Travel Trailer Hot Water Heater Replacement. 2022 Grand Surveyor Legend 19BHLE

First, I want to thank @Tunrod for his help in finding the Hot Water Tank. You can read this here: https://www.tundras.com/threads/camper-hot-water-heater.158682/#post-3928453

I have gone ahead and ordered the tank, knowing that I could return it if it didn't work. It came in, and it was, from what I could see in the box and what I am working with, a perfect match.

Having decided to look deeper and fix it, I decided to go ahead and replace it to see. I have never documented anything like this before, so if I am missing something, please let me know and I will fix it up.

Second, I am very basic in my mechanical work and repair. This is probably the biggest repair I have ever taken upon myself to do.

Third, I have searched online and YouTube, and could not find anything to help with this, so I had to take each step one at a time and check, double check, and recheck each step to make sure I didn't break something further.

Lastly, I hope this thread helps anyone else who wishes to do this repair or fix. So, please feel free to let me know how this thread is as far as a step by step process in the work.

Let's get started.


1. The first thing to have is the tools. I used the following tools: Ratchet, 1/4" socket, 1 1/16 socket for the drain plug. 3/8 socket, Plumbers tape, Philips Head, Flat Head, Channel Lock (not sure what size). Towel's.

To do the repair.

Here is what I am fixing:






If you wish to read how this came to be, please read the thread linked to above.

The first thing I did was to stabilize and extend my slide out so I had room to work in. You will want to do this. I do not have any pictures of it, but depending on where your water tank is at, you will want to put towels around to keep the water from running around the walls and dividers. I rushed and had to learn the hard way here. Put the towels down first to save a bigger mess later.






As you can see in the picture, this is the heater equipment and the tank is right behind this.

The first mistake I made was to remove all of the screws surrounding the housing. DO NOT REMOVE THEM (Unless you have to, or you are replacing the unit itself)!!!! If you are only replacing the tank, you should not have to remove these screws. However, if you do, you will need to use a Philips Head. A drill will save your wrist. There are, at least on mine, about 24 of them.


It was about this time that I decided I was going to cut the power to the camper. I wanted to make sure it was truly off so I cut all the power!




My second mistake, and thankfully I did not go far, was to take a box cutter to start cutting the silicon that protects the internals from rain dripping in. Thankfully I didn't cut. I did do one little insert to see if it would pop off easy. It doesn't as it was sealed really good. HOWEVER, I saw what looked like three retaining screws.

I decided to bypass trying to remove the front panel and after looking at the gas port, and the top port, decided I would try to push the tank back through the camper instead.

I did not grab a picture of these screws, except for just the second one. This one is hiding behind the gas line going into the heater, and will require a socket extender bar.



This is the ONLY one that has a washer to it. I am assuming because of its position in this housing. Here are the pictures of the three holes where these screws were. I believe this is the one you need the 3/8 socket. The three retainer screws are located in the following places: 1 up by the air relief. 1 Behind the gas line. 1 is over by the electric box near the bottom right corner. There may be a fourth and that is by the drain plug.









Once that was removed, my next mistake was to try and remove the tank. You will need to remove the electric wires from the connectors. To do that, you need to remove the box covering the power connectors themselves. There may be a sticky tape to hold it in place but mine was stiff. There are about six screws holding this, and this is where I used the 1/4 socket with an extender. The third picture shows where I pushed it back before realizing the connection. You will want to unhook first. You will want to use a Philips head screwdriver, and for me, the white and blue line is for the bottom, and the black one is on the top.







It is now time to remove the parts that are going to hold back the tank. This will include the drain plug, and the air release valve. To remove the drain, you will need the 1 1/16 socket (I should mention that I believe it is 1 1/16 but may be one size up or down). The air release, I used my channel lock.













From here, I now pushed on both the top and bottom ports. This is not hard and you can do just a little on each one. The part to push on is the silver round piece with the big opening. You can really see it on the second picture. You can see the gas lines going in That silver ring around those lines is what you push on.





Now you are ready to pull it in from the inside. I do not have a picture of it, but the electric lines were zip tied to a zip wrap that is used to hold the insulation around the tank. You will want to cut those zip ties. It is tight, so here is how I did it. 1. I cut the strap that is holding the insulation around the tank. This way I am not cutting near electric cords. Then, once cut, I remove the tank, and then pull the strap through the wire zip tie and throw that away leaving the electric still zip tied. You also will have to unplug the black power cord. I have just a couple of pics for this.



Once this is unplugged, you can remove the tank and it will look like this.

BEWARE!!!! On the inlets of the hot and cold lines, there are a couple of small gaskets that do not come with the new tank. DO NOT THROW THOSE OLD ONES AWAY!!!! SAVE THEM FOR THE NEW TANK. I learned the hard way here and after six towels, and several tries, was finally able to find mine and reuse them.



Now you are ready for the new tank.

The new tank does not have threads in the retainer slot, but everything else is ready to go. The ports, the drain plugs, the hot and cold water side. All you will need is to get a tap to make your threads and a drill.









The tank is big enough that unless you brace it, or have help holding it, you will be trying to balance the tank and use the tap. Brace, or have help to hold it in place (I had it held with my legs, and someone else keeping it from rocking). Once set, use your tap and drill to make it threaded (I really enjoyed this part and am now looking for what else I can use this on, LOL!).










You do not have to worry about the drain plug or the air relief threads. Those are done already. The picture of the drain plug with the tank in place, but I am using it twice to show what it looks like.





Now, you are ready to start putting this back together. You can do it on your own, but it is absolutely easier to have someone outside helping to guide the parts into line while you are inside moving it into place. It goes back in, exactly as it came out. Do not forgot to replug in your electric on the inside. I do not have a picture of the new tank in place (I thought I did, so if anyone wants, I can get a picture of it. If anyone wants to see what it looks like, you can look at the one pic of the split tank, pretend it isn't split, and that is what it looks like.). Now, at this part, I would encourage not trying to seat it completely. Get it close to where you can put the retaining screws back in.

Once you can, and your screw teeth grab, you can tighten down and it will draw the tank into place! Now it is putting everything back together.

I put the electric back on, the drain cap, and the new air relief valve. I used plumbers tape on the valve, but I may have used too much as it was a little tight going back on the correct turns. Not sure, and if anyone here wants to suggest, I can back it up one turn at least if that would be better? I turned three times to remove, so I tried three to install again.











On the inside, I simply reattached the water lines, buttoned everything up, and that is it.

ETA: I did a test on the water and found the hot and cold water lines on the inside leaked really bad. The reason being, on the old tank, when you take it out, the inlets have a special gasket.

DO NOT LOSE THOSE GASKETS!!!!

If they are good, you can reuse them. If not, you may have to buy new ones from online. I, thankfully, found mine in the trash, and cleaned them up well, and then reused them. But keep them.

I hope this helps, and if there is anything I am missing, please feel free to let me know. All told, it was about an hour or so of me working, thinking, and trying how to do this. Now, it would be less because I know what to do.

One more point: Don't forget to turn back on your breakers!

Not sure how to close something like this, so what I will simply say is, I hope you enjoyed this, and any feedback you all may have, please feel free to let me know. Thank you all.

 

Thanks!