Emergency water heater help

Update. I looked underneath my kitchen cabinet and found a valve that I imagine is used for winterizing which was turned to the on position so the water was just recirculating itself through the hot water heater. I have plenty of hot water now at least from the electric side. I still have no action from the LP side though. At least I have hot water. Once I solve the LP side of it, I should have the problem licked. Again, thank you so much for all the help

There is no need to disconnect 12V to reset.........

Your Suburban WH has separate controls for electric heat & propane heat

Turn ALL switches OFF

In outside compartment above gas valve is a rubber cover with 2 buttons....Push to Reset
Left side is for electric. Right side is for propane.
Those are the separate set of t-stats. The reset is to rest the high temp t-stat

The electric uses 120V AC power....comes from a AC circuit breaker. Check if it is tripped
The propane uses 12V DC....comes from DC dist. Panel....check if fuse is blown

After resetting, checking circuit breaker and fuse, check valving on backside of WH (access from inside RV) and make sure you have cold water valved OPEN, bypass valve CLOSED and hot open (IF there is a hot out valve).
Also check showers (inside/outside) that they are valved out at the cold/hot knobs and not just with button on handle.

Then check that you have WH full of water (Open the relief valve in outside compartment with lever and then let it snap closed----CAUTION water could be hot and will spray)

Then turn ON the propane switch (inside panel with light)
Listen for spark electrode (click, click) and main flame lighting off
If it does light let it heat up until main flame shuts down. Roughly 20 minutes

Got Hot water from faucets?

Then turn gas switch off....use the hot water until it cools down
Turn on electric heat via switch in outside compartment.
Let it heat for 30 minutes.

Got hot water?

Report back with any problems.......and what isn't or is happening. OK!

If you have any winterizing valves make sure they are all in the correct position.

I will try in the morning to disconnect the 12 V at the battery and see if I can reset everything.

You are exactly correct poncho. That is exactly what is happening

Thank you Rob south. I know the battery is good because the breaker at the KOA failed today and we had no electricity. When I went into the trailer everything was still running as far as lights and the refrigerator light was on.

Sounds like a Suburban water heater

The switch with the red light and reset is the gas switch....When on, the gas should light....if you have gas flow.

The switch outside is to turn on the electric side...my water heater has another switch for the electric side inside the trailer.

I am thinking that since you had both switches on, both electric and gas sides should have been heating. Maybe your gas wasnt turned on or the gas flow is blocked for some reason. The electric side should still have worked if it was getting power and the heater element is working.

Thank you for all the quick replies. I will try to disconnect the 12 V. I imagine that would be done by disconnecting the battery or can it be done somewhere in the fuse block. Thank you naturist. What I meant was does the electric and the propane work independently so that if you lose one you still have the other. I am still confused about the switches and if I am using them correctly. My manual is very vague on this.

Does your battery have a full charge? The control board for the fridge and water heater generally operate from 12 volts and require a good battery to function properly. This is usually irrelevant of being plugged into shore power or not, though some will work from the converter, depending on the type of converter you have. I would check the battery first before doing a lot of other troubleshooting. An easy test would be to just unplug from shore power (assuming you are plugged in) and see if you have 12 volt lights etc. working properly. Good luck. More advice will follow I am sure.

You said you only had "a few seconds" of hot water; do you by chance have an outside shower? If so then its valves may be on and the head turned off. Make sure the hot and cold knobs are both off.