[encantotom]

hi todd,

that is a one way check valve and it is on the cold water inlet. in a house, it is required by code in most places. in an rv, if you dont have it, the hot water could work its way back to the cold water supply and cause your cold to be warm. that is why they put them in. standard thing. i would replace it.

i had the same one go bad in my 90. hard to find that fancy looking metal one so i just went to a plumbing supplyplace or better yet an rv supply place and get a check valve.

you can see the pictures of my setup from my 90. the other thing i did is plumb in a watts 70a tempering valve. the hot coolant from the engine when it is circulating through the hot water heater (that is what those black hoses are) it makes the hot water in the tank the same temp as the coolant or close. i dont know about you, but 180 degree hot water is too easy to get burned with. particularly since i have grandkids that go with us.

so with the tempering valve, i could adjust the temp of the hot water coming out of the heater so it wouldnt scald anyone.

my 2002 has the exact same tempering valve put in at the factory to do the same thing. not sure why they didnt do it on the older one with the raritan hot water heater. oh yea, i know my soldering job is sloppy. but it doesnt leak....

most of us had to replace that hot water heater. it is a pricey one at 7-800 bucks unless you can find a better deal on ebay.

here are the pictures of mine.

   
   
   
   
   


tom