AVION Travel Trailers

Water heater help!
Just got around to checking out the water heater on our new to us '69 A-25 and it's not working. The red dial on the gas valve will not turn to "pilot" even with help from a pair of pliers. Has any one replaced the valve one of these Atwood 6 gal heaters?

When I first got my Avion the thermostat on my Atwood pilot ignition water heater was bad. To replace the thermostat the entire gas control valve had to be replaced, as opposed to just the thermostat. This aggravated me, so I replaced the unit with an Atwood direct spark ignition unit, which has a replaceable thermostat. The other unit was really old anyway.

While I'm not sure what type you have, you may find it's a good opportunity to replace the entire unit. If not though, check out the attached article. It mentions two types of valves used by Atwood.