My RV’s water is scalding hot. Can water heater be adjusted?

Hi Dave,
I have a water heater question. My RV has an Atwood G6A-8E water heater. The water gets too hot (scalding). I cannot find a thermostat anywhere. I’ve been manually shutting it off after about 5 minutes, but that gets very old. Any ideas? Thanks. —Bob, 1997 Fleetwood Tioga Montara

Hi Bob,
According to the Atwood Service Manual, your water heater is a 6-gallon electronic ignition model that runs on propane only. It came standard with a pre-set thermostat of 140 degrees. Typically, that is not too hot for most owners. In fact, I usually hear the opposite. It also indicates there is an aftermarket thermostat that is adjustable from 110–150 degrees. That thermostat should be visible on the front of the outside access panel.

Here is a picture that was in the service manual. It might be hard to see; however, the thermostat (TSTAT) is just underneath the pressure relief valve with the fusible link. To the left is the Emergency Cut Off (ECO). This is designed to break the circuit and shut down the water heater in case of extreme heat to protect the unit. That would be in the case of an obstruction in the main burner tube due to spiders or mud wasps. That could create a flame outside of the burner tube and the ECO would protect the components. However, it is not designed to shut off in case of hot water temperature.

How hot is the water?

The first thing I would do is get an actual temperature reading of the hot water. You can do this with a cooking thermometer at a faucet closest to the water heater.

The thermostat is pre-set to 140 degrees. It will cycle on when the water temperature drops to 115 degrees and shuts off at 140 degrees. It typically takes about 25 minutes to reach that temperature. Once again, knowing the actual temperature of the water is important to properly troubleshoot.

The part number for the adjustable temperature thermostat is 93105, according to the service manual. I would recommend contacting a qualified parts distributer such as Panther RV Products here.

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Dave Solberg is a leading expert in the RV industry and the author of the “RV Handbook.”

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