iam not too eenthousiastic about drinking the water coming out the HW tank. With the magnesium anode slowly dissolving and the Legionary Sickness.......hmmmmmm
I used your method to save water during our stay boondocking in Quartzite AZ ; 9 days w.40 gals of water. We evenused a pail at our feet when rinsing our bodies in the shower not for coffee but for wc water. My led trick is to show that the water in the tank is hot.

If you have the Atwood hot water heater you should not have an anode rod to dislove. It is an aluminum tank and doesn't need the rod.

Oh yes my friend you need the magnesium anode. One of my friends argued with me and itcost him a new tank. You should see the anode after one year. the problem is the brass security valve; anything that has copper in it creates a battery with aluminium and destructs the aluminium. Ask a alu sailboat owner, you need an anode on the boat to protect it even if another boat is 300 ft from it.
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Old 11-28-2011, 02:11 PM   #14
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Quote:
Originally Posted by NH Horseman
Well, it wasn't the waiting that taught me to pour water into the coffee pot to get the cold water out of the lines. It was the thought of filling my gray tank with good clean water. I knew we were good for 6 showers before having to dump and this trick bought me an extra shower.


Great idea!!
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Old 11-29-2011, 12:17 AM   #15
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I thought I read somewhere that the anode rod reacts with the aluminum causing damage to the tank?
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Old 11-29-2011, 01:26 AM   #16
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I thought I read somewhere that the anode rod reacts with the aluminum causing damage to the tank?
Its the copper in the brass (inthe safety valve on the tank,in the replacement faucetts, in the water hose coupling,in the camping faaucett,) that causes the problem. Instead of eating the tank itself the galvanic current eats the magnesium anode. In a steel tank,the anode is zinc as in a common house water heater. Often in a house with copper tubing the plumber is short of a copper fitting and uses a iron fitting instead which will 10 years later pack with rust and restrick water flow ; same phenomena.

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Old 12-12-2011, 12:10 AM   #17
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Hi,

I'm not questioning or correcting the original poster, but, when I read this, it took me a few minutes to get what he has done. Then, I got it, he has added an LED(diode) and resistor to show that the water heater is asking for heat(LED on) or not(LED off). It's a great mod and I intend on putting this in soon. I'll run the wires up into my main switch cabinet and mount the LED right by the two switches that turn on the heater. I see on the label on the heaterthat you can turn on both the gas andthe AC and heat the water faster.



I looked at my heater and found that it was an Atwood and was as he described. The terminal connector was in the outside heater compartment. On mine the terminal is vertical with pin 1(brown) on the bottom and the grounds(green) up a few pins. I measured with a meter and found that when asking for heat, there is 12.6V between brown and green.



I'm attempting to show a diagram below:

(green)----------|<--------/\/\/\/\--------(brown)

LED resistor



As stated by the original poster, once you have soldered, twisted or cripmedthe LED and the resistor together as a pair, you can try it. If it doesn't light, just reverse it. You can test it by hooking up accros any 12V source. The resistor is needed touse the voltage that the LED can't use and limit the current going thru the LED. Don't wire this up without the resistor. I'm going to use1000 ohms(brown,black,red). This will increase the brightnessbut not go over the current limitation of the LED. I'll get about 11 milliamps.



Thanksto the original poster. Once again, I'm not trying to take anything away from his great idea. I figure if it's easier for me to understand, then it might also be easier for someone else and more people will try it.

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Old 12-12-2011, 12:15 AM   #18
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Your placement of the resistor and diode (LED) are very clear.
I have read the original post which claims that the LED is on for propane heating too and I wondered how that was?
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Old 12-12-2011, 01:23 AM   #19
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Well, I'm no expert but the circuit board has some inputs and outputs. I figure that the brown is an input and is calling for heat from the selected source. I think the signal leaves the board with the brown that is at the other end of the connector, goes through the thermistat and an overheat sensor and back to pin 1 brown. This is just a guess.
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Old 12-12-2011, 02:44 AM   #20
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DUH! Of course the circuit board will still work with electricity even when calling for gas to heat the water. What a dummy I am! And I can say that since I've been in the electronic industry since 1961!!
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