Water Heater rocker switch

Whiskey River wrote:
Has anyone replaced the on / off rocker switch on a Suburban water heater. Its a model SW12DE, and the switch is mounted near the drain & heating element on the bottom of the tank.
The switch appears to have 2 male or bayonet fittings that plug into some type of female fitting that you can't get to with out removing the tank. My question is when I remove the switch, is it possible to plug in the new switch with out removing the tank, like if it is 2 short loose wires hanging behind the heater with no way to reach and connect.
The switch will not rock back and forth. I pulled it out partially yesterday and sprayed it with silicone spray and it seemed to work, but today its froze up again, so time for a new switch........

As others have stated, and I fully agree, the tiny rocker switch isn't designed to carry the required current that the water heater uses. I was using mine to turn the WH on and off each time the RV was in use. After about a year or so, I noticed that it started getting hard to turn off and on, so I left it in the on position, and was using the breaker. Knowing that a breaker was not intended to be used as a switch, because it will eventually weaken it, I decide to install a dedicated switch with a light incorporated into it. I mounted the switch in the cabinet next to where the power for the slide switches are. That way we won't forget to turn the WH power on or off when we put the slides out or in. But, we do make sure the water is turned on and that the WH has water in it. Water and power to the RV is the first thing that I do after leveling and unhooking from the tow vehicle. Photo attached.

Chris Bryant wrote:

ScottG wrote:
I bought an Atwood WH switch which has a switch for propane, and indicator light and a second switch for the electric. I installed this in place of the inside Suburban switch and wired the elect. switch in series with the switch on the WH.
It's really nice to be able to control the electric portion from inside the TT. Atwood switch

That Atwood switch is not rated for 120 volt power- they use a relay to switch the 120 volt power.

Actually it is. I looked at the side of the switch and it is so rated. But it doesn't matter anyway, the switch doesn't carry the whole load of the WH. It simply "enables" it to run on AC.
Been working perfectly for more than 5 years.

Got a new rocker switch. Popped out the old one with a screwdriver. The old switch was stuck in the on position, so before I started, I shut off the circuit breaker that said water heater.
While removing the switch, the connection sparked while removing it from the heater, so I shut the main power breaker. Installed the new switch and the spark or grounding tripped the GFI circuit breaker. So evidently the marked breaker that said water heater is not the correct breaker for the water heater. Reset both and still no power to the heater. Crawled around over and under the heater looking for a fuse or something, and just about ready to give up when I remembered the GFI plug in the bathroom. It also kicked and when I reset it, "power to the heater".
So this is the super wiring of Keystone.
The breaker marked for the hot water is not hot water.
Some how the GFI plug in the bathroom is tied into the power to the hot water heater.
But I'm up and running with my new switch and am a happy camper for another 2 weeks, then its time to roll north out of Florida.

ScottG wrote:
I bought an Atwood WH switch which has a switch for propane, and indicator light and a second switch for the electric. I installed this in place of the inside Suburban switch and wired the elect. switch in series with the switch on the WH.
It's really nice to be able to control the electric portion from inside the TT. Atwood switch

That Atwood switch is not rated for 120 volt power- they use a relay to switch the 120 volt power.

I bought an Atwood WH switch which has a switch for propane, and indicator light and a second switch for the electric. I installed this in place of the inside Suburban switch and wired the elect. switch in series with the switch on the WH.
It's really nice to be able to control the electric portion from inside the TT. Atwood switch

The switch should just pop out/pull out. There are two wires with spade terminals that connect to it. Just get a new switch, connect the two wires and your good to go.

Chris Bryant wrote:
There should be enough slack in the wire. I wouldn't use that switch as an every day switch- just for seasonal use, if you drain the tank.

Does the switch have to be released from the back and removed from the front?

What switch would you use to turn it on and off?

Those are cheap switches and carrying as much current as they do, tend to fail. I took mine out of the circuit and just use the circuit breaker on the main panel

There should be enough slack in the wire. I wouldn't use that switch as an every day switch- just for seasonal use, if you drain the tank.