Camped for about a week and on the third day begin to smell an electrical type burning smell inside the 5th wheel. Unable to track it down however the next morning we had no hot water and the smell was gone. Up until that time we had great hot water. Don't want to replace element if there is something that I don't know about causing the element to burn out, assuming the element is burned out. Breaker is ok and switch was on. Gas side works fine. Just looking for some suggestions. thanks for any help.

Did you check your electrical cord/connection?Another thought would be to check the outlet it's plugged into.

Are you comfortable troubleshooting 120 vac? And do you have a volt meter? If so, page 9 of the Suburban WH manual shows the circuit for the 120 vac portion of the wiring.Could be the switch inside if you have an inside switch, the switch on the water heater outside, the high limit cutout/thermostat, the element, or bad place in the wiring anywhere in the whole circuit.If you have another brand, a google search should find that one also.

BB_TX wrote:Are you comfortable troubleshooting 120 vac? And do you have a volt meter? If so, page 9 of the Suburban WH manual shows the circuit for the 120 vac portion of the wiring.Could be the switch inside if you have an inside switch, the switch on the water heater outside, the high limit cutout/thermostat, the element, or bad place in the wiring anywhere in the whole circuit.If you have another brand, a google search should find that one also.Yep it a Suburban, and I have a neighbor with a volt meter who said he would check it out. thanks for the suggestions, didn't know about the high limit cutout/thermostat. We have used this 5th wheel a lot and this is the first time for a problem with the water heater. Trailer is a 2013. thanks again.

My outside sw. went bad this summer. Found a replacement at ACE hardware. Installed it and all was well.

Had the exact same thing happen, smell and all. Was the hi temp/thermostat on the electrical side. Now carry spares of thermostat, the one for the LP side, and element. Easy to change.

Water heater element ? | Good Sam Community

john_bet
Explorer II
Jan 06, 2015
My outside sw. went bad this summer. Found a replacement at ACE hardware. Installed it and all was well.
MrRetired821
Explorer
Jan 06, 2015
BB_TX wrote:
Are you comfortable troubleshooting 120 vac? And do you have a volt meter? If so, page 9 of the Suburban WH manual shows the circuit for the 120 vac portion of the wiring.

Could be the switch inside if you have an inside switch, the switch on the water heater outside, the high limit cutout/thermostat, the element, or bad place in the wiring anywhere in the whole circuit.

If you have another brand, a google search should find that one also.

Yep it a Suburban, and I have a neighbor with a volt meter who said he would check it out. thanks for the suggestions, didn't know about the high limit cutout/thermostat. We have used this 5th wheel a lot and this is the first time for a problem with the water heater. Trailer is a 2013. thanks again.
BB_TX
Nomad
Jan 06, 2015
Are you comfortable troubleshooting 120 vac? And do you have a volt meter? If so, page 9 of the Suburban WH manual shows the circuit for the 120 vac portion of the wiring.

Could be the switch inside if you have an inside switch, the switch on the water heater outside, the high limit cutout/thermostat, the element, or bad place in the wiring anywhere in the whole circuit.

If you have another brand, a google search should find that one also.
azjeffh
Explorer
Jan 06, 2015
Did you check your electrical cord/connection?

Another thought would be to check the outlet it's plugged into.

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Water heater element ?

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