Water Heater Always On

Thanks for everyone's replies. While winterizing this past weekend I decided to cut off the plug to the water heater and install a new cord cap with the polarity reversed to make the black wire hot (120V) in the water heater. While doing this I pulled the covers to the element and thermostats and the switch out to check for any shorts to ground and to check for continuity to asssure the internal wiring for the heater was correct. One thing I found was that the wire that went from the plug to the water heater was not color coded but had a tracer molded into the wire to identify the nuetral so I guess that was an easy mistake to make during the construction of the trailer. Once I found there were no shorts and the heater was wired correctly I plugged in the new cord cap and the water heater worked as it should. I am definitley going to keep my eye on it but I know if it malfunctions again it should immediately trip the breaker or go out on the reset button. Thanks again.

electrician549 wrote:
Well it is official, I will be pulling my water heater in the spring. I pulled the white wire off of the element and with the breaker on the white wire has 120volts to ground. The black wire has no volts with the switch on the outside on or off. I even took the cover off of the thermostat and found no voltage there. I have unplugged the water heater and turned the breaker off. Even though I believe that it has worked fine for the past three years no sense in taking any chances. The water heater still works fine on propane.

Check on how the circuit breaker for water heater element is wired.

Should have a black wire connected to CB and white wire to common terminal strip.
See if it has a white wire on that CB and then if a black wire is on common strip.....maybe someone swapped wires

OR wires got swapped in junction box on the side of water heater:H

That element is wired backwards if you have power on white but no power on black wires.

But heck....with a handle like yours (electrian549) you know that :B

Bonefish wrote:

Old-Biscuit wrote:

Bonefish wrote:
On our water heater the AC heating element is turned off or on with a breaker in the main power pannel. The DC switch and igniter indicator light only controls the waterheater when it is running on propane.

What Brand of water heater?
Suburban will have an ON/OFF switch in outside compartment.......lower left corner

AC circuit breakers typically are not used as ON/OFF switches......strange or I guess cheap install.

SW6DE Surburban Waterheater --- It is properly installed and wired as to the wiring diagrams in the manual (see page 6). It has both an 120v switch on the WH and goes through it own 120vac 15 amp breaker. I leave the switch on the water heater ON and use the INSIDE breaker to shut it ON or OFF. I can easily turn the 120v heating element On or Off as demand requires without having to go out and pull the access cover to the hot water heater. Also easy to make sure that the 120v element is off when drained.

The 12v DC side is wired through a switch pannel inside the camper and controlls the igniter board and the propane gas valve. This too is wired correctly as per the wiring diagram on page 5 of the Surburban manual.

Ours has worked flawlessly since purchased the camper in 2004 and I do not plan on changing it. :B

You original post implied that the water heater element was controlled by just a circuit breaker.
So it does have an ON/OFF switch....you just choose to use the CB.

With NO wires hooked to the HEATING ELEMENT check the resistivity (ohms) across the heating element (one connection to the other). There should be continuity and resistance (don't have an exact number but probably less than 100 ohms). If the element is open (infinite resistivity)only the heating element needs to be replaced. They will burn out if the power is turned on without being filled with water.

Well it is official, I will be pulling my water heater in the spring. I pulled the white wire off of the element and with the breaker on the white wire has 120volts to ground. The black wire has no volts with the switch on the outside on or off. I even took the cover off of the thermostat and found no voltage there. I have unplugged the water heater and turned the breaker off. Even though I believe that it has worked fine for the past three years no sense in taking any chances. The water heater still works fine on propane.

Old-Biscuit wrote:

Bonefish wrote:
On our water heater the AC heating element is turned off or on with a breaker in the main power pannel. The DC switch and igniter indicator light only controls the waterheater when it is running on propane.

What Brand of water heater?
Suburban will have an ON/OFF switch in outside compartment.......lower left corner

AC circuit breakers typically are not used as ON/OFF switches......strange or I guess cheap install.

SW6DE Surburban Waterheater --- It is properly installed and wired as to the wiring diagrams in the manual (see page 6). It has both an 120v switch on the WH and goes through it own 120vac 15 amp breaker. I leave the switch on the water heater ON and use the INSIDE breaker to shut it ON or OFF. I can easily turn the 120v heating element On or Off as demand requires without having to go out and pull the access cover to the hot water heater. Also easy to make sure that the 120v element is off when drained.

The 12v DC side is wired through a switch pannel inside the camper and controlls the igniter board and the propane gas valve. This too is wired correctly as per the wiring diagram on page 5 of the Surburban manual.

Ours has worked flawlessly since purchased the camper in 2004 and I do not plan on changing it. :B

electrician549 wrote:
It is a Suburban water heater. I don't have another switch for the 120volt side besides the one on the outside of the heater. I am positive the switch was off checked the switch several times. I can't access or even see the 120volt junction box or thermostat with out pulling the water heater, which is my last resort. When I get home from work I will try a couple other things. I went out last night and double checked polarity on the camper and the outlet and both were fine.

The Suburban has both 120ac & 12vdc T/S's on the outside where you take the grill off. On the upper left side is a black plastic cover with 2 rubber "plugs". Under this cover, the 120vac T/S is on the left, 12vdc on the right. I am not sure what the T/S's have to do with your stated problem tho.

Jim

schlep1967 wrote:
Pull the switch out so you can get to the connections. With power off check for continuity across the switch in both open and closed positions. I could be wrong here but I doubt the power for the heater runs "through" the switch. The switch probably operates a relay. If the switch works look for a bad relay.

On a Suburban, the 120 power DOES go thru the switch. No relay. Doug

Pull the switch out so you can get to the connections. With power off check for continuity across the switch in both open and closed positions. I could be wrong here but I doubt the power for the heater runs "through" the switch. The switch probably operates a relay. If the switch works look for a bad relay.

electrician549 wrote:
It is a Suburban water heater. I don't have another switch for the 120volt side besides the one on the outside of the heater. I am positive the switch was off checked the switch several times. I can't access or even see the 120volt junction box or thermostat with out pulling the water heater, which is my last resort. When I get home from work I will try a couple other things. I went out last night and double checked polarity on the camper and the outlet and both were fine.

What model and year???? ALL Suburbans in the past 15 years have the tstats and element accessed from the outside. Doug