Community Forums

jbikes1 · 04-28-2018, 07:46 PM

It seemed my water heater had failed me some time during the day. I ran out of hot washing dishes... yes I wash dishes.... I tried to press the 2 reset buttons on the out side panel and checked the breaker. All seemed ok. No worries, I thought, I'd just run it on propane. Couldn't get that to fire. Could be I don't know how to run that as I can't find the manual. Do I turn both the electric switches off (the outside one under the panel and the switch above the passenger seat? then hit the propane button? that didn't seem to help. Ideas?

Now wait cause this is the temperamental part, After being gone a couple hours I came back to find the water heater was working and I have hot water... for the moment.

sooo GRrrr...... maybe a bad switch? thermostat bad.... bad heater..... bad coach..... my bad?

Old-Biscuit · 04-28-2018, 08:37 PM

Sounds like you have a Suburban water heater due to your reference to 2 reset buttons and the outside electric switch .

What model is it?
Does it have 'DEL' at end of model or just 'DE'

Suburban uses 2 different/separate sets of t-stats for temp control
One set is just for the 120V AC element
One set is a 12V DC just for the propane

The 120V AC is very simple circuit.........
AC Power from Individual Circuit Breaker to ON/OFF Switch(es) ---more then one both have to be on----from switch to the AC Set of t-stats and then to element

12V DC for propane.....
DC Power from a FUSED DC Circuit to On/OFF Switch (only one) from switch to DC Junction Box on side of tank to DC Set of t-stats then to circuit board (on side of tank OR on cabinet wall close by) from circuit board to spark electrode and gas valve

One system not heating ....other should as they are 'independently' controlled with their own respective components

UNLESS it is a DEL Model......just like the 'DE' the AC and DC sides are still independent BUT do have a common control ------DC Power that triggers the AC Power to element and all the other propane functions

So what IS your Brand/Model?????????

As a side note:
Electric and Propane can be used one at a time OR BOTH simultaneously.
Only affects recovery time.....NOT whether one or other works

jbikes1 · 04-29-2018, 05:22 AM

This is a DE model.

I can't make out why it started working again. Oddly, I'd rather it just quit altogether. The sometimes sometimes not is harder to diagnose.

To use the the propane, just one electric switch on (either one)? Then it should fire? Else the propane not working is odd?

Old-Biscuit · 04-29-2018, 10:47 AM

DE Model

One On/Off switch FOR PROPANE (Usually with a LIGHT)

Electric -----
One OEM ON/OFF Switch in outside compartment (lower left corner)
IF RV MFG added an additional switch ---both have to be on for electric (only have to turn one off to stop electric--typically the added in inside RV)

"007" · 04-29-2018, 11:30 AM

OLD BISCUIT has the answers in both his posts, all switch's for electric have to be on, the switch on HWH panel outside is for when its in a by-pass winterized mode, with no water in WH, so if someone turns on over head electric switch's, with no water in heater, the electric element is not burned out.
With everything on you have plenty of HW while traveling or when taking long showers.
Your Suburban info can be found in the links below in my signature,
RV APPLIANCES Link. Water heater.

JFXG · 04-29-2018, 02:23 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jbikes1

..........Now wait cause this is the temperamental part, After being gone a couple hours I came back to find the water heater was working and I have hot water... for the moment.

sooo GRrrr...... maybe a bad switch? thermostat bad.... bad heater..... bad coach..... my bad?

With a Suburban, I believe that the fact that the gas side won’t work is totally unrelated to the electric side problem, unless there’s a problem in the 12VDC feeding the control card.

However, there’s a possible failure mode I just encountered and which you may have. Suppose that the water heater didn’t stop working (which apparently it did not, as it restarted later), but you just ran out of available hot water. I recently started “running out” of hot water, but the water would recover in a while. Troubleshooting showed the electric side was heating, but not hot enough. My electric side would consistently produce 109 degree water, while the gas side continued to produce 130 degree water. I replaced the electric side thermostat, and all is well again.