I have a Suburban water heater in my fifth wheel. We normally run it on propane, but when we stay in a park we use the electric element. It has always worked fine, but we set up at a park yesterday, turned the water heater to electric, and the water was just luke warm after 6 hours. This AM the water is hot. Does this mean that the element is going out, or is there other problems going on? Can the element be replaced, or is the whole thing shot? Thanks.Mike

I purchased a replacement element at the Home Depot.

As a rule, elements either work or not and don't get weak or intermittent.I suspect you have something else going on like a failing thermostat or loose wire somewhere. I would take a very close look at all the connections including the one at the breaker panel (you'll have to remove the breaker panel cover) and make sure they are all tight and show no signs of getting hot.

If you one one at Home Depot be sure it is the same volts, length, thread size.

I would check your exact model to see how the element is energized. Some have a small relay that over time the contacts become pitted and does not allow for a good contact.Same goes for those that have a line type thermostat. The contacts become pitted and burnt over time.

Hot Water Heater????? | Good Sam Community

22 Replies

Old-Biscuit
Explorer III
Dec 31, 2014
The linked troubleshooting guide is very well put together.

Used to have that link but for some reason it stopped working a while back.
Glad to see a working link for it.

One correction.
On pg. 7 the information is reversed for 110V AC and 12V DC set of t-stats.
Left side is for 110V AC.....black wires
Right side is for 12V DC.....red wires
mike-uswest
Explorer III
Dec 31, 2014
schlep1967 wrote:
I did a google search for suburban water heater troubleshooting and got this PDF that might help you. Linky

This link is very good, thanks.

Mike
agesilaus
Explorer III
Dec 31, 2014
Not the OP but that is very helpful for me.
schlep1967
Nomad
Dec 31, 2014
I did a google search for suburban water heater troubleshooting and got this PDF that might help you. Linky
Me_Again
Explorer III
Dec 31, 2014
Go to Ace and get a new switch. Chris
Bamaman11
Explorer
Dec 31, 2014
I burned up my element after my water heater was winterized/drained. Now, I unplug the electrics and cut off the circuit breaker.

Unfortunately, I had experienced rust, and couldn't get the 1 1/4" plug out. The element was in the center, and I replaced it with a HotRod element.

When winterizing, care must be taken to cut off the juice, and not to cut it back on until water's back in the tank.

I agree that an element's good or it's bad--nothing in between.
Roller4Tan
Explorer
Dec 31, 2014
I have a Suburban heater as well. I usually drain and flush the tank a couple times a year while checking the anode rod. I flush quite a bit of deposits out of it, mostly I guess from the anode rod deteriorating. I wonder if yours has built up to the heating element causing some loss of heating.
mike-uswest
Explorer III
Dec 30, 2014
I think the problem is with the blade connections, cleaned them up a little, and it is working better. Not great yet, but better. Will work on it more after I get home. Thanks.

Mike
Endricken
Explorer
Dec 30, 2014
Assuming the element wasn't fried, more likely problems based on my experience with a 2005 Fiver are a bad On/Off Rocker Switch (the switch on the visible rear) or failed/ or about to fail wire nut connection within the electrical box mounted on the water heater thanks to assembly line inadequacy when your Alpenlite was built. On the other hand, if its lasted since 94...
Fortunately the electrical circuit is easy to redo as the posted schematic shows. Thats what I had to do after switch or wire nuts shorted out and the breaker didn't trip which led to a nice little fire.
MNRon
Explorer
Dec 30, 2014
On my last TT I had the same problem and had to clean the connections every couple of years. On the outside of the heater there was a couple of slide-on connectors; I just pulled them off, cleaned the blade quickly (scraping with a knife) and then pushed them back on. Everything worked fine again for a couple years.

Good luck