What ohms should my water heater element have?
 

I have a trailer with an atwood 6gal water heater. It heats off propane just fine but won't for electricity. I pulled the heater element. It's 120v 1400w. My multimeter only has a 2k ohm selection. It's reading .009. Is that 9ohms? Is that acceptable? I'm trying to look online and it keeps just showing elements with a 3-5000w rating. Any info helps. Thanks.

Ohms law..

1400 watts / 120 volts = 11.6 amps

120 volts / 11.6 amps = 10.34 ohms

If it truly is a 1400W heater element, the ohm value should be in the 10.3Ω range.

So is the .009 I'm seeing mean 9? And is that to low?

Yes, and it's close enough.
Zero would mean it's shorting out, and would trip fuses..
High (infinity) would mean burned out (broken).

So you have the element disconnected. It the resistance is low the would indicate the heating coil is good. Did you verify that the voltage to the heater is good??

Is this for you 2015 Zinger?

Atwood GC6A-10E
When On Electric need to have 12VDC form circuit board to DC Relay via the Yellow wire
DC Relay then closes allowing 120VAC to go from Circuit Breaker to/thru Relay to Element

DC Relay/Element both under that protective cover on WH Tank

I think Ohm's Law is not directly applicable to a room-temperature heating element. Resistance generally rises as the element heats up. I'd expect the amblent temperature resistance to be considerably lower than the in-use resistance. The manufacturer might publish a room-temperature test value.

Water heater elements (fridge also) should be tested for resistance when luke warm/cool in order to be within mfg. specs


Atwood uses a 1400W element and resistance should be 10ohms +/- 7.5%
Suburban uses a 1440W element and resistance should be 10ohms +/- 7.5%

Just to add. I thought my element was bad, but it ended up being the switch.

Yes it is for my 2015 zinger with the atwood GC6AA-10E

Haven't made much progress unfortunately. Been super busy. Looked up some videos and went to check the 2amp fuse on the circuit board. Well as I was pulling it out, it broke in half. So I now have half of one of the pins still in there, stuck from corrosion. Once I get that fixed I'll be checking wires and what not. However some videos said it could be the t-stat. Can I rule that out though because the water heater does work correctly on propane?

2A fuse protects the circuit board

T-stat & ECO are SAME for Electric and/or Propane
DC is same for electric and/or propane functions
*DC via yellow wire to DC Relay fr 120VAC to element

Some videos are WRONG!


Color coded wiring for 6 gal 10E and 10 gal 4E versions
https://th.bing.com/th/id/OIP.p_7lk0...id=ImgDet&rs=1

Is the element getting 120v? Is it heating up the water?

Instead of measuring the resistance, another probably easier and more accurate method is to measure the current. If you have an EMS it will likely give you a current reading. If not you could probably find a place to put a loop current meter , either at the water heater, or transfer switch, or circuit panel.

Got it fixed!!!!! I was installing the new element, figured I already had the old one out and it's ohm reading was sub-standard. While replacing I had to unwrap some electrical tape someone put there and found that apperantly the white wires melted. Cut and cleaned them up, put everything back and it's working. I haven't tested it at full temp yet. But so far the hot water is at least noticeably warmer than the cold. My ems is pulling between 12 and 14 amps so the proper amount of power is being used.