110v Water Heater Switch?

My 30amp camper has a 110v selector switch marked for either Microwave or electric HW tank. Cannot run both at the same time. The electric HW tank on/ off switch is at a different location. Maybe you need to look see if yours has a selector switch somewhere that needs to be set to HW tank.

Which brand of water heater do you have.....different methods used

Suburban....has a 'local' On/OFF switch in outside compartment (lower left corner) and MFG. may have installed an additional on/off switch inside RV.
Both have to be ON (top of switch pushed in)
Suburban WH electric element is directly wired to 120V AC Circuit breaker thru switches and thru it's own set of t-stats to control heating cycles

Atwood......has an ON/OFF switch inside RV. It is a 12V DC switch fed from the DC Dist Panel individual fused circuit thru switch to a 'relay' that triggers the 120V AC to electric element which is fed from it's own 120V AC circuit breaker.
It uses the same set of t-stats that propane uses for heating cycles

Water heater MUST have water in it or electric element will burn out in just a few minutes if dry fired. If valving is correct on backside of water heater then it will fill/refill when you have water supply on

Possible problems;
- bad inside switch
- bad outside switch or switch turned off (located on the water heater)
- bad thermostat/hi temp cutout switch (located on the water heater)
- bad heating element
- bad relay (in box on back side of water heater)
- loose wire connection somewhere in the circuit
- tripped breaker
- blown 12 v fuse
(some of the above assumming a Suburban water heater)

Process of elimination.

cruiseruser wrote:
Hello,

Normally you have a "slave switch" located in an outside compartment. It could be close to your water heater or in a storage area with the water items. Check there first.
Also, once you have the fresh tank filled or on city water, the water heater will be refilled as you use it.
Good luck!

exactly. the switch in the trailer is a 12V switch, which turns on a relay in the water compartment. that relay is downstream of the main 120V power switch mentioned above. So.... for the wh to work on electric you must first have the switch in the WH turned on. Hint, virtually all trailers sold this way come from the factory with the switch in the WH, the slave switch turned OFF, dealer seldom turn them on, it's up to you to turn it on.

It works just like the one in your house.

Once the hot water heater is full and if you are connected to a water source it will fill as you use it. If you are using from the fresh water tank, the water pump will need to be on.
Our Axis has two switches for the hot water, when on propane there is a light; when on electric there is no light. Both switches are rockers and you push at the top of the rocker to turn on and the bottom to turn off.

When on 120 volt ac there is a breaker in the distribution panel that needs to be on also.

Sometimes the hot water heater also has a switch on the heater itself. It may or not be easy to locate. On our Outback it is behind an interior panel that needs to be removed. On our TM that we had it was behind the outside heater door.

Hello,

Normally you have a "slave switch" located in an outside compartment. It could be close to your water heater or in a storage area with the water items. Check there first.
Also, once you have the fresh tank filled or on city water, the water heater will be refilled as you use it.
Good luck!