2019 Rockwood 2620WS water heater issues

[pokergurll]

When we turn on our water heater using gas, it melts our city water input valve above it, stripping the threads so we can not connect to city water. Had it replaced once but it has done it again. Anyone else experience this?

[Decon Blue]

That’s just a shameful design.

[Decon Blue]

I’d make some kind of deflector out of sheet metal, just mabee out a inch or so to deflect the heat. Paint it black with high temp paint.

[wmtire]

Have you contacted the dealer and/or Rockwood. This does appear to be a design flaw.

[RusLwt001]

Is it possible to replace it with a brass quick disconnect? But I agree very poor design. Temp shield would work. Two inch bend to fit in the water heater door with about four to six inches at a 45 degree angle.

[emoney]

Wow that’s horrible design. The hot water heater puts out
A lot of heat and it boggles my mind who thought that was
an acceptable idea???

[pokergurll]

Thanks everyone for the input. We agree it’s a horrible design. FR service tech said he’s never heard of this problem, I find it hard to believe. We are going to build the deflector shield and see how that works.

[ProfChuck]

I built one for our Windjammer because the heat was coming in the kitchen window. Made it out of aluminum valley roll that I had left over from another project. That is the stuff they put on your roof under the shingles where two roofs meet in a V or "valley". Just used a couple of metal cutters to form and bend this stuff. It is about 12" wide and you should fold it over to make the edges rounded. I put it into the grate screen of the cover and didn't even need any screws. It has been on there about 5 years now. Works great. The deflector "lip" is about an inch, so it doesn't stick out very far, but, it did the job very well. Whole project took about a half hour to put together.

[CHICKDOE]

send those pictures to forest river and ask for a metal fitting. some design person needs to see that!

[ProfChuck]

Yes, that is definitely a major design flaw. Even with a deflector, it might melt the hose if it is connected. That is like designing a stove with the gas tank above it! DOT probably would like to see this, too.

[rockfordroo]

Did a little searching on line. Did a search for 2018's and found the WH and water connections on the street side as shown in the OPs pics and below:



Also found a couple 2019's like that.

But also found a 2019 with the WH on the curb side; no city water connections near it:



So I think FR has figured it out.

[Rugman59]

We did and they did approve an upgrade to brass with a external plastic housing. The deflector is a must but I’m concerned it will get smoking hot...

[ColoradoRick]

Holy cow, that is a horrible design! A heat shield may work but you could, also, get a heat barrior, like welders use, and wrap it around the plastic connection...they are around $15 at Home Depot or Lowes.

https://www.lowes.com/pd/Oatey-Solde...tector/1043403

[Herk7769]

On my 2019 Flagstaff 8529FLSC the water heater's exhaust is partially covered by the license plate. So far not an issue with the metal tag, but our paper temp tag was burned.