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Old 09-15-2010, 11:18 AM   #1
dong
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Join Date: Sep 2010
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Default Suburban Water Heater Electric Question

Hi,
I have a SW6DE.
The previous owners of my travel trailer did not even know that the heater could run on propane and/or electric....

When I energized both the breaker inside and the electric on/off switch in the heater cabinet I got nothing.
Troubleshooting:
-I opened the cover for the T-Stat/ECO and found that the 120VAC side had the ECO burnt in half (thin strip of metal). I have now ordered a new one.
But before I put in the new one I wanted to make sure the system works otherwise...so I shorted between the burnt pieces of metal, to me this simply takes away the emergency cut off feature?
When I energize the system with that jumper in place - the A/C breaker trips. It appears I have short.
I took the leads off the element and did some tests:
-No continuity
-Resistance appears to read infinity (16 M Ohm).
-No continuity from either lead to the tank inside

I'm not sure where the short can be coming from? Especially when I'm getting an open circuit at my element which tells me that it may be shot as well...

Any ideas?

Thx!

Don
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Old 09-15-2010, 03:42 PM   #2
Timothy
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It sounds like the element is bad, you should read something across the terminals. Make sure the heater is full of water before energizing it.

If you can, unhook the 120 volt wires, then cap them, turn on the breaker. If the breaker doesn't trip the problem is in the heater. I suspect when you replace the defective parts all will be well.

Again, once all the parts are replaced make sure the tank is full of water before turning it on.
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Old 09-20-2010, 12:03 PM   #3
dong
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Got it all figured out.

I removed the Tstat from the unit so there was no possibility of the Tstat base shorting out....the short was still there.

I then purchased a new element and element wrench from my local hardware store (so much cheaper than RV dealer). After removing the burning tube and pulling out the element it was evident what the problem was - my element was missing a 1" section! The element was shorting to the water in the tank....

Changed the element and installed a new Tstat - works like a charm!

Thanks everyone!

Don
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Old 09-20-2010, 03:24 PM   #4
Timothy
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Don, thanks for the update.
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