No hot water

[retiredtraveler]

We have been on our first winter trip for about 10 weeks now. We are presently in Canton,Ms.
Yesterday my wife took a nice hot shower. About an hour later I went to take one and had no hot water.
We have a 10 gallon water heater that runs on either AC or propane. We have always run it on AC to preserve propane. I checked the AC breaker and it was fine. There is a lighted switch in the bathroom signaling when the AC heater is on. That was lit.
I tried to turn on the propane heater this morning and after a false start it did come on. At least we do have hot water now.
Do any of you smart people have any ideas? Besides a burned out element?
Thanks in advance
Keld

[Old-Biscuit]

IS this in your 1998 HR?

IF it is then you will have separate t-stats for the electric element.........located on backside of tank where electric element is.
The 120V AC power goes directly to element thru t-stats so problem could be bad connection on t-stats, bad t-stat or bad element.
Need to check for 120V power at/thru t-stats and at element.....caution!!!

(In 2004 Atwood combined the electric/propane separate t-stats into one set of t-stats and the 120V AC power to electric element is controlled by DC relay)

[dougrainer]

retiredtravelers2013 wrote:
I dug through my manuals. It is a 10 gallon Atwood combination LP/Electric model. We still have ice and freezing rain outside, so I will not attempt to troubleshoot until the weather improves. It is supposed to hit low 50's tomorrow so that will be the time.

IF you have the 1998 model RV still, ALL the 120 tstats and control and the 120 element are accessed at the rear of the Atwood water heater. ALL troubleshooting will be done on the inside. UNLESS your specific model does NOT have access to the rear of the water heater. Then the water heater will have to be pulled, but most Monaco products had inside rear access to the Atwood water heater. Doug

[retiredtraveler]

I dug through my manuals. It is a 10 gallon Atwood combination LP/Electric model. We still have ice and freezing rain outside, so I will not attempt to troubleshoot until the weather improves. It is supposed to hit low 50's tomorrow so that will be the time.

[Traver8]

I recently went thru this with my Atwood water heater. On mine there is only 1thermostat which controls temp on either lp or electric. The wall switch just sends 12vdc to the control board to tell the system which to use. The control board then sends 12vdc to a relay which switches the 120 vac to the element. After a lot of checking and testing mine turned out to be the relay. Replaced it and it is working great again.

[hardtobe]

retiredtravelers2013 wrote:
Thanks to everyone.
I have not done any trouble shooting with my meter so far. Too freaking cold to open the outside door to the water heater. I will check the thermostat to make sure juice is flowing and check to see if it is in fact getting to the element. Good news is that the propane portion does seem to be working. Who ordered this 30F weather for the deep south?

thanks for the reply.sounds good.Yes Like I directed you.Check power at stat if that flows good then check at element.Most likely stat or element especially if its a suburban.done several and its been either one or the other

[I_am_still_wayn]

CampinMike wrote:
My guess is the Anode rod.

The anode rod has absolutely nothing to do with the water heater's operation on gas or electric. It is there as a sacrificial agent to keep the tank from deteriorating.

[retiredtraveler]

Thanks to everyone.
I have not done any trouble shooting with my meter so far. Too freaking cold to open the outside door to the water heater. I will check the thermostat to make sure juice is flowing and check to see if it is in fact getting to the element. Good news is that the propane portion does seem to be working. Who ordered this 30F weather for the deep south?

[wa8yxm]

Some folks have knee jerk answers to everything....

Now to the topic.. If I am filling in the left out parts.. Your water is no longer working on electric.. But still works on Gas.

Suspect list:

Electrical supply to water heater (By the way folks Mine is NOT "Just plugged in" it is hard wired) Starting with the park pedestal.

Then we have the breakers in the RV. IF you know how measure voltage

Now we have the relay and some side stuff I'll get to in a paragraph or 3

And the heat element

And all the wires that connect..

My Favorite suspect here is the heat element.

The side stuff includes the thermostats and control board. Those are #2 and 3 on the list.

IF. and I stress IF it's the control board.. Go with Dinosaur boards.

The relay, though suspect... Is kind of down the list.

[hardtobe]

retiredtravelers2013 wrote:
We have been on our first winter trip for about 10 weeks now. We are presently in Canton,Ms.
Yesterday my wife took a nice hot shower. About an hour later I went to take one and had no hot water.
We have a 10 gallon water heater that runs on either AC or propane. We have always run it on AC to preserve propane. I checked the AC breaker and it was fine. There is a lighted switch in the bathroom signaling when the AC heater is on. That was lit.
I tried to turn on the propane heater this morning and after a false start it did come on. At least we do have hot water now.
Do any of you smart people have any ideas? Besides a burned out element?
Thanks in advance
Keld

Take a meter and see if 120V is at the thermostat and flows through to the element. If not it may have a bad thermostat.If it does and and not heating its a bad element.I have seen that many times
If no 120V present at stat then its a power supply problem

[hardtobe]

CampinMike wrote:
My guess is the Anode rod.

this is humor>? I will assume?

[Old-Biscuit]

AC/propane water heater.......which Brand/Model

AC power is hardwired unless you have an aftermarket kit that plugs into an outlet.

Anode Rod has nothing to do with the heating function/operation


If you have a Suburban....the AC has own t-stats and propane has own t-stat
Push the reset button on left side in outside compartment. That is for the ECO (High temp T-stat) on AC set. Right side ones are for propane set.

[rgatijnet1]

retiredtravelers2013 wrote:
We have been on our first winter trip for about 10 weeks now. We are presently in Canton,Ms.
Yesterday my wife took a nice hot shower. About an hour later I went to take one and had no hot water.
We have a 10 gallon water heater that runs on either AC or propane. We have always run it on AC to preserve propane. I checked the AC breaker and it was fine. There is a lighted switch in the bathroom signaling when the AC heater is on. That was lit.
I tried to turn on the propane heater this morning and after a false start it did come on. At least we do have hot water now.
Do any of you smart people have any ideas? Besides a burned out element?
Thanks in advance
Keld

If yours is like my Atwood water heater, there are two switches that allow you to use propane, 120 volt AC, or both. The 12 volts that feeds these switches also powers the circuit board that ignites the propane. The 12 volts also is used to light up the two switches to indicate that either one or both are turned on. That indicator light is only 12 volts so it does not actually mean that there is 120 volts at the water heater, even if the 12 volt indicator light is lit. I would suspect that either you do not actually have 120 volts at the water heater, the 120 volt thermostat on the water heater is bad, or the heating element is bad.

[dougrainer]

1. Need year/brand model RV. Need Brand and model of water heater.
2. The "lighted" switch does NOT indicate the Water heater is running on 120. ALL it does is indicate that 120 current is passing thru the wall switch to the Water heater 120 connections. You still have a problem with the 120 side of the Water Heater. Need to know Brand and Model of Water Heater as the only 2 brands function differently on their operation on 120.
3. Since you use the 120 exclusively, the odds are the 120 element is indeed burned out, but there are a few checks you need to make before you determine that. Doug

[dougrainer]

CampinMike wrote:
My guess is the Anode rod.

How can a Anode Rod cause ANY problem with the operation of a Water Heater??????????????? Think about it:h Doug