Water Heater Replacement - Work in Progress

[truk4u]

My leak was in fact the water heater. I pulled the water tank, pump, accumulator and water heater today. If your water heater is old like mine, 16 years, you can bet a leak will be coming your way. It took about 3 actual hours to get everything out and now I can dress up the bay while waiting for parts.

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Original Heater
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Water Tank - 135 Gal
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Leaky Heater Bottom
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Empty Water Bay

[Jon Wehrenberg]

While you are in there Tom verify the plywood floor is intact and not damaged due to the leak. Now is the time to deal with that.

[truk4u]

Thanks Jon... It's all good except for the spot under the heater and the very top layer of the plywood is wrinkled in a few places. I probed around and could not find any soft wood. I thought about making some small holes and fill in some wood glue and place something heavy on top to take out the wrinkles. Any thoughts on that?

Also for you Liberty owners, I found a fuel tank access door after removing the water tank.

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[HarborBus]

Good post Tom, I had not idea that you Liberty boys had a small residential type water heater. Do they still install them, and how many gallons is it?

[phorner]

Would you consider a tankless heater, or would the power requirements be prohibitive?

[truk4u]

Elliott,

It's the same size as your Marathon, 20 gallon, but one tank with a heat exchanger instead of the 2 stainless 10 gallon that you have. It's a Marine heater sold by Raritan and can be replaced for about 775.00 and they are pretty much the industry standard for boats. They don't make them out of steel anymore and claim the new plastic covers last much longer and not subject to rust and corrosion. They are very fast recovery tanks, we never run out of hot water.

[Jon Wehrenberg]

I think the fuel access varies depending on the equipment and bus vintage. Mine is located in the OTR bay, passenger side.

Assuming the plywood will dry adequately I would consider using some sealer on it, perhaps a good marine varnish or even Thompsons Water seal and to compensate for the lost layer perhaps a masonite panel, perhaps something like a tub surround material under the new tank.

I have my water bay floor covered with a single aluminum sheet although I doubt if it would do much to protect the plywood since there are holes bored through it and the plywood for water drains and the items like the pump mounts and water tank hold down bolts. I don't believe any of the holes have been sealed so water can get under it.

[jack14r]

Paul,I have a tankless water heater as well as the Raritan 20 gallon,the tankless only works on the generator and can use 38 amps on both legs,but I never run out of hot water.

[truk4u]

Paul,

I doubt you could get a tankless heater with the heat exchanger for engine coolant, but who know's.

[phorner]

Yeah, that was my thought too. The tankless would reduce your heating options to electrical power only, no Webasto or engine heat as a supplement.