Sabre 32DPT Water Heater

[jstauffer]

A neighbor to us, who recently lost her husband and has acquired a 2019 Sabre 32DPT 5th wheel, was needing some help with her RV. I had replaced a dead battery for her and was checking some other systems out and was was not able to find a control for the hot water heater. It is a Suburban SW10DE and the electric switch on the water heater itself is turned on but no where inside the RV can I find a switch, or switches, that allow one to chose electric or propane. Is there a chance that the thermostats for the electric and gas are set at different temperatures allowing the electric to operate when plugged into shore power but without shore power the water temperature lowers a bit more allowing the gas to turn on? One way to check it is to turn the shore power off and run the hot water to see if the gas eventually comes on but thought I would check here first.
Thanks

[Old-Biscuit]

Suburban SW10DE

That is a Gas/Electric model
Gas has an INSIDE switch
Electric has an OUTSIDE switch

Gas and Electric are separate/independent with their own controls/t-stat
Gas uses 12VDC with set of T-stats and circuit board/electronic ignition
Electric uses 120VAC with set of t-stats

T-stats are under Push to Reset cover above gas valve
Left side for Electric
Right side for GAS

Gas & electric can be used together or separately
Gas switch INSIDE can be Suburban OEM switch with RED Fault Light
OR RV MFG incorporated it into a 'Control Panel/Screen'

***RV MFG sometimes incorporate an Electric INSIDE switch which has to be on along with outside switch for Electric to heat

NEVER turn on Electric unless WH Tank if FILLED with water
DRY FIRING WILL BURN OUT ELEMENT


Check Monitoring Panel for switches

[Sealyn]

My 5er only had the circuit breaker inside for the electric heating element. Check breaker panel.

[Old-Biscuit]

Originally Posted by Sealyn

My 5er only had the circuit breaker inside for the electric heating element. Check breaker panel.

That would be due to OEM AC Switch is in outside compartment

Unless RV MFG or owner adds an Inside switch that is how the Suburban WHs come....no AC inside switch

[jstauffer]

Apparently this RV is not equipped with an inside AC switch (other than the circuit breaker) as the only one I can find is the outside switch behind the cover of the water heater. Likewise I cannot find an inside switch with red fault light for the gas. However, as Old Biscuit mentioned, it could be incorporated in the MFG control panel screen as I did not think to turn it on thinking it was just a leveling system. But you would think it would have to be readily available to see the red fault light. The lady that owns the RV has been gone for a few days so will investigate further when she gets back. Am wondering if this water heater just automatically runs on AC and the only time it will run on gas is when it is not hooked to shore power or you loose power. Seems strange to me that it would work that way.



Thanks for everyone's input.

[Old-Biscuit]

Originally Posted by jstauffer

Apparently this RV is not equipped with an inside AC switch (other than the circuit breaker) as the only one I can find is the outside switch behind the cover of the water heater. Likewise I cannot find an inside switch with red fault light for the gas. However, as Old Biscuit mentioned, it could be incorporated in the MFG control panel screen as I did not think to turn it on thinking it was just a leveling system. But you would think it would have to be readily available to see the red fault light. The lady that owns the RV has been gone for a few days so will investigate further when she gets back. Am wondering if this water heater just automatically runs on AC and the only time it will run on gas is when it is not hooked to shore power or you loose power. Seems strange to me that it would work that way.



Thanks for everyone's input.

No 'auto' swap to gas (like RV fridges can do)
Circuit board is for GAS only no involvement with AC
There is a Gas on/off switch INSIDE

OEM AC is in OUTSIDE compartment