Gas/electric water heater
 

The control panel for our Coachmen Mirada has a switch for the hot water heater. It has the word gas at the bottom. Does that mean that it is on gas in the down position? When in the up position, a blue light comes on. Is this electric?

Sounds like you have it figured out. AS for the gas position you could put the switch down (gas position) and listen for the water heater to fire up. Hard to know if the electric side is working unless you cycle some water through the heater.

You will need to look at the Owners Manual for the Mirada, but this switch likely means; in the down position the hot water heater is gas only. When the blue light is on, it is both gas and electric at the same time. That is, the electric element is used to boost the recovery time of the water heater and you get more/warmer water as it is used.

We actually have two switches; one to turn on the gas electronic ignition of the water heater, the other to turn on the electric element. At least once we have heated water with only the electric element and it has a poor recovery time. But with the gas and electric together, you can take a long shower.

Using gas the energy input to the water heater is 12,000 BTUh, the electric element adds 1440 watts of energy. 1440 watts is roughly 4900 BTUh, or about 41% of the gas input. Together they are 16,900 BTUh.

More than likey whenin the down position and the light is off then it is OFF. With it in the up position and the light is on it is on GAS. now you also have to remember that the blue light will go out when the buner turns off. If you don't have another switch then you may not have a Gas\electric water heater. You can check the outside access to the water heater and see if there is an electric switch out there.

my mirada's hot water is only gas and the switch for it seams to be opposite all the others, but when i turn on the gas the blue switch lights up when the light is off , the unit is off,I have installed a hot rod electric conversion to mine so i can use electric especally when the tank is full and sitting all day long, this conversion has saved me money in propain cost and i still turn on the gas when we are taking showers for a quicker recovery time, when i bought my mirada last year was told they just come with gas water heater i can upgrade but didnt want to pay all that extra money since it is a new unit when it does break down and need replaced i will get a biger tank with the electric/ gas combo allready in the tank. hope this helps any other questions pvt. me and i will try my best to help, the conversion kit was around 100.00 and took about 1 min to install, mine took about 1 hour but i moved plugs around and added a light up switch for the elctric water conversion