No hot water (kinda) - 2019 Reflection 31mb

[BarberArias]

Riddle me this-
We just bought our 2019 31mb 2 days ago and in the travels home (1500 miles) found out we don't have hot water.
With the water heater turned on, all the valves on the panel in the correct direction and the out side faucet turned off. When you turn the bathroom faucets on (either hot or cold) you get hot water out of the faucet for a couple seconds than ice cold. The kitchen sink doesn't recieve hot water at all (cold both sides).
Bad bypass? Bad check valve? Any thoughts? Why hot water out of the hot and cold side for a couple sec?

Happy New Years!

[Country Campers]

You may have a faulty valve on the Nautilus panel. Did you try on both propane and electric?

If you remove the "false wall" in the pass thru storage that is connected to the side of the Nautilus panel you will be able to see the back of the Nautilus panel as well as the back of the water heater. If you take a picture of the plumbing lines on the back of the panel and how they attach to the water heater I can compare to mine to rule out a " plumbing error" at the assembly process.

Brian

[ThePowells]

BarberArias Welcome to the family and the forum.
I would check the outside water spray connection valves and make sure that both them are turned off.

I'm sorry that your first posting was a question about a problem, but that is why we are here. The moderators have put together a letter to help new members have the best experience and get the most from the forum. Here is the link https://gdrvowners.com/forum/main-fo...to-new-members

[Cate&Rob]

BarberArias
I would second the advice from Jerry ThePowells . This is likely caused by the outside shower valves both being left open with the shower head either turned off or removed.

Rob

[BarberArias]

Unfortunately I have checked the outside shower not once, not twice but something like 6 times. Ugh I thought that's what it was going to be for sure, but nope.
I'm going to pull the back panels off tomorrow and dig around.

[Cate&Rob]

BarberArias
The next most likely candidate for source of the problem is the plastic check valve on the outlet from the water heater. Failure of this part is quite common. This check valve is required by the Nautilus panel to prevent back filling the water heater when winterizing. Better quality brass check valves are available, but replacing this plastic part with a straight piece of threaded pipe would be fine for normal use (other than winterizing with antifreeze).

Rob

[howson]

Riddle me this-
We just bought our 2019 31mb 2 days ago and in the travels home (1500 miles) found out we don't have hot water.
With the water heater turned on, all the valves on the panel in the correct direction and the out side faucet turned off. When you turn the bathroom faucets on (either hot or cold) you get hot water out of the faucet for a couple seconds than ice cold. The kitchen sink doesn't recieve hot water at all (cold both sides).
Bad bypass? Bad check valve? Any thoughts? Why hot water out of the hot and cold side for a couple sec?

Happy New Years!

I agree with Brian-- the red valve in the Nautilus is malfunctioning.

If you look in the Reference Material section of the Plumbing channel there's a post showing how the hot water travels through the Nautilus (at least how it flows in my 315RLTS). If the red valve is set so the hot water tank is bypassed all that comes out of the tap is cold water. https://gdrvowners.com/forum/operati...abled-disabled

So why a momentary hit of hot water then cold from the bathroom faucet?

The heat from the water heated in tank worked it's way from the output of the heater to the sink's tap--which in my 315RLTS is near and above the tank, thus since heat rises there's warm water there even if the red valve is set to bypass (and the hot water is turned on). But this small amount of warmed water is quickly flushed by the cold water due to the malfunctioning red valve in the Nautilus panel.

The obvious next question is how to replace the valve (or even verify it's bad) in the panel. That won't be fun. Removing the Nautilus and disturbing all of those connections could introduce all kinds of "fun". There's manuals for the Nautilus in the Plumbing channel's Reference Material section, too.

Good luck!

Howard

[howson]

BarberArias -- absolutely follow Rob's ( Cate&Rob ) advice to check that output valve on the water heater first. Much easier to change and it is a high failure item.

[colan]

My two cents on the water heater check valve:

With the hot water only turned on at a faucet, no water or a trickle points to the check valve. If there is a good stream of water with the only the hot faucet turned on the issue isn’t the check valve.

From reading the original post it sounds like there is a good stream of water.

As mentioned above it could be the Nautilus. Another thing to consider is how hot is the water in the water heater? Open the water heater door on the outside. Does the pressure and temperature valve feel hot? Open the P & T valve (small lever) be careful, water should be hot, around 140.

[TedS]

The problem won't be the water heater check valve. Except for winterizing setting, it could be removed and have no effect. The faucet may have a leak hot to cold to give a shot of hot out the cold side. Check the shower valve to track down not so hot water at the sink. Besides the outside shower, the inside shower valve is another mixing valve. Both hot and cold knob valves must be turned off.

[Cate&Rob]

colan
Good point on diagnosing whether the problem is the water heater check valve based on flow with only a hot water faucet open.

Rob

[SolitudeAtLast]

We had a somewhat similar problem a few weeks ago. We had nice warm (not hot ) water from the hot water faucets. Problem was cold mixing with hot at the Nautilus shower valves. I had moved the outside shower hose with sprayer attached to the other side (door side) connection, then opened hot valve to see if we could get hot water, didn’t. Left hose on door side; went back to Nautilus and “closed” the valves (I thought) without the hose attached.

Later in the day we discovered the hot water was only warm. Checked several things to no avail. Next morning I remembered having fiddled with the hot/cold outdoor shower valves. Connected the shower hose in the Nautilus port again, & found valves not closed. Closed them both, confirming no flow from the hose. PROBLEM SOLVED.

HOWEVER, in doing so, discovered hot & cold must both be turned off in the SAME direction, which is counter-intuitive, and easy to do incorrectly if the hose is unplugged (no flow ) or has sprayer attached and in the off position; might turn off valves incorrectly and not realize it.

Seems GD should clearly mark ON - OFF direction; and possibly use valves that turn in opposite directions. Also, these valves are Black plastic, so if they are marked, the markings are hard to see. We’re home for Christmas, but will be back this week and I’ll look closer.

Thought this might help someone else.

[TedS]

Ah, the righty-tighty, lefty-loosey memory trick.

[BarberArias]

WOW, it is amazing on how problems present them selves.

The water heater had a bad Thermostat on it.

What I now can guess is that the tank would heat up then shut off even though water wasn't hot. The hot water would raise to the top giving me a short burst of warm water at the faucet, and because the hot and cold line was zip tied all the way up it would also warm the cold line as well.

I replaced the thermostat and cut the zip ties and the problem is fixed.

Crazy!
Thanks for all the pointers and advice!

[howson]

WOW, it is amazing on how problems present them selves.

The water heater had a bad Thermostat on it.

What I now can guess is that the tank would heat up then shut off even though water wasn't hot. The hot water would raise to the top giving me a short burst of warm water at the faucet, and because the hot and cold line was zip tied all the way up it would also warm the cold line as well.

I replaced the thermostat and cut the zip ties and the problem is fixed.

Crazy!
Thanks for all the pointers and advice!

Thank you for the follow-up! It increases our "knowledge bank" and is the core of this owners-helping-owners forum.