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Old 05-29-2023, 07:45 AM   #1
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Water heater not working on Electric

Hi all -- just completed a quick 3 day weekend get-a-way and on our second morning of the trip, we noticed when we woke up that our electricity in our coach had gone off for a few minutes, but came back on just in a few minutes. When we took our first morning shower, we noticed that our water heater (on electric) was not working properly. I switched over to propane and all was good. I checked the fuse box and no blown fuses or breakers. Also checked the two amp fuse on the water heater itself and all was good. We have a 10 gallon Dometic water heater. Obviously, the electricity "glitch" did something to the water heater, but don't know what it could have been. Was able to continue showering using propane, as water heater worked perfectly on gas. I asked our neighbors if they had any power issues and no one did other than us, so assuming it was our coach and not the park. Any ideas?

Thanks to all.
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Old 05-29-2023, 08:12 AM   #2
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Did you check to see if you have power to the water heater? Not familiar with your coach, but on some there could be a GFCI that tripped due to the power outage.
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Old 05-29-2023, 10:47 AM   #3
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My bet is the water heater element.
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Old 05-29-2023, 12:19 PM   #4
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Dometic uses 12VDC to control BOTH electric & Gas functions
Same set of T-stat/ECO, same thermal fuse, common DC supply

Circuit Board has separate circuits for Gas and Electric

When on electric Circuit Board sends 12VDC to DC relay via Yellow wire
DC Relay Closes allowing 120AC to go to element
120VAC can be supplied directly by a 15A Circuit Breaker
120VAC can be via Outlet if water heater has a power cord/plug

Model Number

If Dometic GC10A-4E ----DC Relay and Element on backside of WH Tank
If Dometic WH-10GEA....DC Relay and Element in outside compartment

*2015...probably have old version with Relay/Element on backside of WH Tank
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Old 05-31-2023, 07:56 AM   #5
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Quote:
Originally Posted by gjbales View Post
Hi all -- just completed a quick 3 day weekend get-a-way and on our second morning of the trip, we noticed when we woke up that our electricity in our coach had gone off for a few minutes, but came back on just in a few minutes. When we took our first morning shower, we noticed that our water heater (on electric) was not working properly. I switched over to propane and all was good. I checked the fuse box and no blown fuses or breakers. Also checked the two amp fuse on the water heater itself and all was good. We have a 10 gallon Dometic water heater. Obviously, the electricity "glitch" did something to the water heater, but don't know what it could have been. Was able to continue showering using propane, as water heater worked perfectly on gas. I asked our neighbors if they had any power issues and no one did other than us, so assuming it was our coach and not the park. Any ideas?

Thanks to all.
Well do I feel like an idiot. I was dealing with another "Dometic" appliance issue when I wrote this post and then realized that we have an Atwood water heater -- not a Dometic. So dumb of me.

I did check our GFCI and all is good. Every appliance and outlet in the coach is working properly -- TV's, A/C, microwave, refrigerator, etc. So apparently something went awry in the water heater itself, so am checking with Thor customer support to see what trouble shooting I can do myself (very limited as I am not mechanically inclined) prior to taking in to a repair shop. I know some people prefer propane usage on their water heaters, but we don't boondock and would prefer to use the park's electricity since we are paying for it in our nighlty visits.

Thanks again for your help, and sorry for the midleading information.
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Old 05-31-2023, 09:06 AM   #6
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If you have power to the heating element (a multimeter is a required tool in all RVs), then it probably is a bad heating element.

To test that, you just need the tank empty and then you test for ohms between the 2 heating element terminals. Infinity (∞, a lazy 8) = bad. It there is water in the tank it will conduct and show there is connectivity between the 2 terminals.
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Old 05-31-2023, 03:30 PM   #7
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Dometic owns Atwood and now uses the Dometic brand name instead of Atwood for the same heaters.


As Old Biscuit explained, 120v heating mode is turned on/off by a 12v relay. And the 120v power comes from a circuit breaker in the main power panel (breaker box). Make sure the 120v breaker hasn't tripped, and flip the water heater power switch Off & On again. That's the wall switch somewhere inside your RV.


If you've already done that, go to the heater itself and check for 120v at the connection to the heater relay. If you have power there, then check at the heater element itself.
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