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Old 06-24-2017, 03:43 PM   #1
WaltBennett
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Just LOVE Chicago roads!!!

So we take off last Tuesday on anther really big trip - coast to coast (almost), 12 weeks give or take a few days, this time the Northern route. Do 485 miles to an Ohio TP RV overnight area, 280 around Chicago getting beaten to near death on I90 & overnight at a nice little CG. I get up the next morning and find some dampness near where the front edge of the rear street slide is. I figure it's some water that came in when I retracted the slides to leave the Ohio TP place. We get to Ft. McCoy in WI and it's CG after another 200+ and the next day there's more water and it's not drying up! I Finally got serious about finding out where it was coming from when we got to a KOA near Minneapolis (had to remove the built in vac we don't use and open a little hatch on a panel). Verdict is, it looks like the hot water heater tank cracked when we were going around Chicago.

I unscrewed the PEX fittings from the heater and took the compression washer to a local big box hardware store. $6.50 in three pieces of cast iron pipe, a little pipe dope and the heater is completely bypassed. At least we can use water now, even if it's not warm. Searching on the internet, the prices for this 12 gal. Suburban are all over the place, from $450 to over $600. Think I'll order it with three day shipping to our next stay in Alexandria, MN from one of the lower priced ones. Maybe find someone to give me a hand replacing the old one, but this should be doable - unless someone can tell me I'm out of my mind?
 
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Old 06-24-2017, 05:27 PM   #2
rohrmann
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You probably could have just turned the water heater bypass to cut the water heater out of the system.

I had to replace ours last year, ordered from Dyers. Got the SW12DE, #51218. They have gone up $20 since I bought mine, but doesn't everything. I had to move the 12 volt to 120 volt relay from the old one to the new one, and the brass fittings were still good. The top one is the check valve and the lower one is just a straight nipple. Its a tight squeeze getting the old out and the new one in. Just be careful when shoving the new one in that you don't get wiring hung up on one of the nipples, or you might break a wire. I think, having to splice things to move the relay over, along with removing the old and installing the new took a relaxed 3 hours, in the heat. So, you'll need pipe dope, splices for some wiring, and caulking. Not a terribly difficult job.
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Old 06-24-2017, 05:58 PM   #3
WaltBennett
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The "bypass" on ours doesn't totally bypass. It still allows some water into the heater and I can't figure that one out at all. Because of that, I don't quite trust blowing the lines out and have become used to going through more than a gallon of antifreeze each time I winterize.

Nice to know the job isn't that bad though!
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Old 06-24-2017, 09:58 PM   #4
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Unfortunately we need to get used to that type of roads. Even Kansas, who used to have good roads, has robbed money from the highway funds to cut taxes for the last several years and yes the roads are beginning to go to hell.
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Old 06-25-2017, 05:39 AM   #5
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Sorry for your troubles but I agree the roadways are horrible up in that area. We went to Wisconsin Dells last year up I-57 and I-39 and I swear to you I will NEVER complain about I-20 in SC ever again! I had about 200 pounds of stuff in my truck toolbox and it broke the welds on the box plus we also had to replace a busted right front shock on the truck with only 21k miles on it after that trip. Currently my FIL&MIL are out in the midwest and say they have come across several bad roadways there too.
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Old 06-25-2017, 05:43 AM   #6
WaltBennett
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Quote:
Originally Posted by DQDick View Post
Unfortunately we need to get used to that type of roads. Even Kansas, who used to have good roads, has robbed money from the highway funds to cut taxes for the last several years and yes the roads are beginning to go to hell.
Chicago's issues were as much to do with construction areas as broken concrete & potholes. It's also difficult to go slow (45 - 55) when everyone else is zooming by, cutting you off and otherwise acting like a-holes. Although we found a couple of really nice CGs west & north of there, we're coming back from the west coast by way of Indianapolis and bypassing the pain.
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Old 06-25-2017, 01:08 PM   #7
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Wish I was near MN; I'd come help.
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Old 07-01-2017, 01:16 PM   #8
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Aaargh!! Got it finally done! Bought a new DE type and had it shipped to the next CG that we're now at. Used the old relay and wired the DE as a DEL. Our floor plan means they MUST have installed it before anyone finished much of the inside. Took me five hours, including having to cut a hole in a panel on one side of the heater so I could pull the propane line back. Easy to do. There is no possible way to replace this thing without doing it and even then, hooking the water lines up is not easy. I only used a box cutter to make the hole and made sure it was square. I'll find some decorative trim and make it into a door with screws at the corner. The other side has a plastic panel that hides an opening that should be larger. Maybe I'll do something with that as well.

A cautionary note: When removing the door frame, I found there was little to no caulk behind it. There were also only two screws holding the actual heater to the trailer frame. This is not the way Suburban says to install one of these things. On top of that, they used a sub-platform of particle board underneath the heater - and of course, that was falling apart from the leak. Why am I not all that surprised?
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