RV Water Heater Leaking? Check this First!

Once again I had a small leak around the Atwood water heater (Hot water heater leaking). I spotted some water on the ground outside my RV Recreational Vehicle travel trailer and investigated it. What I found was the water wasn't leaking from the water fittings but from the water tank- actually through the hot water heater heating element. When I pulled the water heater out and removed the hot water heater from the RV travel trailer I was able to remove the water heater heating element and found that the threads where the heating element screws into the hot water heater tank were corroded pitted and threads were missing. There was a small crater where threads once were. I think the leak is actually from the failure of the heating element but the water tank is about to cause a REAL problem so I decided to replace it while I had things out this far. I found that I could have just bought a new water tank and swapped it out but chose to replace the entire water heater instead. RV 5th wheel travel trailer motor home coach water heater leak leaking heating element leaking