Water Heater Smell

We’ve got a musty/moldy smell emanating from under the sink shortly after I fire up the water heater. It’s the SW6DE. I’m running on gas only. The smell is NOT in the water. It is NOT the sulfur smell from the anode rod! It really appears to be in the foam insulation around the tank. I pulled a small chunk of foam loose and stuck under my DWs nose. “Yep, that’s it!” The tank also appears to have rust blotches around the inlet/outlet areas. I suspected a condensation problem, since there are no signs of any obvious leaks at all. DW called Suburban this AM and got right through to a tech, who was really helpful! He said the Sub heaters generally don’t have condensation problems and he bet that it has a tiny, miniscule leak and the foam has trapped the water causing the rust/mold problem. He suggested pulling the unit, removing the foam jacket and pressurizing it to inspect for leaks. The smell is bad enough that I’m gonna do something. Has anyone had this or even heard of this problem before? Looks like a fairly straight-forward removal job and will pull it out to inspect this week. If it’s a leakin, I’ll get a new one on order asap. No warranty on this. If it isn’t leaking, I guess I’ll clean off the rust and paint with a rust conversion paint then re-wrap with some fiberglass insulation. The heater works great otherwise.

We’re well on our way to making this “new to us” ’04 2720 ours. 2 and a half camping trips so far and we’re really enjoying it. Perfect fit for our family of four and lab. The front bunk is a great day-time storage area for our instruments and my upright bass even fits inside! Heck even another TM sighting in Newton, IA! The mods/maintenance are adding up to more and more comfort/convenience/safety: Water system accumulator, seam/window re-caulk, brake adjustment/bearing lube, hangar brackets everywhere, sofa support re-enforcement, blue-tote stow, Stereo, XM audio/weather, Travasaks all around, 3 new cooper tires (yes I balanced them!), on-frame levels, cabinet organizers, A/C sound reduction mod, water heater flush/anode replacement, soon PD9260 upgrade, mudflaps, etc... Hey that Dollar General Totally Awesome cleaner works, well, Awesome! Our TM forum membership is the best $12 I’ve spent on our TM, Thanks!
Troy

[Bill]

Troy -

Wow! You're serious about making this thing your own! I'm impressed - and pleased. The knowledge and tips you accumulate will find a home here, I hope.

As for the water heater, I guess I'm cheap. If you strip off the insulation and find a pinhole leak, I would be tempted to clean it up and, using my thumb, press a bit of JBWeld into the leak, smearing it liberally around the surrounding area. Maybe even drill out the pinhole before packing in the epoxy. If the pinhole is actually the first penetration of a large rust area, then it will soon give way again. But if not, you might get several more years out of the thing. Water heaters are expensive!

Just my thoughts - and my flak suit is on.

Bill

Well the Heater came out without a fight. Pwr off, LP off, DC off (fuse #1), pull anode, drain, disconnect H2O lines, LP, AC/ DC, ignitor wire, remove cover plate and screws, pull 'er out. And YES, the smell came with it!

If I were a betting man, I'd say she was dry fired, maybe for only a short time though, since no melted foam. Mega rust. No real obvious leak point though. I need to get some fittings to pressure test but I bet the DW says get a new one and I think I would agree. I googled and can buy a brand new one and have it delivered on my porch Friday for $275. I could salvage the parts off the old one and trash the tank. So wouldn't feel too bad about scrapping the rust bucket. Right now for me, with only 60 years to live, time is money.

Does anyone have direct experience with a dry-fired water heater? Do they look like this? I did not notice any rust/metal flakes in tank when I drained it today or last week when I installed the new anode rod (just the white grit stuff), but did notice alot of suspicious rusty flakes trapped in under door frame when I took it off tonight. I bet the lining was damaged and flushed out prior to my ownership.

Thanks.
Troy

P.S. One other mod I made, best one so far, I call it my ''door alignment/improve security/my 7 yr old can open/shut the door with ease'' mod. Figured this one out on the banks of Sugar creek... With door halves just where you want them, I drilled and tapped two holes in flange between door halves. One close to hinge side, the other near the white plastic fold-down retainer. I then used 10-32x1/2'' wing screws and held the door halves together. 100% perfect alignment. Opens with a simple twist, closes with a gentle touch. Adds 66 seconds to the open/shutdown time!

The new heater went in with the usual amount of fuss. The new heater came with a new "free" door which was the other style. I had planned to just reuse the original door but after seeing that the new door provided (IMO) a much more secure installation, I went with the new one. See pic. The old door frame/heater is "held" in with 2 screws that are toenailed into opening. New door frame installs with 11 - 3/4" ss metal screws. The opening in the TM is framed with popular and provided a nice secure fit. Of course silicone caulking was used to seal it up. I also added a board inside to support the weight of the heater better as what is there is minimal. This was the easy part...

I had thought the re-connection of the water lines would be a 5-minute affair. Not so. The threads in the tank that the plastic nipple thread in to were cut deeper and allowed the shoulders of the nipple to bottom out before the fitting was tight. Even with a triple wrap of thread tape. I found some new nipples that didn't have the squared shoulder and gave them a try. They tightened nice. I then threaded on the quick connects on the water lines back onto the nipples and filled and pressurized the tank with the pump. Leak! Top (hot) fitting was slightly dripping at the quick connect. I tried everything to get it to stop. Wasn't happening. I eventually cut the damn thing off and discovered why it dripped. No rubber washer in it. I wonder if this was my original problem causing the rusted tank and smell? After mulling it over I decided to eliminate the threaded quick connects (with rubber gaskets) and plump direct to the tank. Since I have the pex tool this went fast. I threaded in male 1/2"NPT to 1/2" pex adapters using thread dope and pexed right to them. Refilled tank and pressurized again. No leaks!

I decided to really give it a pressure test and connected up the hose to the house faucet (without the regulator). 64psi as measured on gauge I put on faucet. I then fired up tank and watched the pressure climb as the water heated up. Even with a shurflo accumulator installed the system pressure climbed up to 92psi! I left it there for 4 hours and no leaks anywhere. Left me wondering how high the closed system pressure gets to without the shurflo! The old heater did have signs of the T&P valve having lifted. Which is 150psi or 200 degrees.

While I was in the neighborhood I decided to add a lighted switch to the inside panel. See pic. This was a 10-minute job. I did have to add a ground wire from the 3rd terminal on the new switch to the green wire on the indicator light for the switch light to work. The $2.99 switch is a Calterm Illuminated Rocker Switch (P/N 40310) from O-Reilly Auto Parts. We now will know at a glance if the LP side of the water heater is on. May do the same with the electric as well.

Troy

[Bill]

Nice job, Troy!

Can you elaborate a bit about the new lighted switch? It appears that there are now two lights on the little panel - one in the switch itself, and the standalone light beside the switch. Do I understand correctly that they are they both associated with the propane system? It looks like the standalone light is the one that was always there - it indicates that the propane burner is in the process of lighting, and it goes out when the ignition is successful. So the new light in the switch indicates that the switch is on, and it stays on for as long as the switch is on, and is powered by the 12-volts that runs the igniter circuit?

Bill

Bill

>>So the new light in the switch indicates that the switch is on, and it stays on for as long as the switch is on, and is powered by the 12-volts that runs the igniter circuit?

Yes, you are 100% correct. I removed the original switch (on left) which is a 2-contact SPST type and replaced with the Calterm illuminated switch (12V @20A, way overkill!). It is also a SPST switch but has the 12V indicator light in it and 3 terminals labeled 'Battery', 'Accessory' and 'Ground'. The 'Battery' hooks to the original blue (12V hot) wire, the 'Accessory' terminal hooks to the original red wire and the 'Ground' terminal needs a piece of wire to splice into the green (Chassis Gnd) wire that is on the other light indicator. This puts the indicator lamp in the switch in parallel with the heater control module, not in series. So no voltage drop to the module.
So in addition to the switch, you'd need a wire to wire splicer, a 1/4" female spade lug crimp connector and a ~4" piece of 16-18ga wire (green if you're picky!)
The illuminated switches are available in amber, green, blue or red lights. I chose red for the maximum STWHIO factor.

I also came up with a "low-power" version using an illuminated switch (with LED instead of incandescent) but this was way more expensive with the shipping from Digikey.com. Well then I do have a really dirt cheap LED version using an LED and 1k resistor from my junk box. This uses the existing switch but requires drilling a hole in the existing switch plate and mounting the LED. This also required soldering, seemed to geeky and not as straighforward. I'd stick with the Calterm switch.

OLT... If someone wants to add the switch, make sure to pull the fuse for the DC portion of the water heater, mine (not labeled) was fuse #1, beforehand.

Troy

[ShrimpBurrito]

I just purchased an Calterm illuminated switch (in blue) to replace as you did, Troy. I always am paranoid about leaving the water heater on, especially because the "ON" position is down instead of up, so this will be a big help. I got blue so that it will be very obvious it isn't the ignition light next to it. Bought it on eBay for less than $5 delivered.

Thanks for posting this info!

Dave

Dave

Good luck on the switch install. Well worth it imo. I did have to replace my switch last fall though. The bulb failed. I noticed O-Reilly didn't sell the exact model as before but they had one very similiar. I wish you were closer and I'd loan you my PEX tool. I bought the whole set in '03 when I was plumbing our new house. The connections are nearly impossible to screw up, vs. sweating or threaded fittings. Good luck on the leak fixes too. Hey you might get a 100psi water gauge at HD and check your water pressure. I remember mine would go way up with a closed system once I fired up the full (cold) water heater. So high to even pop the TEV on the water heater. Just a thought. I'm sure itching to go camping this spring.
Troy

[ShrimpBurrito]

That is odd that the bulb failed. You mentioned that it is incandescent....I wonder if the filament failed from vibration, or if it was just a fluke.

Thanks for the thought about the PEX tool. I may try a few other places to rent a crimper, but I won't look for long because I think the Sharkbites are a good option.

Dave