Atwood G6A-8E Water Heater

[rwreuter]

While winterizing my RV I had to disco my hot water heater and I saw that the hot water gasket/seal/O-ring was not in so good of shape.

Does anyone know where to get a new one? I looked online at parts breakdowns, but couldn't seem to locate one.

[travelin texans]

That's actually a check valve to prevent the hot/cold water mixing. Disconnecting this fitting probably had no effect on draining your water heater, it's designed to flow out of the tank not in.
That o ring/gasket is from inside of the pex fitting you took off of this check valve, so check your local hardware store for "pex gaskets".
In the future pull the plastic drain plug from the outside compartment at the bottom of the tank & lift the lever on the pressure relief valve at the top & should drain easily.

[rwreuter]

Thanks for the info on the pex gasket.

However, there is a story on exactly why I took that off. I drained the tank from the outside as you mentioned but when I went to change everything to bypass the hot water tank there was not shut off valve as I have seen on other hot water tanks to prevent water from going into the tank if the check valve was bad.

So, rather than risk the checkvalve being bad and then winterizing fluid back into the tank I took it off and capped it. Probably unnecessary but, I didn't want to risk that fluid filling the tank.

[Miniozzy3]

my check valve was bad this year. New camper to me, so either it is just a nipple or it was stuck open. I would always test the check during winterizing. This way you know if a 10.00 part has failed.
Mine probably just needs cleaning.

I would reassemble and test for it may be more trouble than its worth to find a new seal

[dagst1]

Several years back manufactures went from 3 valve by-pass to the 2 valve by-pass with a check valve to prevent antifreeze from flowing back into the water heater thru the hot outlet. You can remove the check valve and replace it with a valve if you want.


In my experience over the years when a check valve does go bad you will not get any hot water out of the faucet. The spring usually breaks or comes off the plastic plunger part which then moves up against the Pex pipe and blocks any water from flowing out. I have had to remove the plastic plunger then reinstall the line to have hot water till i got home and replaced the check valve. It is possible it could get stuck in the open position but in my experience they have failed totally by coming apart.