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Old 08-14-2018, 09:52 AM   #1
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Question about Propane Hot Water tank

Hello,


We just completed our first longer trip (10 days), and I have a few questions. We have a 2016 x213 (new-to-us this year).


First, the water heater. Ours is both 120V and propane. It is an Atwood model GC6AA-10E. It works beautifully on 120V, but we did stay at a couple of sites without power. The propane works, but it seems to take a few tries to light it (I hear it sparking, then a "whoosh" of it sounding like it is starting, but then another (sometimes 2) ~3 seconds later). It almost sounds like it has problems starting. Is it normal for it to take a couple of tries to start? Once it gets going, I don't hear it again while it heats up the water.


Speaking of the water heater, while it is heating (either propane or 120V) I can hear a faint whine/high-pitched tone (that is really the only way on 120V I know it is working). Is that normal? During the day it doesn't really bother me, but at night (since the heater is almost under the foot of the bed) I find it annoying (and generally turn it off at night), but it only seems to bother me.


Secondly, we have 2 20lb tanks on the tongue, with what I was told was an auto-changeover regulator. When we were on electric sites, I would just unhook one of the 20lb tanks and more it to our cooking area to hook up the stove and BBQ (I don't like cooking too hear the trailer). When we were on the non-electric site, I could not do that because the regulator was not working properly. No matter where I had the selector switch, propane would flow out of the pigtail that didn't have a tank on it. I ended up having to leave both tanks connected and use a 1lb propane tank (which I was trying to avoid). I know I can get a new auto-changeover regulator, but is this a common issue? We don't do much long-term camping (4-5 days max at a time before moving generally), and most of the time we are on electric sites (so don't need the propane in the trailer). I talked with the parts guy at the dealer and he suggested replacing one of the pigtails with one that has a one-way valve so the gas could not escape (assuming I can get the pigtail out). That would probably be the cheapest solution, if not I would have to buy another regulator. I could also replace the dual regulator with a single, as for our purposes we only need one, but I don't know what the cost difference is on them.


Thanks for all the advice.


Happy Camping!
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Old 08-14-2018, 10:38 AM   #2
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Did you remove regulator on your grill? Won't work properly with two regulators!
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Old 08-14-2018, 11:23 AM   #3
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About the Water Heather it is "normal"
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Old 08-14-2018, 11:34 AM   #4
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As I recall, an auto change over regulator is designed to allow gas to flow from both tanks, meaning you can’t isolate one from the other. If you remove one tank and don’t turn off the other one, gas will flow out of the unconnected line.
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Old 08-14-2018, 11:43 AM   #5
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As I recall, an auto change over regulator is designed to allow gas to flow from both tanks, meaning you can’t isolate one from the other. If you remove one tank and don’t turn off the other one, gas will flow out of the unconnected line.
But doesn't that defeat the purpose? It means you cannot remove the empty tank to go and refill it and still be able to use propane in the trailer...
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Old 08-14-2018, 12:36 PM   #6
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There's an air/fuel valve that is adjustable on the water heater that may be causing one of your issues. That's a five minute fix, even when you don't know what you see doing. Adjust it until it lights quickly and doesn't go out easily.
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Old 08-14-2018, 12:39 PM   #7
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Originally Posted by John from Central Florida View Post
As I recall, an auto change over regulator is designed to allow gas to flow from both tanks, meaning you can’t isolate one from the other. If you remove one tank and don’t turn off the other one, gas will flow out of the unconnected line.
Nope. If you flip the handle/knob you can remove the empty tank without loosing propane if the changeover is working properly.
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Old 08-14-2018, 12:51 PM   #8
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The auto changeover regulatory automatically switches from the empty tank to the full tank. That said I would think that if you close the value on one tank the regulator would switch to the other tank and you could remove the tank where you closed the valve and use it with the grill.
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Old 08-14-2018, 12:56 PM   #9
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But doesn't that defeat the purpose? It means you cannot remove the empty tank to go and refill it and still be able to use propane in the trailer...
Correct. The whole purpose have having the automatic changeover is to automatically switch to the tank that is full so you can fill the empty tank and never be without gas supply.
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Old 08-14-2018, 04:23 PM   #10
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Nope. If you flip the handle/knob you can remove the empty tank without loosing propane if the changeover is working properly.
Grumpy’s right. My bad. Sorry, Paul.
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Old 09-09-2018, 05:25 AM   #11
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We have that whine/high-pitched tone when our water heater is calling for the 120 volt element. I wrote Atwood a couple days ago and they said they do know that some control boards do that and it’s not an issue. They also said that if I wanted to replace it that it would be $191.65.
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Old 09-09-2018, 07:49 AM   #12
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A faint whine while running the water heater on electric is perfectly normal. I can only hear ours if I put my ear up to the outside of the heater.
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Old 09-10-2018, 06:43 AM   #13
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Thanks everyone for the advice.

I talked to the dealer and he suggested we could either get a new regulator or, if we didn't care about the auto-switchover feature, we could replace one of the pigtails with a one-way pigtail so the propane would not leak out with the tank removed. Looking at it closer, this would involve trying to get a red locktite connection apart, so for $50 I'm just going to get a new regulator.

As for the whine, I think I'll just leave it then. If it is a ~$200 fix (which may or may not fix it), I'll just live with it. Just means we have to wait 20 minutes for hot water on the morning, which means I just have to remember to turn it on while making breakfast.
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