Which Water Heater to Buy???84FC

[dthollis1961]

If it wasn't for all the corrosion, the water heater in my bus would
be leaking for sure. After a quick trip around the WWW, I've found
Atwood, Seaward, Force 10, and Raritan with 110V/heat exchanger water
heaters. Anyone have anything good (or bad) to say about any of
these? Are there others? I haven't done any measuring yet, so maybe
some will get crossed off the list early. Advice appreciated.

David Hollis 84 FC35 Springfield,IL

[erniecarpet@...]

David- i believe West Marine has the exact "plug and play" configuration that
we need.

Ernie Ekberg
83 PT40
Livingston, Montana



[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

[Rob Robinson]

David several of us have put a Force Ten in as a replacement and have been
very happy with them. Stephen Birtles has them.

On 27/10/06, dthollis1961 wrote:
>
> If it wasn't for all the corrosion, the water heater in my bus would
> be leaking for sure. After a quick trip around the WWW, I've found
> Atwood, Seaward, Force 10, and Raritan with 110V/heat exchanger water
> heaters. Anyone have anything good (or bad) to say about any of
> these? Are there others? I haven't done any measuring yet, so maybe
> some will get crossed off the list early. Advice appreciated.
>
> David Hollis 84 FC35 Springfield,IL
>
>
>



--
Rob, Sue & Merlin Robinson
94 WLWB


[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

[krminyl@...]

I replaced my water heater about 5 yrs ago with the Seaward 11 gallon.
Almost an exact fit to the original Atwood. So far, no problems. Heats up in
about 20 minutes or so with the genset running. Since I put it in, I have done
nothing to it but use it. I bought directly from the manufacturer near my
house in Whittier, CA, and picked it up at will call. The price was in line
with the other brands, maybe $50 or so cheaper from the factory. Good
marine-grade quality....

Kevin McKeown
Yorba Linda, CA
1986 38' T


[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

[Lucas Willemse]

The exact replacement is made by Raritan and sold thru West Marine.
The fittings are almost in the same place as the old heater and take a
little addition off fittings to make them line up. I just replaced
ours on our 1980 FC 35, the tank had a pinhole leak just above the hot
water outlet. The Raritan part# is 171212, the West Marine part# is
256912.

I had to trim the plastic mounting rim on the bottom of the new heater
as it goes all the way around. I set both heaters next to each other
and tranferred the fittings to make sure they ended up in the same
place as the old unit. It was a bit of a struggle but it did fit and
works great.

Lucas Willemse
1980 FC 35
Los Angeles

[dthollis1961]

Thanks for all the helpful replies. I should have said that the
present heater is a "cube" shaped heater. The 78FC I had had the
round Raritan looking heater. What I'd like to know is why the
Raritan is about twice the price of the Force 10 or Seaward.

David Hollis 84FC35 Springfield,IL...Lining up winter inside
projects



--- In WanderlodgeForum@yahoogroups.com, "Lucas Willemse"
wrote:
>
> The exact replacement is made by Raritan and sold thru West
Marine.
> The fittings are almost in the same place as the old heater and
take a
> little addition off fittings to make them line up. I just replaced
> ours on our 1980 FC 35, the tank had a pinhole leak just above the
hot
> water outlet. The Raritan part# is 171212, the West Marine part#
is
> 256912.
>
> I had to trim the plastic mounting rim on the bottom of the new
heater
> as it goes all the way around. I set both heaters next to each
other
> and tranferred the fittings to make sure they ended up in the same
> place as the old unit. It was a bit of a struggle but it did fit
and
> works great.
>
> Lucas Willemse
> 1980 FC 35
> Los Angeles
>

[Lucas Willemse]

--- In WanderlodgeForum@yahoogroups.com, "Lucas Willemse"
wrote:
>
> The exact replacement is made by Raritan and sold thru West Marine.
> The fittings are almost in the same place as the old heater and
take a
> little addition off fittings to make them line up. I just replaced
> ours on our 1980 FC 35, the tank had a pinhole leak just above the
hot
> water outlet. The Raritan part# is 171212, the West Marine part# is
> 256912.
>
> I had to trim the plastic mounting rim on the bottom of the new
heater
> as it goes all the way around. I set both heaters next to each
other
> and tranferred the fittings to make sure they ended up in the same
> place as the old unit. It was a bit of a struggle but it did fit
and
> works great.
>
> Lucas Willemse
> 1980 FC 35
> Los Angeles
>
The above information is wrong when I came home and checked my
records, the correct heater is A Raritan 171211, West Marine 296386
$579.99.

I should have looked it up first.

Lucas Willemse
1980 FC 35
Los Angeles

[Eric Johnson]

Hi David,
I replaced our old water heater with an Atwood heater and found out the
following in the
process:

1. Had to raise the elevation of the drivers side bed 3/4" to fit the new
heater in.
2. The Atwood has a high temperature protection switch that trips at about 185
ºF. If you
circulate engine coolant through it while you go down the road, you will find
out later that
the electrical heat isn't working. It is a REAL PAIN to reset the switch as it
is located down
between the electrical leads into the heater and is not easy to reach. For this
reason, I
don't circulate jacket water through it. I discussed this with Atwood tech
support and they
offered no info on a fix for this problem.
3. Heater has plenty of capacity and we rarely run out of hot water even after
two
showers.

All things considered, it sounds like there are better choices out there than
the Atwood.

Eric in San Antonio
84FC35SBWL2

--- In WanderlodgeForum@yahoogroups.com, "dthollis1961" wrote:
>
> If it wasn't for all the corrosion, the water heater in my bus would
> be leaking for sure. After a quick trip around the WWW, I've found
> Atwood, Seaward, Force 10, and Raritan with 110V/heat exchanger water
> heaters. Anyone have anything good (or bad) to say about any of
> these? Are there others? I haven't done any measuring yet, so maybe
> some will get crossed off the list early. Advice appreciated.
>
> David Hollis 84 FC35 Springfield,IL
>

[Rob Robinson]

Dave give the Force 10 a serious look. When I talked to the Force 10 folks
they told me they took the basic Sealand and tried to make it better. They
actually admitted they copied the Sealand. When I bought my Force Ten (11 or
12 gallon not sure) the differences I could see were that the piping is
larger and it had a SS casing rather than a painted one. The price was
cheaper too. A couple of us including Randy Dupree have installed them and
they work well. Water heats up electrically in 15 min. Check them out at

http://www.force10.com/company.html


On 01/11/06, Eric Johnson wrote:
>
> Hi David,
> I replaced our old water heater with an Atwood heater and found out the
> following in the
> process:
>
> 1. Had to raise the elevation of the drivers side bed 3/4" to fit the new
> heater in.
> 2. The Atwood has a high temperature protection switch that trips at about
> 185 ºF. If you
> circulate engine coolant through it while you go down the road, you will
> find out later that
> the electrical heat isn't working. It is a REAL PAIN to reset the switch
> as it is located down
> between the electrical leads into the heater and is not easy to reach. For
> this reason, I
> don't circulate jacket water through it. I discussed this with Atwood tech
> support and they
> offered no info on a fix for this problem.
> 3. Heater has plenty of capacity and we rarely run out of hot water even
> after two
> showers.
>
> All things considered, it sounds like there are better choices out there
> than the Atwood.
>
> Eric in San Antonio
> 84FC35SBWL2
>
> --- In WanderlodgeForum@yahoogroups.com,
> "dthollis1961" wrote:
> >
> > If it wasn't for all the corrosion, the water heater in my bus would
> > be leaking for sure. After a quick trip around the WWW, I've found
> > Atwood, Seaward, Force 10, and Raritan with 110V/heat exchanger water
> > heaters. Anyone have anything good (or bad) to say about any of
> > these? Are there others? I haven't done any measuring yet, so maybe
> > some will get crossed off the list early. Advice appreciated.
> >
> > David Hollis 84 FC35 Springfield,IL
> >
>
>
>



--
Rob, Sue & Merlin Robinson
94 WLWB


[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]