[Flick]

Guys there is a section of hose on my water heater that is between two copper pipes. The reason there is hose is that there was what appears to be a restrictor valve on there. I have attached a pic here hopefully so you can see what I am talking about. The hose leakes near this valves and so my thought was just to sweat back in pipe rather than hose. I have now discovered the resrictor is an odd size and that is why someone had used hose to put this in. Now this restrictor is suspect at best. It is old and has loads on deposits on it and probably does not let water pass well or restrict as it may be intended. I assume I need this on there for some reason correct or could I simply toss it and sweat the two pipes togther?? see the pics for the area and the valve.

[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

[encantotom]

todd, another reason for the check valve is to prevent calcium or mineral chunks from making their way back from the hot water heater to faucets in the coach.

so, like i said, i would replace it and not just skip it.

tom

[Flick]

You are not kidding on that part. Menards has nothing. It has a fair amount of buildup that I have cleaned off. i dont know if it works or not. Is there a way to test it Tom?

[encantotom]

if you are talking about testing the hot water heater, it is 110v as well so you can turn it on inside somewhere, likely over the kitchen counter somewhere.

as for turning on the engine coolant circulating through the hot water heater newell had several different setups i am familiar with to route the coolant to the heater. on mine, there is a newell added microswitch on the heat lever on the dash air conditioning/heater control panel. when you move it from cold to hot, just barely, it triggers the microswitch that turns on the recirculating pump in the back and in the front and opens the valve to allow it to flow to it and the other coolant heated radiators (in the wet bay and the dash and under the bed).

on mine, there is only one set of valves back in the engine compartment for the coolant lines that run through the coach. on michaels, it is totally different. he has only one recirculating pump, two sets of valves at the back. he turns the coolant on by having those manual valves on that are a dedicated run for the hot water heater that is in the engine compartment.

dont know if that answered your questions, if not ask again.

the check valve i think i paid ten bucks for.

   
   
   


tom

[Flick]

I found the exact valve at Boaters world, but its $50. I dont know if my old valve is working or not. Do you know if I can test it somehow? if i just let water run thru a tap and hold it under the tap water will flow both ways, but I imagine the valve shuts under greater pressure not simply water going the wrong direction. Any ideas in case I can re-use this valve and simply replace the hose that was leaking that was attached to it?

[encantotom]

ok, i wasnt sure what you meant by test.

it shouldnt flow both ways. i did find the exact valve on ebay but there is no need to have the exact one. it is just a common checkvalve. buy the cheapest one you can find that will hold the pressure. i would go to a rv supply place and get one or look on ebay. 50 bucks in my mind is wayyy to much for a checkvalve. but that is just my cheapskate opinion.

http://www.dyersonline.com/shurflo-in-li...tings.html



it should not take pressure to stop the flow. if it flows both ways, it is shot.

you should be able to test it by just blowing on it.

tom

[Flick]

Yes I assumed so and had in fact blown into both sides and there is no resistance so it is in fact shot. Ok one more plumbing question for you.

Thanks Tom you are always very helpful in adjusting my learning curve.

[Flick]

Tom can I replace my faucet in the kitchen with one I just buy at a hardware store or do they need to be specifically for an RV?

[encantotom]

nothing special. other than newell tended to use really high end fixtures. but any standard faucet will work. it is just like a house.

tom