Water heater element

[Nancy]

This is a last ditch effort to find a heating element for the Super/Stor model SS-6M water heater on our 28TE. Super/Stor was manufactured by Heat Transfer Products, Inc. (HTP), which is now part of a larger company. I've been in touch with them, and they sent me what they thought was the correct part. Problem is it's too long by 2-3", meaning it hits the far side of the tank before the threads engage. I went back to them, and they don't have a shorter element.

Hardware store/plumbing supply element is slightly different in that the gasket on those units has a square cross section. They fit and they screw in, but there is no way to make them not leak. We worked on it, our mechanic worked on it, no joy.

The original element has an o-ring gasket. We even tried swapping out the square gasket on the hardware store element with an o-ring. Still leaked.

Short of a miracle, I think we're looking at a new water heater, which is a shame because the original is in excellent condition other than the fact that it doesn't have a working element.

[WillieC]

A decent welder could make a square to round adapter. Maybe. New heater might be cheaper. Love planned obsolescence.

[Nancy]

It's not the adapter that's the problem, it's the gasket.
I happen to have a welder on hand.
As for obsolescence, in fairness, it is 27 years old.