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dwayneb236's avatar
dwayneb236
Explorer
Apr 29, 2015

Water heater with 2 electric switches

Posted this in the Keystone forum as well but thought I would check here as it gets a bit more traffic.

I rarely ask questions here as I'm a glutton for punishment and like to discover things the hard way. Anyhow, here goes.

I have a 2013 Hideout 31RBDS. On the inside to the left of the door are two switches for the water heater, "notice I didn't say HOT water heater". Anyway, there is of course the gas and the electric, both on rocker switches. And I know there is the rocker switch outside on the water heater itself for electric.

So my question, as long as one of the electric switches is off does that mean the heater electric circuit is completely off, or do they both have to be off.

The reason I'm asking is I'm sometimes a bit bad at turning off the outside switch. Not a huge issue as I don't drain it and have had no problems. Just curious.

And yes I did search. Could not find where anyone asked this particular question.

17 Replies

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  • BB_TX's avatar
    BB_TX
    Nomad
    Apr 29, 2015
    I think the switch outside on the water heater itself is for the case where there is no inside switch. I do not have an inside switch for electric, only one switch for propane. Have to use the outside switch to turn mine on and off.
  • dwayneb236's avatar
    dwayneb236
    Explorer
    Apr 29, 2015
    Our PDI guy did a pretty good job of showing us everything when we picked it up. Went over all the systems and showed me the switches both in and out. I had already did tons of research on here before we picked it up as well.
  • hawkeye-08's avatar
    hawkeye-08
    Explorer III
    Apr 29, 2015
    My plan,
    I turn my outside switch off if I drain the water heater, turn it on when the water heater is full of water. I then use the inside switch when I want to use it. I also turn the outside switch off if I am plugging into outlet less than the 30 amps, this helps me avoid tripping breakers when I turn on too many things.

    What actually happens,
    I pretty much leave the outside switch off in practice except when I know I am going to use the water heater on electric. It is just too easy for someone to turn it on at the inside panel and blow the element (if water heater empty) or trip breaker (if not plugged into enough power).
  • dwayneb236's avatar
    dwayneb236
    Explorer
    Apr 29, 2015
    Thanks for the reply. Seems like a good idea to have both. I still turn off both... If I remember which is 93.7% of the time.
  • ScottG's avatar
    ScottG
    Nomad
    Apr 29, 2015
    As you suspected, both the switch inside and the one at the heater itself need to be on for electric to work. You don't have to turn off the outside one - the inside switch will keep it from firing.
    I think this is a safety thing so people don't dry-fire it.

    Cheers,
    Scott

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