Electric Water Heater

2112 wrote:
The electric portion of you water heater is AC (shore power) only. It doesn't even know the battery (DC) exists.

That would make sense, I wish it was more clearly stated in the manual, haha. Thank you.

2015 Cherokee 274DBH

I have a switch on the inside of the trailer to turn on the water heater. On the outside located on the water heater itself, it has a separate switch (simply On/off) which the manual simply states is to turn on the electric part of the water heater and it won't run propane (as it will keep the temp at x degrees).

Basically, if the switch is off, the propane will kick in. If the switch is on, it runs off electricity but I was unsure of whether it was connected to the battery at all.

Funny thing was, there was a piece of tape over the switch, i stumbled upon when dewinterizing for the first time and then read the manual.

Thanks for the responses :)

The electric portion of you water heater is AC (shore power) only. It doesn't even know the battery (DC) exists.

What year is your RV?
On the older models like my Fleetwood fiver, I have to manually go out and light the pilot light for my propane side of water heater to light.
You should have auto pilot lighter if newer model that works when you turn on the propane side of water heater. Mine has both electric and propane and I only use propane side for most part. Many rv parks don't like or don't allow electric water heater unless you have metered electric

markliso wrote:
Thank you for the quick answer! If this switch is in the on position and we are not plugged in, will it still attempt to use propane to fire up the water heater?

Apologies for my ignorance!

Welcome to RV.NET.
No. There should be a separate switch for operating on propane.

Thank you for the quick answer! If this switch is in the on position and we are not plugged in, will it still attempt to use propane to fire up the water heater?

Apologies for my ignorance!

No,it won't use battery power.
Good Luck, Mike