Atwood water heater burnt 110v wire

[jrclap63]

Hello. looking for troubleshooting help on a Atwood GC6AA-9E water heater in a 2001 Prowler 275J. I usually only use the 110V to heat the water. When I turned on the unit and waited, but no hot water. I switched it over to gas and everything fired up with no issue. Started to do some troubleshooting. Had power to the box on the rear of the heater. Took cover off and found that the black wire going to the T-stat had burnt off. Wonder what I should be checking that may have caused this. Not sure if a bad t-stat or ECO could cause this and if so how do I check them. Did not get a chance to check the heating element, but was also wondering about it. Thanks JC.

[mikestock]

If you have any doubt about the heater element I would go ahead and replace it. I just bought one (1500 Watts) from Lowes for $6 and change. I found my original problem was a bad breaker and couldn't find a replacement. Just replaced it with a 15 amp in-line fuse.

I agree that the likely, initial, problem you had was a bad connection.

[wa8yxm]

I'm with BB. Many RVers have a few screws loose. (Nuts too) I'm speaking of the ones that hold wires to devices.

[Dusty_R]

Went to check a water heater for a guy, he said that that on electric it wasn't heating the water, and on gas it would not stay lit.
I found that the water was on by-pass.

[jrclap63]

Thanks for all the responses. I kind of thought that may have been the issue, but just wanted to be sure. I will also replace the t-stat just to be sure it's ok. Thanks Again.

[BB_TX]

I would go ahead and replace the thermostat since the heat could have damaged it also. They are pretty cheap.

[Ava]

I recently helped a friend with their burnt wires feeding the water heater in a 2 year old trailer. As said above the connections were the problem. The wire connectors were very sloppy and shorted out and the ground wire screw was loose as well. Very poor workmanship.

[Flute_Man]

BB has it right. I would just repair the wire. Make sure the connection is clean and tight.
Give it a try and see what happens.

[BB_TX]

Most likely a bad or loose wire connection. Bad connection equals resistance. Resistance and current flow equals heat. Think of a light bulb. The filament (resistor) has current flowing thru it and it gets so hot it glows. At about 12 amps current it doesn’t take much resistance to create a lot of heat.