Welding aluminum hot water tank cracked

[Z John]

Greetings,

Will contact my dealer to check if this can be fixed under warranty or whatever, long story short, over the weekend, while we were away with our 2 years old trailer (2019 Keystone Passport 179 BH), while using the hot water, we noticed that the hot water tank is leaking where the cold water gets inside the tank. If I push gently the welding around the metal pipe, I can see water coming out from that area. Looks like the welding is in aluminium (?), so I can't weld it myself I guess in case I would not get this fixed under warranty. I assume I would need to take it out from there anyways to make a nice / clean work & also reduce the chances to cause damage to the trailer, etc. Was wondering if I could simply use some sort of epoxy or maybe someone would have another trick / advice please? Would like to avoid to have to take out the unit ($$).

Side note, I have the feeling that the unit was not installed properly as the pipes and the switch for the cold water inlet are in contact (there is a good amount / lot of pressure on the switch) with the floor and I think over time the vibrations might have caused the weld to sustain fatigue and crack.

Any advice on this one please?

Many thanks!

[chuckster57]

Welcome to the forum

What brand of water heater? It may be under warranty from them. I wouldn’t bother trying to repair it.

[Z John]

It is a 'Dometic' 4 gallon (model 4-E I think... not sure...). Apparently these are warranty 2 years, guess what, we are juuust right after the end of that period... I will still try to contact my dealer / Keystone Dometic to see if I can get some assistance.

[chuckster57]

Call Dometic.

[sourdough]

Like Chuck said, call Dometic. You're past the 12 mo. Keystone warranty and they would only be running middleman on the repair....if it was within 12mos. of purchase. Close to 2 years you need to be on the phone with Dometic. And IMO I would not worry about repairing it either. If warranty won't cover it they aren't that expensive and although I'm not familiar with your trailer, they are not that hard to install barring some construction placement anomaly.