Brand new 5'er. Turned electric and gas on to heat up water. Couple hours later found no hot water. Checked breakers, propane etc. and all were fine. Figured heater must be bypassed. Checked and sure enough, dealer had left valves in bypass mode. Fixed that issue and heater tank filled. However, pressure relief valve was wide open pouring water out as fast as it came in. Water was cold at this point and no actual pressure existed. Replaced pressure valve and water now heats as it should.Question is whether any damage could have occurred to heating element or anything else? Could a tank of hot air have caused the relief valve to fail and stick wide open?

If there's water in the tank then it should be fine. But it takes just a few seconds when empty for it to destroy the electric element.

it only takes a minute to ruin an electric heating element if there is no water in the tank. I am surprised you didn't burn a hole in the bottom of the tank with the water missing and the propane on and burning. it is the water in the tank that keeps the tank from melting. you may have done some serious damage to your tank. I think I would have it checked out.

mileshuff wrote:Question is whether any damage could have occurred to heating element or anything else? Could a tank of hot air have caused the relief valve to fail and stick wide open?Don't know about the hot air/valve open deal. Anything is possible.Try running heater on electric only, see if it works correctly. Let it cool and see if it works correctly on gas only. Check for leaks. No problems, good to go.

Hope you let water heater cool way down before filling it with water....Atwood uses an aluminum alloy tank...it can take the heatSuburban uses a steel glass-lined tank. Porcelain could have spider web cracks which will cause issues later on from steel tank rustingElectric element....they need to be submerged in water. They burn out quickly if run dryPropane operation......most likely was shut down by high temp t-stat opening (180*f)PRV....increase in pressure from air heating and the hot air caused it to failGot overheated. Best that you replaced it.Always check that water heater is full before turn it on.On Edit: Oops...maybe I shouldn't have posted :S

their are fail safe "high limit" thermostatic "fuse" that should prevent you from doing any serious damage to the water heater or heater element.does the water get hot now (that the tank is full) ? on electric and gas ? if not try resetting the fuse if the water will not heat then try resetting the (electric cut off) ECO / hi-limit fuse (identified by a black cover w/ two round "buttons" on it (accessible from the outside / back of the heater).if the eco/hi-limit fuse reset doesnt correct the problem, I would pull the (black) cover to visually inspect the fuse to see if it is burnt/open - there is one fuse pre side (gas & electric) - the fuses are easily replaced and cost about 20 bucks each.If you have the type of water heater that uses a sacrificial anode rod (suburban) - i highly recommend that you drain the water heater if you store the water heater frequently. The anode rod (about 10 bucks) needs to be checked for erosion & replaced at least annually if not more frequently (determined by how often the water heater is left full of water).if the annde rod is not replace, eventually corrosion will build up on the heating element and could require replacement (10-15 bucks).Heres a nice trouble shooting guide someone wrote up that will help - http://trekin.digital-digs.net/Share%20PDF/Water%20Heater%20Troubleshooting%20-%20Suburban%20V1.1.pdf

Possible damage to water heater if bypassed while on?

Old-Biscuit
Explorer III
Sep 04, 2014
Hope you let water heater cool way down before filling it with water....

Atwood uses an aluminum alloy tank...it can take the heat
Suburban uses a steel glass-lined tank. Porcelain could have spider web cracks which will cause issues later on from steel tank rusting

Electric element....they need to be submerged in water. They burn out quickly if run dry
Propane operation......most likely was shut down by high temp t-stat opening (180*f)

PRV....increase in pressure from air heating and the hot air caused it to fail
Got overheated. Best that you replaced it.

Always check that water heater is full before turn it on.

On Edit: Oops...maybe I shouldn't have posted :S
D___M
Explorer
Sep 04, 2014
mileshuff wrote:

Question is whether any damage could have occurred to heating element or anything else? Could a tank of hot air have caused the relief valve to fail and stick wide open?

Don't know about the hot air/valve open deal. Anything is possible.

Try running heater on electric only, see if it works correctly. Let it cool and see if it works correctly on gas only. Check for leaks. No problems, good to go.
old_guy
Explorer
Sep 04, 2014
it only takes a minute to ruin an electric heating element if there is no water in the tank. I am surprised you didn't burn a hole in the bottom of the tank with the water missing and the propane on and burning. it is the water in the tank that keeps the tank from melting. you may have done some serious damage to your tank. I think I would have it checked out.
ScottG
Nomad
Sep 04, 2014
If there's water in the tank then it should be fine. But it takes just a few seconds when empty for it to destroy the electric element.

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Possible damage to water heater if bypassed while on?

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