Suburban Water Heater Problem

On our suburban water heater the switch went bad right at the water heater. The next thing to check is the heating element itself. If it shows low ohms it is good. If it shows an open it is burned out! Make sure your Volt Ohm Meter shows 0 ohms when you short out the two test leads. In addition to our bad switch I accudently burned out the heating element. Kind of glad I did because the element was badly corroded from the extremely hard water in AZ. Now it heats much better with a new element. If If your problem is not the switch or the element then the thermostat reset may be an issue. Just follow the source of the 110 V to the thermostat. Check that it gets through and then verify it is getting to the heating element. Pretty easy to trouble shoot with a VOM.

I would double check the cheapo power switch - which is shown in the bottom picture above in the lower left hand corner.
After that it's more likely the element itself is bad. You can verify it with a ohm meter. It should show a low resistance, if it's bad it will be open.

FWIW, I'm on my third RV with a Suburban and the present one is more than ten years old. Not one of them has ever had a problem.

Old-Biscuit wrote:
Surprised your Hitchhiker has a Suburban....they used to use Atwoods :H

Anyway....
On Suburban there is a black cover that goes over the 2 sets of t-stats.
(Outside compartment....above gas valve----has 'Push to Reset')

Left side is 110V AC set of t-stats and right side is 12V DC set of t-stats.

Have you tried resetting the t-stat?

They come in sets (high temp and normal temp)
Replace by removing cover, disconnecting wires and remove nut in center of bracket)

This is a quality post!

The fourm suggested the hi limit is bad? did it also suggest that it could be the el cheapo switch that turns it on/off or maybe the element itself is shot? It takes a tester and knowledge to use it. Only you or a service man can do the tests. We can only make assumptions

Old-Biscuit:

I have tried resetting the switch by pushing the "button" - no luck.

Yes, I dearly wish my trailer had come with an Atwood heater. Out of 4 trailers I've owned, the first had an Atwood, the following three have come with Suburbans. I never had any problems with the Atwood, but the Suburbans have been problematic. If they had the same size opening in the side of the trailer, I'd "bite the bullet" and replace it with an Atwood; in my experience it's a better product.

Thank you for your quick response.

Mike

Had to replace mine o a 2012 Discover America. The reset part was plastic and was broke. The high limit is not expensive, around $15.00 on line. Talk to Nuwa about a replacement. They are very easy to do.

Duplicate post

Surprised your Hitchhiker has a Suburban....they used to use Atwoods :H

Anyway....
On Suburban there is a black cover that goes over the 2 sets of t-stats.
(Outside compartment....above gas valve----has 'Push to Reset')

Left side is 110V AC set of t-stats and right side is 12V DC set of t-stats.

Have you tried resetting the t-stat?

They come in sets (high temp and normal temp)
Replace by removing cover, disconnecting wires and remove nut in center of bracket)