Valving on hot water tank

[Estevee]

I am new to the forum and just bought a great 2013 Hawk and have a question I just know you can help me with.
My hot water heater has two valves...what position should these valves be in for normal operation and can the water heater be bypassed with those valves.
Thanks for all the great suggestions on this forum!

 

[longhorn1]

I am new to the forum and just bought a great 2013 Hawk and have a question I just know you can help me with.
My hot water heater has two valves...what position should these valves be in for normal operation and can the water heater be bypassed with those valves.
Thanks for all the great suggestions on this forum!

Are these valves on the outside of the camper or inside? Please provide pictures so that we know what valves you are talking about. We need more info to help . Thanks, jd

 

[DesertDave]

The info you want may be in the owners manual. If you didn't get one with the camper, FWC has them available on the company website.

https://fourwh.com/FWC_Owners_Manual_03.20.2014.pdf

 

[Wallowa]

The info you want may be in the owners manual. If you didn't get one with the camper, FWC has them available on the company website.

https://fourwh.com/FWC_Owners_Manual_03.20.2014.pdf

I believe there is a newer pdf manual....although this pdf will reflect your 2013 FWC.

Don't remove any "plugs' from exterior of water heater in an attempt to drain; Atwood says that is a no-no; only work with FWC plumbing inside the camper.

 

[longhorn1]

My guess he is referring to the 2 levers in the cabinet. The left one for the outside shower and the RIGHT one for draining the hot water tank.

 

[Wallowa]

My guess he is referring to the 2 levers in the cabinet. The left one for the outside shower and the left one for draining the hot water tank.

Hmmmm...two "left feet"?

Look at pdf given above...Page 12...valve on left [vertical pipe] inline [open] with that pipe for flowing hot water to faucet...valve on bottom of photo [horizontal pipe] the valve is perpendicular to pipe [closed] which prevents water from draining out of the hot water tank ...

This is "normal' hot water heater valve positioning configurations when using the hot water heater...

Moving the bottom valve [horz pipe] to the open [inline] position will drain the water out of the hot water tank [6 gallons] and into the water storage tank [20 gallons] IF there is room in the water storage tank to hold any water from the hot water tank.

Take a moment to visualize what comes from and goes to where inside the cabinets...it will come into focus.

Phil

 

[longhorn1]

Hmmmm...two "left feet"?

Look at pdf given above...Page 12...valve on left [vertical pipe] inline [open] with that pipe for flowing hot water to faucet...valve on bottom of photo [horizontal pipe] the valve is perpendicular to pipe [closed] which prevents water from draining out of the hot water tank ...

This is "normal' hot water heater valve positioning configurations when using the hot water heater...

Moving the bottom valve [horz pipe] to the open [inline] position will drain the water out of the hot water tank [6 gallons] and into the water storage tank [20 gallons] IF there is room in the water storage tank to hold any water from the hot water tank.

Take a moment to visualize what comes from and goes to where inside the cabinets...it will come into focus.

Phil

Awe crap, fixed[emoji16]

 

[Wallowa]

Awe crap, fixed[emoji16]

Hey...no problem...I always included a bunch of errors in my stuff...of course, they are all intentional!

As my t-shirt reads: "To Arr is Pirate, to Err is Human"

 

[Old Crow]

esimmers opened up his cabinets and photographed the water system in his 09 Hawk in this Inside Cabinet Take-Apart thead and made this diagram of it (in post #2)

(Click to enlarge)



HIs system appears to be very similar to photos of the water system of 2013 (in the manual). The main difference is the coil of hose we see at the bottom of his diagram changed to a pipe to the freshwater tank in later models. In an '09 Hawk, you can drain a portion of the water system to the outside via the coil of hose (and I believe you drain the freshwater tank and hot-water tanks separately). In a '13 Hawk, you drain the water system (including the hot-water tank) back to the freshwater tank and on to the outside via the freshwater-tank drain.

.

 

[patrkbukly]

To be honest it's really a poorly instructed part of the campers. There is a simple instruction FWC could put on a sticker on the inside of the door to the valves that would simplify it.

I made one of my own but seems like something they should have done.

 

[Estevee]

Thank you everyone!
I thought I had read everything before I bothered you but I missed the big one!
That being said, your explanation clarifies the manual even more!
Thanks again!

 

[Andy Douglass]

Just to illustrate the differences in years, our 2018 Hawk has two valves in the water pump cabinet, the vertical (fill) one is to allow water (from both the pump-pressure system and city water) into the water heater, the horizontal (drain) one at the bottom of the cabinet is to drain the water heater into the 20 gallon tank. There is no valve controlling the main drain line to the drain spigot on the back wall of the camper and there is no valve controlling flow to the outdoor shower.

It is important to understand what the valves do. When we were getting the new camper run through at FWC, they told us of a recent customer that had misunderstood the valves and ran their water heater dry on their first trip, which fried it.

So you should try to get the manual for your exact camper or call FWC.

 

[Estevee]

Thank you all so much!
Great advice and suggestions.

 

[Jpiercemt]

Does anybody know what make and model a 2013 Grandby has for a water heater? I’m thinking about a aftermarket retrofit.

 

[Old Crow]

Does anybody know what make and model a 2013 Grandby has for a water heater? I’m thinking about a aftermarket retrofit.

I believe it would have been an Atwood G6A-8E.
.