I had an issue with my hot water heater not working on electric. I had a mobile mechanic come out and he replaced the thermostat and now the electric works fine. This was about a year ago.I was camping this past weekend and I thought I would run the hot water heater on propane. I flipped the switch and the light didn't come on. I went outside and dropped the panel and one of the "reset" buttons was popped out. I pushed it back in and turned on the switch. The light didn't come on and the heater never ignited. I went back outside to check and both reset buttons were normal. Turned the heater back on electric and it works fine. The propane to the RV was turned on.I checked the fuse and breaker panel inside the RV and everything was fine. I'm not sure what else to look at. Anyone have any ideas?Burch

Water heater brand?Get your volt meter out. Could be any number of things, but without a volt meter your SOL!

I believe the brand is suburban

Does the igniter make a clicking sound, like trying to ignite? If not, may be electric issue. If clicking, no ignition, likely propane issue.Jerry

try cleaning all the connections-

Then check voltage across the 12 volt hi limit switch

Hotwater heater on Propane | Good Sam Community

12 Replies

Old-Biscuit
Explorer III
Apr 27, 2016
MetalGator wrote:
SolidAxleDurango wrote:
Was the water already HOT when you turned on the propane? Maybe it didn't fire right up because it didn't' need to??

Yes, the water was still hot. I had turned off the electric switch but it had only been off 30 minutes or so. I kind of had this thought myself but the second time I had the electric turned off about an hour but the water was still pretty hot.

Normal t-stat temp is set to OPEN at 130*F and water temp needs to drop below 110*F before normal t-stat will CLOSE (electric & propane same temp settings)

The HI Temp OPENS at 170*F/180*F and has to be manually reset before any heating can occur (by the heat source of which HI Temp Tripped)
HI Temp will not reset until water temp drops below 130*F
MetalGator
Nomad
Apr 25, 2016
SolidAxleDurango wrote:
Was the water already HOT when you turned on the propane? Maybe it didn't fire right up because it didn't' need to??

Yes, the water was still hot. I had turned off the electric switch but it had only been off 30 minutes or so. I kind of had this thought myself but the second time I had the electric turned off about an hour but the water was still pretty hot.
SolidAxleDurang
Explorer II
Apr 25, 2016
Was the water already HOT when you turned on the propane? Maybe it didn't fire right up because it didn't' need to??
MetalGator
Nomad
Apr 25, 2016
Old-Biscuit wrote:
Remove the cover on the set ot t-stats (Push to Reset cover)

The right side set of t-stats (RED Wiring) will be for the propane
Bet the connector wire from HI Limit (Reset one on top) to the Normal Temp (bottom) is burnt into. It was the one you probably had to reset.

Buy a new '12V DC' set of t-stats and replace.

(FYI left side is 120V AC for the ----BLACK wires)

Thank you very much for this info. I will take a look at this tomorrow.
Old-Biscuit
Explorer III
Apr 25, 2016
Remove the cover on the set ot t-stats (Push to Reset cover)

The right side set of t-stats (RED Wiring) will be for the propane
Bet the connector wire from HI Limit (Reset one on top) to the Normal Temp (bottom) is burnt into. It was the one you probably had to reset.

Buy a new '12V DC' set of t-stats and replace.

(FYI left side is 120V AC for the ----BLACK wires)
Crazy_Ray
Explorer
Apr 25, 2016
CLEAN_-CLEAN the ORVICE. JMO
MetalGator
Nomad
Apr 25, 2016
No clicking sound as it unusually does when it tries to start. It's not trying to start. Flipping the switch does nothing.
donn0128
Explorer II
Apr 25, 2016
Then check voltage across the 12 volt hi limit switch
rav
Explorer
Apr 25, 2016
try cleaning all the connections-
MFL
Nomad II
Apr 25, 2016
Does the igniter make a clicking sound, like trying to ignite? If not, may be electric issue. If clicking, no ignition, likely propane issue.

Jerry