Eric&Lisa
Scappoose, OR
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Joined: 07/11/2006
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MTBob wrote:Today I ran a bore scope inside the hot water tank and found the following:...
Cool pictures! It does make the tank look bad. Question though... How does it compare to the hot water tank in your house?
Sometimes we see stuff in the water systems in our RVs which we replace because it looks bad (stains, rust in water lines, etc). We forget our home water systems look the same way.
-Eric
Eric & Lisa - Oregon
'97 Silverado K2500, Torklifts, Airbags, anti-sway bar
'03 Lance model 1030, generator, solar,
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MTBob
Montana
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Joined: 07/17/2008
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Eric&Lisa wrote:MTBob wrote:Today I ran a bore scope inside the hot water tank and found the following:...
Cool pictures! It does make the tank look bad. Question though... How does it compare to the hot water tank in your house?
Sometimes we see stuff in the water systems in our RVs which we replace because it looks bad (stains, rust in water lines, etc). We forget our home water systems look the same way.
-Eric
Eric: Yup, the home systems can look pretty bad and they fail too. I'm just weighing the risk of a eventual HWH failure with the fact that I've got the stove and sink removed and that I'd like to know this thing isn't going to come apart when I'm in the boonies in Northern Canada someday. Loosing hot water is no big deal but, if the shell fractures, the collateral damage could be pretty severe. I'm sure it will work for some time to come, but I'm inclined to upgrade the heater while I have the camper torn apart. One thing these photos show is that the porcelain lining does come off and it's not too apparent. My guess this was caused by a freezing event with previous owners, I've owned this camper since June 09.
Bob
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JoeChiOhki
Keizer, Oregon
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Joined: 11/20/2003
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MTBob wrote:Joe: Thanks for the detailed description, just what I was looking for. Seems pretty straight forward. Recognizing that our main use of this camper is for boondocking, what heater options do you recommend, DSI or pilot with or without electric heating? While I don't envision ever staying in a commercial campground, the time may come when having the electric heating may be useful. Suburban's website says that there is a risk of porcelain failure when running the electric heater without sufficient water in the tank, an unlikely event, but it could happen. Your thoughts?
Personally, I prefer the non-DSI Units for two reasons:
1.) Temperature Control (You can change how hot the water gets to your preference, my family tends to like hotter water in our heaters, so I set mine a tad up).
2.) No electronics. When I was at our local parts dealer, he mentioned that there had been a run of problems with the circuit boards on the DSI Units going bad. My parents had this same problem with their 2004 water heater, the unit wouldn't keep the burner running, it wound up getting a replacement circuit board (Its the thing inside that little white box on the wall.)
I have the straight propane-only model, and it works pretty good, but I do wish I had had the extra money to get the combo unit because you can run it on both gas an electric at the same time, which boosts the recovery rate. On gas Alone, the unit recovers 10 gallons/hr, which is the market best that I've found. The electric element by itself recovers 6 gallons an hour, a tad slow, but with both on at the same time, you get the speed of both put together. We had a full tank of water heated to using condition in about 10-15 minutes.
The other advantage of having the electric is that you can use the propane to heat the tank and then if you have hookups, shut off the propane and use the electric by itself to keep the water hot.
One more advantage is if for some reason the propane burner will not function, the water heater can still be used while the problem is being fixed.
Btw, there's risk of damaging the water heater period if its not fully charged with water, propane or electric.
Also, unlike the hotrod kit, you keep your full size anode rod to protect the tank getting it with the combo option.
If your current heater wasn't in a damaged state, I'd recommend selling it to recoup your money. In the end with the upgrade I did to my parent's TH, the final cost of the new combo pilot unit was $82 because we sold the old DSI unit for $200.
One more thing, when I wired in the circuit for their electric element, I installed a switch with a light on it inside the camper on the circuit so that you'd have an internal reminder that the water heater's electrical element was switched on.
Follow along with me at The Journey of the Redneck Express
CB Channel 17 Redneck Express
'1992 Dodge W-250 Power Wagon - Club Cab Long Bed V8 5.9L 4spd H.D Auto 4x4 4.10 Gears
'1974 KIT Kamper 1106 - 11' Slide-in
'1987 Pullman Mini Camper
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MTBob
Montana
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Joined: 07/17/2008
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One more thing about the porcelain lining in my Suburban hot water heater. It is possible to tell if the lining has failed without using a borescope. After removing the anode rod, you can sick your finger into the water tank and feel just below the fitting at the bottom of the tank for residue. It's sort of hard to do because the fitting is tilted slightly upward. I found small chips of blue/gray porcelain laying in the bottom of the tank along with rust scale.
I would recommend that this become part of the annual winter inspection on Suburban HWH's after pulling the anode rod.
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