Community Forums

BadBoy · 06-29-2010, 10:33 PM

Hi, I am a newby to the RV thing. I have a 1997 31 foot, class C Ford Dutchman. I purchased it from a widow. Unfortunately she didnt know how anything worked and I have been trying to figure it all out with the limited manuals he had in it.

I have pretty much figured everything out but how to turn on the hot water tank (on propane preferred) as well as the furnace. I clicked on the furnace on the theromstat when I was plugged into shore power but I could hear th efan going but no heat. The propane does work because I got my fridge running on it (Noted the Norcold- wait 2 days for it to cool down while on level ground haha)

My main priority at this point is that hot water tank. Is there a switch under the sink? cant find anything, there is a cap on the outside where there is a panel which I believe is for the hot water tank..do i uncap it?

PLEASE HELP! boondocking it tomorrow and hopefully I can have a hot shower the next day!

Thx..Jason

LVJ58 · 06-29-2010, 10:55 PM

If the water heater is gas & electric, usually there's a rocker switch located in either the galley or bathroom sometimes both locations. For the electric they usually use a switch same as a wall switch in your home. In our coach we just have one lp switch in the galley and for the electric there's a wall type switch under our galley sink to the left.

rvten · 07-22-2010, 01:41 PM

You HWH could be a manually lit unit. If it is. You have to open the door outside the HWH and light it. There would be a valve to turn on the gas there.

Luv2go · 07-22-2010, 01:57 PM

Jason:

Here's a typical water heater with the cover open. When the cover is closed you will see about a 1' x 1' metal cover with about 4x5" vent on it. It opens with a spring-loaded twist latch:

Once you find it you can hopefully find who made it (usually Atwood or Suburban) and find a manual for it at Bryant RV.

The manuals have pictures of some of the switches, then you can hopefully identify it inside your coach (if it has one).

Keep us posted!

Good Luck!
Stewart

Flagelpater · 07-22-2010, 08:06 PM

FWIW make sure it is Not in By-pass before you turn it On. Without water in the tank you will do some damage.

BadBoy · 07-26-2010, 07:08 PM

thx very much, I tracked it down. It was a simple switch on the cupboard below the sink labelled Attwood. Stupid me, I thought that was a type of breaker switch for the air conditioning. Warm showers are muchly appreciated by the bride haha
thx again,
Jason