[VAC] Re: Skin damage and water heater

["Mr. Joy H. Hansen" <joytbrew@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

Jerry and Charlie,

The connections to the water heater on my '69 Safari were flare, not sweat
fittings.  If the water is hidden on the interior as mine was, taking out
the zillion screws on the exterior is child's play.  I replaced the original
Atwood 10 gallon with a 6 gallon LP/EL unit.  The width was identical and
the height was about 4 inches less.  Because the new door would interfere
with the trim strip (it would have to be cut out) I opted to push the
housing to the top of the original cutout and patch the bottom.  The
advantage being that I don't have to cut the trim strip, and the strip and
the door will completely cover the patch!  My housing was installed with
cadmium sheet metal screws that were mostly rusted so badly around the
bottom that I had to cut them off and later remove them from inside the
wall.  The caulk seemed to be something different than vulkem.  Something
like a putty tape?  I purchased what I consider to be a similar tape at an
Airstream Dealership.

When the water heater is out, you might find extensive floor rot if the leak
has been long term.  Unfortunately, my unit had a floor seam on one side of
the water heater housing that allowed the rot to extend far from the edge of
the floor.  I replaced the extensive rotted floor with a new section.  BTW,
the original water heater housing was screwed into the floor edge - not a
good idea in my thinking.  Just another reason I put the lower angle
aluminum on the edge of the floor.

There is little relationship between the original plumbing ports and the
replacement.  I was disappointed that the metal housing is no longer part of
the water heater.  The new heaters have only a styrofoam surround strapped
to the outside of the tank.  The exterior connection is thin and fragile.
In fact, there isn't much in the way of quality as compared to the original.
Maybe that's the price that is paid for
shedding 3/4 the weight of the original.

Because I never want to have to use a torch inside the cabinetry of the A/S,
I'll install PEX.  The only thing about PEX is the warning I read that water
cannot contain more than 4 ppm chlorine.  Not a good thing in a system that
might need a shock sanitizer treatment.

In the attached picture, the lower angle aluminum is bolted to the floor.
The upper is riveted to the rib like vertical stiffeners on each side.  The
patch will cover both angle aluminum strips.  The nasty painted sheet metal
door will be painted with aluminum colored paint.  I may still try to modify
the original stainless steel door as a replacement.

My comments are only intended help you with the plan to replace the water
heater and the possible scope of the project.  As with most of my A/S
restoration project, seemingly small tasks suddenly become mountains to
climb.

                                                           Joy