Atwood Water Heater RECALL

[dndnva]

Just received this alert by email: So much for our Atwood Tankless being better than the Girard! Hopefully it's a quick fix.

SamAlert! NHTSA Vehicle Recall
Message body


An NHTSA Recall record was found for your vehicle. NHTSA Campaign ID: 15V771000 Manufacturer:Forest River, Inc. Model Year:2015Make:FOREST RIVERModel:BerkshireRecall Date:20151119Component:EQUIPMENT:RECREATIONAL VEHICLE:LPG WATER HEATER Potential # of Units Affected:489Summary:Forest River, Inc. (Forest River) is recalling certain model year 2012-2016 Berkshire, Charleston, Legacy, Dynamax, XLR, Continental Cargo, Work & Play, Shockwave, and Coachmen Brookstone recreational vehicles and toy haulers, equipped with Atwood on demand water heaters, models OD45, OD50, and OD50CW, manufactured January 2, 2012, to August 13, 2015. The affected water heaters have a water and gas valve that may cause the water heater to overheat the water in the hot water supply tap. Consequence:The overheating of the water may result in the release of steam, possibly causing the operator is to scald themselves and increasing the risk of injury. Remedy:Forest River will notify owners. The remedy for this recall is still under development. The recall is expected to begin January 12, 2016. Owners may contact Forest River customer service at 1-800-348-7440, or Atwood customer service at 1-574-264-2131. Forest River''s number for this recall is 51-11092015-0107.

[aeroshots]

At least they are acting quickly. My Girard still cycles too hot, cold, then too hot again. Same issue many folks have.

[captnrick3]

Originally Posted by dndnva

Just received this alert by email: So much for our Atwood Tankless being better than the Girard! Hopefully it's a quick fix.

SamAlert! NHTSA Vehicle Recall
Message body


An NHTSA Recall record was found for your vehicle. NHTSA Campaign ID: 15V771000 Manufacturer:Forest River, Inc. Model Year:2015Make:FOREST RIVERModel:BerkshireRecall Date:20151119Component:EQUIPMENT:RECREATIONAL VEHICLE:LPG WATER HEATER Potential # of Units Affected:489Summary:Forest River, Inc. (Forest River) is recalling certain model year 2012-2016 Berkshire, Charleston, Legacy, Dynamax, XLR, Continental Cargo, Work & Play, Shockwave, and Coachmen Brookstone recreational vehicles and toy haulers, equipped with Atwood on demand water heaters, models OD45, OD50, and OD50CW, manufactured January 2, 2012, to August 13, 2015. The affected water heaters have a water and gas valve that may cause the water heater to overheat the water in the hot water supply tap. Consequence:The overheating of the water may result in the release of steam, possibly causing the operator is to scald themselves and increasing the risk of injury. Remedy:Forest River will notify owners. The remedy for this recall is still under development. The recall is expected to begin January 12, 2016. Owners may contact Forest River customer service at 1-800-348-7440, or Atwood customer service at 1-574-264-2131. Forest River''s number for this recall is 51-11092015-0107.

Wow, thanks for posting this interesting info.

I keep thinking I will make a little trip over to the Girard factory to see if there is still a deal available to upgrade to the Girard Generation III. I have not heard of any issues with the Atwood so far, this is the first. I checked on switching mine to Atwood, over $1,000 even with me doing the work. NOT

[conceptumator]

After the last series of fixes on our Girard Gen II, I'm happy to say all is working well. Had it out on a six week trip late September to early November and all worked great. I had to force the dealer's service folks into calling Girard support before it happened, though. I really don't think the "trained repair" guys at the dealers listened very well during their training sessions. I could understand what the Girard guy was saying but it seemed to be totally beyond the repair guys. When we bought the RV, the door over the heater had been stolen sitting in the lot and I can't help but wonder if maybe exposure to blowing rain could be responsible for at least a portion of the issues. They replaced the flow sensor twice (though I'm still not convinced the dealer actually replaced it the first time), the emergency overheat switch, the freeze protection switch and the temperature adjustment switch. Have noticed just a little bit of pulsing (hot and cold) if I try to mix the water using the faucet, but most times using all hot is just fine at the current temperature setting.

[drjackmac]

Is this why we have exremely scollding hot water? It turns to hot then back to cold, then cold and then hot. It is impossible to regulate a constant temperature in the shower.
Is there anything else I could do to rectify problem? I read about a mixing valve but don't know where to even look. Ty

[conceptumator]

drjackmac: Could be. Getting used to the tankless heater took some time but try this and see if it helps. We have the 360RB, so there's a front half bath and the full bath in the rear. In our front bath upper cabinet, there us a regulator that allows you to adjust the water temperature. What it's actually adjusting us the change in temperature between the incoming cold water and the outgoing hot water, also called the Delta T. You can adjust it to compensate for seasonal differences in incoming water temp. The colder the incoming water, the higher you want the temp rise to be in order to get the hot water temp desired. The whole premise is that you should be able to shower using ONLY the hot side if the shower valve, no cold. If you turn on the cold, you can cause the flow to vary enough that you get the hot/cold flashes. Since the flow is decreased, water spends longer in the heating coil and gets too hot. There was one poster who found a replacement faucet for the shower that had a single lever and actually had a mixing box integral to it instead of just being a mixing valve. If you search the forum, they gave a link to the fixture on Amazon. I have found that by making sure the water supply is at least 45 psi, I can slowly mix some cold water in if I really need to. Once you get the system set up, I think you'll really like it. Hope this helps some. Good luck.

[drjackmac]

Conceptumator: thank you for that great information. We have a 340 and have had it for 3 months and still learning.

[conceptumator]

Glad it helped. There's a very good support tech at Girard that provided a great wealth on information. If you call them try to speak with Kyle Johnston (KyleJohnston@girardrv.com). He's really helpful and is the only reason my dealer finally got it working.