Water heater access.

[OlympicRange]

Hi everyone. We have a 2017 Passport Ultralite, model 199 MWLE. The water heater is located on the right side of the rear panel. Last winter I looked everywhere to gain access to the rear of the unit to bypass the tank for winterization. The bottom of the trailer is insulated and sealed; inside the trailer is where the bathroom is, and it looks like I would darn near have to dismantle the cabinetry to gain access. Has anyone, with this, or a similar model, run into the same issue? This is just the first of several access issues I have run into. Thanks to all in advance.

[NH_Bulldog]

I think you might find that the right side panel in either the wardrobe base cabinet or the left side of the vanity is removable to access the back of the water heater (I would lean towards the panel being inside the wardrobe base).

On mine (different model, but water heater in a similar location), there is a panel in the rear of the under bunk storage area that can be removed, but I am not a contortionist, so I just pull back my lower bunk mattress, lift the plywood bunk base and access the back of the water heater from above.

[OlympicRange]

Thanks for the tips! I’ll give those spots a little more scrutiny. ����

[wiredgeorge]

Originally Posted by OlympicRange

Hi everyone. We have a 2017 Passport Ultralite, model 199 MWLE. The water heater is located on the right side of the rear panel. Last winter I looked everywhere to gain access to the rear of the unit to bypass the tank for winterization. The bottom of the trailer is insulated and sealed; inside the trailer is where the bathroom is, and it looks like I would darn near have to dismantle the cabinetry to gain access. Has anyone, with this, or a similar model, run into the same issue? This is just the first of several access issues I have run into. Thanks to all in advance.

It appears that they designed this trailer for a contortionist. You will have to remove the outside/bottom panel on you wardrobe in the bathroom. It is likely held in place by four screws. Then get as much of yourself in that area of the wardrobe with a flashlight and there may be a panel over the water heater rear or it may be exposed. That has to be about the only way to get to the back to winterize.

[{tpc}]

Mine is like this too, despite not being a keystone product. I only have 2 screws to contend with, but you have to leave them partially in the panel like a hook of sorts to get the panel out, and then you can get to the valves. Not sure what you have to do to get the water heater out if it needs replacing.

Which reminds me...i need a new anode rod, but not sure what type of heater i have lol.

[GlasNav]

Originally Posted by wiredgeorge

It appears that they designed this trailer for a contortionist. You will have to remove the outside/bottom panel on you wardrobe in the bathroom. It is likely held in place by four screws. Then get as much of yourself in that area of the wardrobe with a flashlight and there may be a panel over the water heater rear or it may be exposed. That has to be about the only way to get to the back to winterize.

George: From what I've experienced with these RVs and trailers, being a contortionist is a prerequisite for maintaining and working on them!
Either that or have a very skilled small grandchild that is mechanically inclined.
To get to the winterizing valve on the back of our water heater, it is only possible with one arm in the drivers side pass thru (the small one) and facing aft with your left arm extended in and around the heater, then play touch and feel until your fingers locate the valve!
Bob

[locomech]

My Passport is a 2014 245RB and although a couple of years older I believe the access to the back of the water heater is similar. On mine it's behind a panel below the shelf in the wardrobe. On yours it may be behind a panel on the bottom of the vanity. The pics below may help give you an idea, sorry they posted sideways.

[wiredgeorge]

Originally Posted by {tpc}

Mine is like this too, despite not being a keystone product. I only have 2 screws to contend with, but you have to leave them partially in the panel like a hook of sorts to get the panel out, and then you can get to the valves. Not sure what you have to do to get the water heater out if it needs replacing.

Which reminds me...i need a new anode rod, but not sure what type of heater i have lol.

Open the outside access and there will be a sticker inside there that tells you make/model. I have a Suburban and it uses an anode rod to attract stuff that would otherwise rot the inside of the steel tank. Other brands don't use an anode rod to the best of my knowledge and Suburban may have been subsumed by some other RV parts maker so check the label.

[wiredgeorge]

Originally Posted by locomech

My Passport is a 2014 245RB and although a couple of years older I believe the access to the back of the water heater is similar. On mine it's behind a panel below the shelf in the wardrobe. On yours it may be behind a panel on the bottom of the vanity. The pics below may help give you an idea, sorry they posted sideways.

The OP has his bathroom sink butted up against the part of the wardrobe. you show in your picture. He will either get in from inside the bottom of the sink or the forward panel on the wardrobe.

[wiredgeorge]

Originally Posted by GlasNav

George: From what I've experienced with these RVs and trailers, being a contortionist is a prerequisite for maintaining and working on them!
Either that or have a very skilled small grandchild that is mechanically inclined.
To get to the winterizing valve on the back of our water heater, it is only possible with one arm in the drivers side pass thru (the small one) and facing aft with your left arm extended in and around the heater, then play touch and feel until your fingers locate the valve!
Bob

Please restrain your urge to laugh at me when I tell you I got stuck crawling in my 5th wheel's pass through storage area. I went in there with stuff to seal around pipes to keep mice out and then once in, turned on my back to work and then tried to slide out. I got stuck on the ridge where the compartment door seals. I am NOT skinny... or to be more accurate, a tad rotund. My wife came by and laughed for what felt like a half hour before giving my feet a pull out. To this day she complains that it was so funny that she forgot to take evidence pictures.

This past Saturday, I replaced the water valve in my Dometic 320 toilet and there is NOT enough room to get a forearm between the toilet and bath tub. I had to put my belly on the toilet (unfortunately, the tall Dometic 320) and work back in that dark corner by feel. I don't recall replacing that thing in the past on this trailer but it only had one of the two retaining screws installed. I did manage to install with both supplied screws. That been of effort reminded me that I am going on a diet as soon as I finish the pecan pie my sis gave me for Easter!

[OlympicRange]

You are right about the sink cabinet being butted up against the wardrobe. There is only one floor level panel on the wardrobe, and it has a heating duct coming out of it, but it iscrewed into place, so I may pull that off and see if I can contort my way to the rear of the hoy water tank. Thanks for the tip.

[jayhart]

My 199ML Ultralite has a water heater bypass in place but I had no idea it was there. I discovered the panel at floor level under the wardrobe closet when researching the installation of a demand-type unit.
Very poor delivery by the dealer I purchased from.
Alternately, but more complex, one can remove the outdoor ‘shower’ assembly and gain excellent access to the area behind the water heater. This makes it almost easy to work in that area. Replacing the shower assembly is simple enough with proper consideration for sealing and caulking, once the water lines’ connections have been tested for leaks.

[OlympicRange]

Removing the outdoor shower sounds like the best of a list of not-great options. At least in our trailer, the only accessible panel at floor level has a heater duct in it.
Thanks a bunch for the tip!

[dunkardvalley]

I have a 2020 Outback 330RL. I found the outside panel for the hot water heater, but I cannot locate any access panel inside the trailer. It has a full wardrobe in the master bedroom. The exterior access panel appears to correlate to an interior location inside the wardrobe. I cannot find any panel in the wardrobe wall or floor. The panel below the wardrobe is solid and has no screws for access. I know that thing has to be accessible from the interior. Can anyone tell me where it is located? Your help will be greatly appreciated. Joanne

[JRTJH]

Looking at your floorplan, there is a carpeted base in the front wardrobe. On "front bed floorplans" there are carpeted night stands on each side of the bed. The top of the roadside nightstand has 4 screws "well hidden and imbedded in the carpet" to secure the top. Remove those screws and the top lifts up (on a carpet hinge) to reveal the water pump and sometimes the water heater "back side"...

In your trailer, I'd suspect that carpeted base has a lift up top that's held in place by a few screws hidden in the carpet. You might be able to use a strong magnet to locate the screws if you have "sensitive fingers" that can detect the difficult to feel attraction to the metal screws.

[dunkardvalley]

Thank you for responding to my question. We not have the night stands beside the bed. The entire bed is a slide out. Our heater must be located in the wardrobe floor but the carpeting is hiding the screws to release the panel. We will look again on our next visit to the camper and hopefully find the hidden panel. I just don’t understand why there is no labeling for the location. We have taken every screwed on panel we could find off although we knew the exterior access was on the end of the unit beside the room slide.

Again, thank you for taking time to reply and offer guidance. I truly appreciate your time!

[LHaven]

Originally Posted by dunkardvalley

I just don’t understand why there is no labeling for the location.

Count your blessings. No label means they can't put one in the wrong place.

I've lost track of how many members have complained that the factory swapped the labels on their black and grey valve pulls.

[NH_Bulldog]

Originally Posted by LHaven

Count your blessings. No label means they can't put one in the wrong place.

I've lost track of how many members have complained that the factory swapped the labels on their black and grey valve pulls.

It was with great trepidation that I pulled the main grey tank handle on my new Cougar for the first time. It is a cable operated valve right next to the black tank valve in the wet bay. Big sigh of relief when I found they were labeled correctly! The only thing better was when I discovered that my black tank flush backflow valve under the bathroom sink was also installed correctly (I tested with low pressure compressed air before hooking up the water to it).

Anyway, to the topic at hand, I agree that the access panel to the WH has to be under the wardrobe floor panel. Someone had to be able to access it to make all the final connections, so I would guess that there may only be a screw or two holding the floor in place, if that. On my Passport, I had a small storage cabinet 3' deep under a bunk and the back panel was removable. The problem is I would have had to sent my child in there with tools and a flashlight to remove the panel and turn the bypass valves. So I lifted up the bunk mattress and found that they had cut the plywood bunk bottom into two pieces and never even bothered to screw the one panel down that I needed to remove to access the WH from above. That made it super easy for me to get to the WH. Hopefully Dunkardvalley has it that easy.