New to us Bungalow water heater issue

[kiver]

I run the hot water and get a burst of hot then it goes cool. This is a new camper for us and was told the just replaced he heater. The tank gets warm and when I open the release valve to the tank the water is very hot. If I turn on all the sinks hot water the water gets a bit warmer but not at all warm enough to shower in. The outside faucet is off at the knobs. I'm lost and can't make sense of this



Photo is from the top of the tank looking down. I can only seem to find this one bypass valve

[Sundancer330]

Check the valves on the back of the heater, if they are in the bypass position it is blending cold and hot , needs to be in normal position. If its a one valve system handle needs to be horizontal for normal, vertical for bypass

[Grumpy]

That device on top looks like a non-scald temp control. It sure doesn't look "standard".

[kiver]

It does look like some type of mixer

How do I adjust the water temp.

[kiver]

Originally Posted by kiver

It does look like some type of mixer

How do I adjust the water temp.

[Sundancer330]

Doing a web search it looks like an Atwood (90029) mixing valve. Below is someone else that had your same problem and how they adjusted it.

Symptom: A gush of hot water followed by only luke warm water from the Atwood xt 10 gallon water heater with the mixing valve.

There are sets of spines on the valve: The lower, large set of splines is immovable and engages the bottom edge of the cap cap and prevents it from turning. The upper, smaller set of splines turns the valve mechanism and engages the cap in the middle/top. You can re-partially re-install the cap so the bottom splines are not engaged, but the top ones are, and use the cap to open/close the valve mechanism. Incribed on the cap is the word "warmer" with an counter-clockwise arrow. I opened the valve mechanism, counter clockwise, all the way and turned on teh gas heater and heated the water until the auto shut-off.

The water was about 160 as measured at the outdoor shower when spraying it into a coffee cup with a meat thermometer in it - giving it plenty of time for the hose water to clear and for the temp of the water being sprayed in the cup to stabilize.

I then incrementally turned the valve clockwise until the water temp stabilized at about 125. This was about 5-6 turns clockwise.

[kiver]

I am turning the spline but it just seems to spin and spin with no changes to water temp

[Sundancer330]

After reading several problems similar to yours online this valve seems to cause lots of problems, it gets clogged up easy from hard water. Are you spinning the outside center nut, it looks like you have to put an allen wrench in the center hole to adjust. Some have removed the valve and cleaned the screen and soaked in CLR or similar to remove deposits. Or you can replace the valve for about $115 from Amazon but it will clog again. What Atwood tried to do is use a 6 gallon tank and super heat the water then blend cold at the valve to make it similar to a 10 gallon tank capacity.

[kiver]

Originally Posted by Sundancer330

After reading several problems similar to yours online this valve seems to cause lots of problems, it gets clogged up easy from hard water. Are you spinning the outside center nut, it looks like you have to put an allen wrench in the center hole to adjust. Some have removed the valve and cleaned the screen and soaked in CLR or similar to remove deposits. Or you can replace the valve for about $115 from Amazon but it will clog again. What Atwood tried to do is use a 6 gallon tank and super heat the water then blend cold at the valve to make it similar to a 10 gallon tank capacity.

I have a socket that goes around the hex and I am moving the middle post


This does seem to be the issue

[Sundancer330]

Can you get an allen wrench to grip inside the hex nut center hole, this may be the adjustment point.

[kiver]

Originally Posted by Sundancer330

Can you get an allen wrench to grip inside the hex nut center hole, this may be the adjustment point.

I don't have any wrenches on me at the camp site. The inside appears to be threaded

[Sundancer330]

If you can't figure it out call Atwood at (616) 897-2301 and they will be able to instruct you how to adjust the 90029 mixing valve.

[kiver]

I just wanted to follow up with the solution to my problem. The mixer valve had a broken spring and hard water scaling. The valve was replaced and now I have hot water

[Grumpy]

Originally Posted by kiver

I just wanted to follow up with the solution to my problem. The mixer valve had a broken spring and hard water scaling. The valve was replaced and now I have hot water

[norty1]

I like to learn something new every day. I have never seen one of these and it was very informational.