Replacement Water Heater for Atwood GC10A-4E

Updated 09/06/2025 | Published 08/05/2025

Products Featured in This Question

Camco Water Heater Element - Screw-In - 1500 Watts - 120 Volts

(89)

$13.91

Furrion RV Tankless Water Heater - Propane - Auto Pilot - 60K Btu - 18" x 18" Door - Black

(400)

$937.49

Furrion RV Tankless Water Heater - Propane - Automatic Pilot - 60,000 Btu - 18" x 18" Door

(400)

$815.95

Question:

I have an Atwood water heater model GC10A-4E in our 2007 triple E Topaz. The electric element seamed to have stopped working. Works fine on gas. Also may have a small leak I am trying to find. Being 18 years old what is the life span of a water heater. I don’t see Atwood heaters on your site and I was curious about what my options may be? Thank you Dave

asked by: Dave C

Expert Reply:

Hey Dave! Sorry to hear you're having trouble with your old Atwood GC10A-4E. You don't see any Atwood heaters because they went out of business quite a while ago. If you can sort out the leak the Camco Water Heater Element # CAM02143 can replace your element and keep it going. I would say at 18 years it has definitely lived a good life so replacing it wouldn't hurt before you have other parts fail you can't repair/replace.

Water heaters have largely moved away from the tanks and gone to tankless, which is what I recommend. Out of the available options I would go with the Furrion. You can choose from the following based on color:

-Furrion RV Tankless Water Heater - Gas - Auto Pilot - 60,000 BTU - 18" x 18" Door - White # FR68SR

-Furrion RV Tankless Water Heater - Gas - Auto Pilot - 60,000 BTU - 18" x 18" Door - Black # FR42TD

This version comes with their large door designed to to cover the space from old Atwood 10 gallon water heaters.

How did the vent installation turn out?

expert reply by: Robin H

Furrion Tankless Water Heater
(click to enlarge)

Dave C.

8/6/2025

Thanks for the quick reply as always. I did some more digging “removed a panel in the pass through “ the tank seems to be leaking from the electric element area,it’s a slow leak just dripping atm, but that probably shorted the element control. So sounds like a good candidate for replacement. Thank you for the tankless suggestion I was wondering if that would be a good way to go or not. The wife is happy as that was her first suggestion. The roof vent went well considering it was my first one, I did tear the roof membrane a little getting the old one up as it was sealed with dycor and not butyl tape. I put extra dycor down and it seems good. I tied the fan power into a near by ceiling light, so to use the fan have to have the light on but that’s not an issue. Thanks again Robin great service as usual. Dave

Robin H.

8/6/2025

@DaveC yeah I would go ahead and replace it then. At least there will be the added bonus of a happy wife despite the cost of a new water heater. Also glad to hear the installation went well all things considered. Let me know if you need anything else!

Dave

8/6/2025

@RobinH Robin is there a mounting kit required for this tankless unit? Also it looks like it would be shipped ups, who in my experience just slaughter us Canadians with duty and brokerage fees. Is there another courier you could use? I found the same model on *Redacted* with free shipping. I want to use you guys as your customer support is awesome. But shipping is expensive when you add in ups after fees. I know we’ve could save some $ using partner codes from the full time tv you tubers we follow. How would warranty work? Would we deal with furion themselves? Thanks Dave

Robin H.

8/6/2025

@Dave no mounting kit but you probably have to modify the space to get it to fit right by building it out. Not uncommon for these kinds of things. I think our shipping selects the best option available and that is probably it for us. I'm sure they are able to ship it out locally up there so they have the advantage. I don't blame you for wanting to avoid those fees. They can probably handle a warranty but Furrion (Lippert) will always honor it if you contact them directly. We're still here for help if you need it in the future too. I won't hold it against you! Also, our system flags that name sometimes so I edited it in a funny way in your last comment.