Replacement of Atwood Hot Water Heater on 2017 Isata 5 DS

[DavidMort]

Replacement of Atwood Hot Water Heater on 2017 Isata 5 DS


I have suffered with this water heater for 2 years and I would like to replace it with one that has a tank so that I take a shower without burning/freezing /burning/freezing…. About one time in ten I can adjust it for the incoming water temp and pressure so that we can take a comfortable shower. I recall that back in 16 when we bought ours there were some replaced but do not remember details. The other issue with it is you cannot do a “Navy” shower without doing the scalding/freezing routine. When we have no hookups would like to conserve water and a tank with constant temp water allows you to do that.



I would just get one and put it in but I need a new cover and I would like to match the coach. Will Dynamax do a replacement with matching cover?



How do people like the current hot water heaters?

[bclemens]

Most covers are not the same, so the only way to do a new cover painted is to have it here. Truma makes a replacement door that is larger (covers the old hole) and is painted black. I am not sure if any "tank" style versions have a door large enough or if they are painted anything other than white.

[DavidMort]

Does the Truma that you are installing now maintain a constant temperature when you turn the tap on an off as a tank heater does? Can you mix hot and cold to get the temperature you want? It is almost impossible to get the Atwood to not cycle on and off if you are trying to mix hot and cold because of the flow switch.


I am not wedded to a tank heater. I just want to be able to take a shower with a constant reliable water temperature so that if I am trying to conserve water I can shut it on and off and not get scalding or cold water.

[milkman55]

Yes it does. We have a Truma in our 2017 Isata 3 and it performs every time.
Dynamax dropped Atwood due to all the issues and we waited for a unit that had the Truma unit installed. I think pretty much all the models below the DX3 now have the Truma as standard.

I think tankless is the way to go, just need a vendor that does it well.

[chroniekon]

My Truma is amazing! Always consistent and hot water as long as you want.

[bclemens]

Truma technically is not tankless (called on-demand). There is a small mixing chamber, so the water is pre-mixed to remain at a constant 120 degrees at the outlet. Variations in pressure and water temp are adjusted there.

On the Atwood, water comes through a tube that is heated up as it goes through. Worked fine before...but if the water flow was set too low, it slowed too much in that tube and heated too high. In some cases I heard turning to steam. SO they recalled them and set the flor rate from about .5gpm to 1.5 gpm. So that the burner will shut off when it drops below 1.5 gpm, to prevent this over-heating. I think they over-corrected. I likely should have stayed in the 1gpm range

[DavidMort]

Brian can I get factory service to replace the Atwood with the Truma and get a color matched cover?

[bclemens]

Depends on schedule...but if you reach our to your service writer, you can find out what our upcoming schedule looks like.

[Marcia Bliss]

Dynamax replaced ours at the frog rally last year with the truma as was still under warranty. Works great.

[Dpelaez]

Truma is the way to go. I checked the price to change out my Atwood and was quoted 1,400 by the Truma dealerr. Parts and labor including a new Truma controller. Just fyi.

[daveinthekeys]

I had the Attwood in my Isata 5 along with all the issues described. I also wanted to switch to a tank and be done with it. I am glad that I did not attempt this difficult change.

Instead, I have had the Truma for a year or so. You will be happy with the Truma.

Endless hot water and no temperature variation. Low flows are possible. Navy showers also work fine.

Do not let the Attwood experience lead your thinking on tankless hot water.

[Walholler]

I have owned two 5th wheel travel trailers and both had the Attwood 6 gallon water heaters that heats the water super hot, however neither mixed the water to control the outlet temperature. That is done by the hot & cold water valves that control your shower head. I believe for $1400.00 that someone mentioned was the cost of changing his water heater out, I could have purchased and installed the best control valves on the market and had at least $1000.00 left over. However each to his own.

[DavidMort]

Originally Posted by Marcia Bliss

Dynamax replaced ours at the frog rally last year with the truma as was still under warranty. Works great.

Would have been nice to know that Dynamax would replace this under warranty since I am out warranty as of May and the heater never worked correctly since it was new and these issues were discussed on this forum a lot.

[Marcia Bliss]

We complained of the hot and cold issue also it wasn't instant hot water at any of the faucets. I don't know if they would have warranteed it if we weren't at the rally just assumed and when we asked they did. Seems to me it should be.

[steve32409]

Tankless water heaters work fine if you take all of the flow restricters out / one at the faucet head and another by the valve handles so more flow comes through . As most of you know the problem starts when you try to add the cold side water to mix ( which slows the hot water flow through the tube and shuts down the fire ) "thus cold"

[Dpelaez]

The Atwood falls short and the Truma works. No need to rethink it and add a tank unit with weight and size to deal with. Tankless is the latest technology. Best to go with the latest.

[Scrapper]

Originally Posted by DavidMort

Would have been nice to know that Dynamax would replace this under warranty since I am out warranty as of May and the heater never worked correctly since it was new and these issues were discussed on this forum a lot.

I believe it was discussed in many of those threads. Even though I don't have a Dynamax product, I read a lot of the posts just to pass time and for the information.

[steve32409]

Our 2015 Rev came with a Atwood " on demand "( I said tankless - true ) so my mistake . What my point was is that once I took out all of the water restricters it works perfect now so I don't need to replace it $$$ . I also like the on demand as I also have one in my house . However if RV heater ever needs to be replaced years from now - I would probably go with Truma

[bclemens]

Originally Posted by steve32409

Our 2015 Rev came with a Atwood " on demand "( I said tankless - true ) so my mistake . What my point was is that once I took out all of the water restricters it works perfect now so I don't need to replace it $$$ . I also like the on demand as I also have one in my house . However if RV heater ever needs to be replaced years from now - I would probably go with Truma

I must have missed the mistake...I think you can call Atwood's on-demand or tankless. Just don't say "instant".

You also make a good point...the Atwood's WILL work. I understand we all want things to "just work" and I agree. It should. But the issue with trying to get Atwood to replace them under warranty is that they would want to replace them with their own...after you followed their steps. And in most cases their steps would work, because as Steve said, once you take all the flow restrictions out, they fire up as they should. They just have to have 1.5 gpm of flow. They all worked just fine (other than some minor scalding issues) prior to the recall. That's what the flow rate was down in the .8 gpm range. Post recall that went to 1.5

While we did have a limited number we got them to warranty out, they had to have a history on them.

[Dpelaez]

Ok so what did you do to remove the flow restrictions to make the Atwood work properly?