Journey with Confidence RV GPS App RV Trip Planner RV LIFE Campground Reviews RV Maintenance Take a Speed Test Free 7 Day Trial ×
RV Trip Planning Discussions

Go Back   iRV2 Forums > RV SYSTEMS AND TECHNOLOGIES FORUMS > RV Systems & Appliances
Click Here to Login
Join iRV2 Today

Mission Statement: Supporting thoughtful exchange of knowledge, values and experience among RV enthusiasts.
Reply
  This discussion is proudly sponsored by:
Please support our sponsors and let them know you heard about their products on iRV2
 
Thread Tools Search this Thread Display Modes
 
Old 01-22-2015, 04:32 PM   #1
Senior Member
 
Tiffin Owners Club
Join Date: Dec 2013
Posts: 430
Suburban WH: Breaker On, Switches On, No AC at Element

I have a Suburban SW10DE water heater that works fine on LP. It also worked fine on AC when I winterized last year, but now it won't work on AC. I reset the breaker (which looked OK) and made sure the switch inside the coach and the one on the water heater are both on, but I don't see AC either from the element terminals to ground or across the element. With a power lead disconnected, the element reads 11 ohms - close enough to the 10 ohms I see on the replacement that I pre-purchased.

Any suggestions regarding what to do next?
__________________
2005 Phaeton 40 QDH
2013 Honda CR-V
ProjectPro is offline   Reply With Quote
Join the #1 RV Forum Today - It's Totally Free!

iRV2.com RV Community - Are you about to start a new improvement on your RV or need some help with some maintenance? Do you need advice on what products to buy? Or maybe you can give others some advice? No matter where you fit in you'll find that iRV2 is a great community to join. Best of all it's totally FREE!

You are currently viewing our boards as a guest so you have limited access to our community. Please take the time to register and you will gain a lot of great new features including; the ability to participate in discussions, network with other RV owners, see fewer ads, upload photographs, create an RV blog, send private messages and so much, much more!

Old 01-22-2015, 05:28 PM   #2
Member
 
DIYRVGuy's Avatar
 
Join Date: Nov 2009
Location: Belle Plaine, MN
Posts: 41
Blog Entries: 9
Send a message via Skype™ to DIYRVGuy
A brief scan over the manual on page 4 diagram 8 shows a switch and thermostat between the power supply and the element. Work backwards from the element until you find power. Test the components between power and element and you should find the problem

Manual here : http://www.cardinalrvclub.org/pdf/Su...r%20heater.pdf
__________________
Troy & Erica Tikalsky
1985 BlueBird Wanderlodge
DIYRVGuy is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 01-22-2015, 05:43 PM   #3
Senior Member
 
Bfmorgan's Avatar
 
Forest River Owners Club
Join Date: Mar 2013
Location: Northern United States
Posts: 339
In the AC line you will find two thermostats....one to regulate water temperature, the other is the ECO (emergency cutoff) in case the first thermostat fails and the water temp goes too high. One of the themostats may have failed. Check the connections on the heater element and on the thermostats. The heat generated by current flow and the water heater itself seems to accelerate the failure of connections.
__________________
Brad & Bonnie
2015 Ram 3500 Laramie 4x4 and 2018 Columbus 383FBH
Bfmorgan is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 01-27-2015, 11:53 AM   #4
Senior Member
 
Tiffin Owners Club
Join Date: Dec 2013
Posts: 430
Working (for now)

Thanks, DIY and Bf. I removed the cover from the thermostat / limit switch and there was good voltage there on both input and output terminals. Unplugged both spade connectors and reattached, resulting in power to the element and HOT WATER!

The connectors looked clean, so I suspect that one or the other of the crimp-on connections to the spade connectors is failing. If it fails again soon I'll solder new connectors into place.

I also need to replace the rubber cover over the reset buttons, called grommets by Suburban. Looks like it has needed resetting a few times over the years. The DC reset cover looks like new, but I'll probably put a new one on while I'm at it.
__________________
2005 Phaeton 40 QDH
2013 Honda CR-V
ProjectPro is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 02-06-2015, 12:10 PM   #5
Senior Member
 
Tiffin Owners Club
Join Date: Dec 2013
Posts: 430
Replace Thermostat Cover Insulation?

My water heater is still working - thanks for all the advice. I noticed that the little rubber covers for the AC reset pushbutton was worn through, so i ordered new ones for both buttons. It doesn't seem right to me that the resets happened frequently enough to wear these covers out, so I ordered a thermostat as well.

Under the thermostat cover there is a thin sheet of insulation. There are holes in the insulation under each of the buttons. I imagine that the material pushed away or wore away from having the buttons pushed so often.

When I put the cover back in place after the troubleshooting described in my previous posts, I reversed the insulation so that the holes are at the bottom instead of the top. My thinking is that the heat rises, so it is more important that the top be insulated.

So a few more questions - 1) Do I need to replace the insulation? 2) If so, can I just pull off a scrap of household insulation for this purpose? 3) If not, is placing the holes at the bottom the right thing to do? 4) Is the thermostat replacement as easy as it looks? (Remove power, remove cover, remove nut, remove leads, remove thermostat, then reverse the process with the new thermostat) 5) The bolt that the nut screws down on is a little rusty. If I break it off, is it time for a new water heater?

Thanks again.
__________________
2005 Phaeton 40 QDH
2013 Honda CR-V
ProjectPro is offline   Reply With Quote
Reply

Tags
element



Currently Active Users Viewing This Thread: 1 (0 members and 1 guests)
 
Thread Tools Search this Thread
Search this Thread:

Advanced Search
Display Modes

Posting Rules
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts

BB code is On
Smilies are On
[IMG] code is On
HTML code is Off
Trackbacks are Off
Pingbacks are Off
Refbacks are Off


Similar Threads
Thread Thread Starter Forum Replies Last Post
Tow a 2006 Honda Element 4-down? kmsquared Toads and Motorhome Related Towing 3 01-08-2015 07:00 AM
Frig heating element SNAIL1 RV Systems & Appliances 3 11-29-2014 02:35 AM
12VDC 30A circuit breaker tripping TexasSkunk Tiffin Owner's Forum 2 08-18-2014 12:57 PM
Dometic 1303 good on gas, ? 120 element tym RV Systems & Appliances 1 07-21-2014 12:21 AM
Added Electric Element to Atwood Water Heater burgman50 RV Systems & Appliances 2 06-13-2014 09:14 PM

» Featured Campgrounds

Reviews provided by


All times are GMT -6. The time now is 11:42 AM.


Powered by vBulletin® Version 3.8.8 Beta 1
Copyright ©2000 - 2024, vBulletin Solutions, Inc.