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Hi Bob,
There are a few things going on that created your problem.
1. Excess thermal expansion pressure or temperature of the water tripped the safety relief. This can come from a few issues, here are some of the more common I have seen, but not all I'm sure.
A. The air pocket in the top of the water heater dissolved and left no air cushion for heated water thermal expansion. This normally is a weeping relief valve.
B. A gusher blow off out the valve, can come from a combo of overheating and or lack of air cushion. If you have had hard water for a long time being heated, the mineral build up can be bad enough that the scale inside the heater starts insulating the tank and not allowing the sensor outside the tank to know when to shut down the heater. This ends up overheating the water. Then the thermal expansion is even worse and faster and the blow off gusher won't stop quick at all. This can compounded by mineral buildup on the valve stem of the relief valve not allowing the spring to reset it. Thus tapping the stem helps shut it up. The relief valve is supposed to have at least "annual" maintenance to open and close it to make sure it does not get stuck and works easy.
C. Many folks leave their water heater on all the time in the camper. They do this at home and think it is OK to do it in the camper. Yes, you can do that, leave it on all the time, but it can also accelerate mineral build up, air cushion being dissolved and potential shorter life from the water heater tank. If you only use hot water say, 1 to 2 hours per day, the other 22 hours the system is at full temp making mineral build up inside the tank. The newer heaters with electric ignition make it easy to turn the heater on and off. Just turn it on 20 minutes before you need it, use it, then turn it off.
D. Many folks do not know to flush the sediment out of the bottom of the water heater every spring when starting up the heater coming out of winterizing. Over time all the mineral build up starts corroding the tank.
If you had a 1B above, odds are high you have a good scale buildup inside the heater and the relief valve has the build up also. The relief valve is not that expensive and I recommended to replace it. If it would not reset like it is supposed to, it will happen again. You can do a vinegar boil out of the water heater to de-scale it. The Atwood manual tells how to do this.
If you need help with any of this, ask away.
Since most campgrounds do not supply soft water to our campers, you are at the mercy what ever comes out of their supply valve. It may be very hard water, that makes the scale issue even worse.
Most campers do not have a thermal expansion bladder tank, and there was no Sunline made as standard with them in it. Some have added one and this helps with the loss of air pocket in the water heater creating the over pressures and weeping relief valve. You can also know about the problem, and recreate the air pocket when you get to camp. This can be a pain, but it does work. Some have created a drain valve setup on the water heater to make recreating the air pocket much simpler, ~ a 2 to 5 minute task.
Hope this helps
John
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Current Sunlines: 2004 T310SR, 2004 T1950, 2004 T2475, 2007 T2499, 2004 T317SR
Prior Sunlines: 2004 T2499 - Fern Blue
2005 Ford F350 Lariat, 6.8L V10 W/ 4.10 rear axle, CC, Short Bed, SRW. Reese HP trunnion bar hitch W/ HP DC
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