My TT with a Suburban water heater has only one switch inside. That turns on the LP and shows a 'DSI Fault' light for about 3 minutes, if the outside switch on the water heater to not turned on.
That model Suburban water heater only turns on the electric element with a switch physically on the water heater, accessible only from the outside.
Of course, both the LP and electrical heat sources are controlled by thermostats, so they only heat the water when it falls below a certain temp.
Have him read the manual for the water heater - explains it plainly.
(I think DSI stands for Dual Source Interface - so DSI fault simply means the water heater does not have both sources of heat turned on.)