99 dutch star water heater issue

[dutch99]

first and foremost here is a picture of the service tag on the water heater



on our last trip i could smell faintly the scent of melting rubber/plactic. upon investigation i found that the 120v wiring to the heater had gotten very hot and was melting into the styrofoam insulation around the waterheater. upon the find, we disabled the heater and havent started it up since. is this a common issue? has anybody had this happen? if there a known fix?

[RobRV]

I am guessing that at some point the 110 AC was turned on while the Tank was Empty. You should inspect/ Test the Electric element as well there are a couple of Thermal Disc's located under a Black Rubber Cover . The 110 Electric one is likely fried!

[Dave78Chief]

Here is the service manual: http://bryantrv.com/docs2/docs/subsw.pdf
Electric element information is on page 15.
1440 Watts - 12 amps AC
10 ohms (if resistance is less than that then it is shorted and will draw to much current)

Wiring diagram is shown at the bottom of page 10

All connections have to be clean (no corrosion).

At 12 amps, the circuit should only have a 15 amp breaker in order to prevent the sort of problem you are seeing (excess current resulting in overheated wires).

Dave