Help with how to operate my HWH

SoundGuy wrote:

jmcgsd wrote:
In my TT the switch inside the TT turns on the gas function. If you want to run on electric, just turn the switch outside in the heater on and it will turn on the electric heating element. You don't need to do anything inside the trailer.

If you normally camp with hookups you probably never really need to turn on the switch inside the trailer ...

I'd disagree with this completely ... if you turn on the WH electric element and just leave it on for the duration of your stay it's quite easy to exceed the limits of 30 amp campsite service and pull a breaker. :M That electric element can easily pull 12.5 amps, during the hot summer months your A/C could pull another 14 amps, so if you forget and then try to also run your MW oven at the same time it could easily pull another 10 amps, the result being a total draw well in excess of your maximum 30 amp campsite supply. It's understandable that some may want to use their WH's electric heating option to save on propane or to use it along with gas in order to shorten the time it takes for water to heat up again BUT if you do so you want to manage just when that electric element is on and when it's not. That's why it's so much more advantageous to be able to control it from inside the camper rather than have to go outside each time and open the WH hatch in order to access that electric element on/off switch. This is exactly the reason I installed my own switch inside the camper - so I wouldn't have to go through this annoying routine. :S

I guess I'm an exception, as I was able to run with the electric switch on 98% of the time. Unless my wife tried to make coffee, dry her hair and run the AC at the same time.

And yes, a PITA to go out and flip the rocker switch to turn it on every time.

IIRC, there is a sensor that will keep you from burning out your element if you don't have water in it. Not all units have that, but I believe this particular one does. That would explain why it didn't burn out while drained and on shore power.

Well...if you have a bunch of time, ordering online is always cheaper.... But if you are on the road and broken, you're gonna pay more. I would not call it "ripped off." You pay for convenience.

Sean

Thanks for all the help. We just returned from our 8 day trip. The day before we left I was in Myrtle Beach and picked up a element from CW. They did not have a wrench but got one from Lowes.

I decided to test the electric side before leaving, thinking it was toast and I would replace the element upon return. To my surprise it was not toast and the HWH worked on electric.

I did turn off the little electric switch and we used the HWH on propane during the trip with no issues.

So all is well I think ( never sure ). And now I know to only turn on the little switch outside when I want to use the HWH on electric.

Just one other question. Did I get ripped off by CW on the element? They charged $30.99 after my GS discount. I noticed at Lowes a small 1500W element was like $8.00 and I think someone on here or utube said they should be < $15.00. Thought I would keep it for spare, but man I hate to get ripped off.

riven1950 wrote:
I am thinking we may have burned out the electric element after all because the outside switch has always been on and the tank has been drained ( last winter after our trip ). We are going to Myrtle Beach today to .

It is possible you didn't hurt it as long as the TT wasn't plugged into electricity while it was empty.

At any rate. It shouldn't be hard to replace it.

On mine I have a switch on the heater outside. I also have two switches inside. one for gas and one for electric. Both the outside and inside electric switch have to be on for the electric to work. The gas I haven't used yet. My assumption is just turn on the gas switch inside.

Ok, Thanks for all the input. I thought when we bought the TT the inside switch controlled both functions and if you wanted gas you turn the switch off outside. Looks like that was a bad assumption. So I will cut gas off today and try it. I am thinking we may have burned out the electric element after all because the outside switch has always been on and the tank has been drained ( last winter after our trip ). We are going to Myrtle Beach today to get my truck oil changed and go to CW so I guess I will buy an element just in case.

I guess all this time when I thought we were using it on electric ( switch on inside ) it was running, but on gas. I noticed it this time because I had the inspection panel off inside checking for leaks and heard it fire up.

Hopefully the electric element is not hard to replace. Funny, that operation is not mentioned in the manual.

jmcgsd wrote:
In my TT the switch inside the TT turns on the gas function. If you want to run on electric, just turn the switch outside in the heater on and it will turn on the electric heating element. You don't need to do anything inside the trailer.

If you normally camp with hookups you probably never really need to turn on the switch inside the trailer ...

I'd disagree with this completely ... if you turn on the WH electric element and just leave it on for the duration of your stay it's quite easy to exceed the limits of 30 amp campsite service and pull a breaker. :M That electric element can easily pull 12.5 amps, during the hot summer months your A/C could pull another 14 amps, so if you forget and then try to also run your MW oven at the same time it could easily pull another 10 amps, the result being a total draw well in excess of your maximum 30 amp campsite supply. It's understandable that some may want to use their WH's electric heating option to save on propane or to use it along with gas in order to shorten the time it takes for water to heat up again BUT if you do so you want to manage just when that electric element is on and when it's not. That's why it's so much more advantageous to be able to control it from inside the camper rather than have to go outside each time and open the WH hatch in order to access that electric element on/off switch. This is exactly the reason I installed my own switch inside the camper - so I wouldn't have to go through this annoying routine. :S

I also have a APEX. Although it is a 2013 I bet it works the same. The rocker switch outside in the WH compartment turns on the ELECTRIC for the water heater. The rocker switch on the inside turns on the GAS for the water heater. It will not be lit when on electric only. The WH will be silent on electric only. Yes you can use them both at the same time.

Very important to remember. NEVER have the outside Electric switch ON when the water heater is empty, and you are plugged into shore power. You will burn out the heating element.

In my TT the switch inside the TT turns on the gas function. If you want to run on electric, just turn the switch outside in the heater on and it will turn on the electric heating element. You don't need to do anything inside the trailer.

If you normally camp with hookups you probably never really need to turn on the switch inside the trailer, however if you use a generator then that HWH electric element may draw enough where the genny will overload if the A/C or microwavrpe comes on. I use a Honda EU2000 and when I'm dry camping with the generator I always make certain the electric switch is off.

riven1950 wrote:
The manual says to operate on electric turn the little black switch on in the outside compartment. It has been on all the time. We have been turning on the wall switch inside when we need hot water and it has worked. Today when I turned the wall switch on the gas burner lit, which is good I guess cause the water was hot quickly, but the way I read the manual it should be on electric with switch in that position.

Your Suburban SW6DE is a gas water heater equipped with an optional 120 vac heating element, either function of which could be controlled inside the trailer providing Coachmen chose to install a tank monitor panel that has switches for both gas and electric mode. A pic of this tank monitor would really help but from your description it sounds like Coachmen just installed a panel that controls only the WH's gas mode, in which case you would have to turn the electric mode on/off via the rocker switch accessed from outside the trailer. I had this same setup on our previous KZ Spree so I installed my own illuminating paddle switch inside the camper that allowed me to leave the outside switch turned on permanently and instead control the 120 vac heating element function from inside the camper. Our current Coachmen Freedom Express has an Atwood WH and the tank monitor does have two separate WH switches, one for gas, the other for electric, so I can control both from inside the camper.