Wiring on new water heater

[david3378]

've recently had a stroke which effected my cognitive abilities. i need some help to instruct me on how to wire a suburban water heater that i installed in my 2003 gulfstream travel trailer. i was unable to get a model SW6DE like i originally had. i was able to purchase model SW6DEL. i was told that would work. welll... there are a couple wires that are different and i don't know what to do. all help is appreciated. thank yo

[Old-Biscuit]

Suburban SW6DE....
12VDC from FUSED source to GAS on/off switch THEN to DC Junction Box on left side of WH Tank. (Red/POS , Blue is POS to Fault Light, Yellow/Green---NEG/GRD)

120VAC from 15A Circuit Breaker to AC Junction Box on right side of WH Tank (Black/Hot & White/Neutral)

Your Old Model Wiring





Your New SW6DEL (uses a DC Relay to trigger 120VAC)
The 12VDC for the GAS is SAME

The 120VAC uses 12VDC from fused source to the Electric ON/OFF 12V Switch
Then from switch DC POS goes to AC Junction Box on right side of WH Tank where the DC Relay is located (Orange/POS.....BLack 120VAC Hot to/from relay)




Suburban DEL version Installation/Operation Manual
http://techsupport.pdxrvwholesale.co...ser-Manual.pdf

[david3378]

thanks for trying. i can't understand wiring diagrams anymore. for me to understand now everything has to be very literal. i've only got three wires coming from inside my rv walls that go to the water heater . they are BLUE, ORANGE AND YELLOW. --- my replacement wh has 4 wires that have been cut from the other rv wall of donor rv... ther are RED, BLUE , GREEEN AND ORANGE. 3 wires on my old one and 4 from the donor rv. in both cases these wires branch out towards the wv itself at the junction box et. more confusing ... this color to that color splicing from the original factory installation. IS THERE A WAY TO SIMPLY CONNECT THE 3 WIRES FROM MY INTERIOR WALLS ( blue, orange, yellow) TO THE DONOR WIRES WHICH ARE (red, bluse, green, orange) ? if so, how or is it more complicated than that? since my stroke i have to have very literal instructions... for example... attach original yellow wire to new donor red wire etc. or something similar. i apologize for being so dificult. it's just my new normal. thank you, i look forward to your response.

[Old-Biscuit]

BLUE, ORANGE AND YELLOW.......OLD water Heater

Blue is from circuit board to FAULT Light on GAS Switch
ORANGE......12VDC POS
Yellow..........12VDC NEG



RED, BLUE , GREEEN AND ORANGE. ....New water heater

Red....12VDC POS
Blue....Fault light on gas switch
Green...12VDC NEG/GRD

ORANGE.....12VDC POS to the DC Relay in the AC Junction Box on right side of water heater where the 120VAC wiring also connects
120VAC Black/HOT, White/Neutral, Green--bare/Ground
Black connects to/from AC side of DC Relay, White comes from ELEMENT back to Main Panel and connects grounds


Anyone to help you with the wiring, connections, testing???
New DC Sitch for the AC functions...DC to the Orange wire for DC Relay
Redoing the AC wiring so it comes from 15A CB and connects to DC Relay in the junction box

Link to DEL Installation Manual posted in my 1st post

[Persistent]

"i've only got three wires coming from inside my rv walls that go to the water heater . they are BLUE, ORANGE AND YELLOW. ---

my replacement wh has 4 wires that have been cut from the other rv wall of donor rv... ther are RED, BLUE , GREEEN AND ORANGE."

The wire color in your RV may or may not match the wire color in the donor RV. The colors are what the installers used.

The wire color in the two water heaters are shown in the wire diagrams that you can no longer understand. You must determine the function of the wires in your RV in order to connect them.

Do you know what color in your RV was connected to what color in your old water heater? If not, testing will be required.

Donor Green and Yellow
Look at the colors in the donor heater. Not necessarily the color of loose wire from the donor RV.

There are three 12 volt wires plus a green 12 volt ground in the donor heater. The green is 12 volt ground. Connect green on donor WH to ground. Yellow in the donor RV is also 12 volt ground.

Meter your RV wires to find ground. It should be zero volts and zero or very low ohms when measured to frame ground.

Donor Red
Red on the donor is the 12 volt positive and must be connected to the remote “GAS” panel switch.

Meter the leads from your RV. Switch the “GAS” switch “on” and “off”. Once found this identifies the wire to connect to the red wire in the donor WH.

Donor Blue
Blue is the DSL light on your control panel. Connect it to the remaining wire from your RV. You may wish to leave this disconnected for safety until you are sure everything else is working.

The "DSL" light on the control panel will not light if you left it disconnected. Connecting it to the wrong wire can cause smoke and fire in the donor water heater.

Donor Orange
Orange is 12 volt positive for 120 volt relay. Your old system does not have this switch. There is no wire from your RV to connect to the donor orange. It requires a new control panel switch like the 12 volt “GAS” switch.

The existing “Electric” switch is a 120 volt switch and must not be connected to the donor orange.

There will be at least two more wires from the old installation. They are 120 volts AC from the control panel “ELECTRIC” switch and a neutral wire. There may be an additional frame ground wire.

The 120 volt from the switch is usually black. The 120 volt neutral is usually white. Do not connect the 120 volt from the switch to the donor water heater.

What should you do?
If you have come this far, you may understand that new wiring and a new switch are required. Should you continue, or should you hire the work done?

At this point, the gas functions should be operational. The 120 volt electric is not going to work until wiring is modified and a new 12 volt electric switch is installed.

Hopefully Old-Biscuit will review my instructions and note any errors.

I wish you good luck and happy trails ahead!

[A1RVTraveler]

I suggest you convert the DEL back to a DE.

Very simple. Remove the relay. Discard the orange wire. Discard the yellow wire going to the relay. If you follow the yellow wire from the relay, you will find the end is attached to a ground screw. Remove the screw, remove the yellow wire and reinstall the screw.

Once the relay is removed, use wire nuts to attach the white 120 Volt wires together. Cut off the wire terminal on the black wire that was attached to the relay. Re-strip the end of the black wire and use a wire nut to attach it to the black 120 Volt wire coming from the RV into the relay box.

Hook up the copper ground wire coming from the RV to the relay box.

The newest DEL water heaters did away with the small black 120VAC On-Off switch on the outside of the water heater down near the electric heating element. The older DEL water heaters still had the small black switch.

If you need to turn off the 120VAC going to the water heater during the winterization process or maintenance you can use you Water Heater Circuit Breaker or add a nice 120VAC On-Off switch (Like a house light switch in a outlet box). Just install it on the incoming 120VAC line to the water heater. You could easily mount it to the floor behind the water heater.