Forum Discussion

Hornnumb2's avatar
Hornnumb2
Explorer
Oct 11, 2021

Suburban SW6DE questions

Does the switch inside the trailer work both gas and electric depending on where the electric switch is on outside? Thanks
  • If you have just one WH switch inside the trailer that is for propane operation only. The switch for electric operation is a manually operated switch attached to the front of water heater.
  • Suburban heaters unually have a switch on the unit that can be turned off so that if you accidently turn on the switch inside when the unit is empty it won't burn out the electric element. In everyone that I have seem, there is, also, an electric switch inside. As mentioned, there's a separate switch for the propane heater.
  • Appears it could be either. Mine is electric only switched at the water heater and propane only switched in the trailer.

    Should be an easy test to figure out what runs what from where though. All it requires is knowing what hot water feels like vs cold.
  • So as to not confuse things here, do you have one switch or two inside the trailer for the water heater?
  • wnjj's avatar
    wnjj
    Explorer II
    No, the outside switch only turns on or off the electric element and has no effect on gas.

    In addition to the gas on/off switch inside, some RV's have another inside switch for electric which is connected in series with the outside one (both need to be on). Others, like mine, hardwire the electric so the outside switch is the only way to turn on/off electric.

    You can also run gas and electric simultaneously for faster warm up. In this case an either/or switch wouldn't make sense.