heater element

[globehopper]

has anyone replaced a electric water heater element? saw a video on it and it seemed relatively easy - what would be potential problems? the yahoos at the dealer service center just did a yearly and everything worked after i picked it up and went to resort - my electrical water heater didn't work. I'm so tired of hauling my trailer to the service dealer every time something goes wrong.

[Vet_Man]

If access is ok, and room to pull to out, do it yourself. My atwood heater had to be removed to change the element because it was against the wall. Half the price at Home depot or Lowes, make sure length and voltage is the same.

[Jim-Linda]

How do you know its the element that's bad? Unless you check element with a DVM, you really don't know.

Jim

[wa8yxm]

I have an Atwood, the only problem I see in replacing the element is access, I am the opposite of petite and it's in a small compartment and covered with insulation.

Other than that, simple out and in job

One of my "People" (if you folks think I know all this stuff, guess again) is Fred Brandberry of www.rv101byfred.com as I recall, suggests using a 240 volt element, this means you get a fraction of the power (1/4) takes much longer to heat the water (in fact I'd only heat it with gas and use electric for keep warm) but if you are on limited power... Does not trip the breaker as fast.

What I would like to see (Atwood are you reading) is a dual element water heater, It would have a 3-or-4 position switch

Low (med) high and auto.

On low it would use only the 240 volt element (1200 watt thus becomes 400 watt) for keep warm,, HIGH it goes all out, (1400) if you added the medium then HIGH would use both for 1800 watts, AUTO would require a upgraded controller so that it would use the LOW for keep warm (Say 1 degree below set temp) and switch to HIGH when it is currently set to activate.

But I like the manual option better.

[1492]

Moved from Forum Technical Support

[Old-Biscuit]

IF you have an Atwood Brand......electric element is on the backside of tank (inside RV) under a cover.

If you have a Suburban Brand....electric element is in outside compartment under gas valve behind burner tube.

Turn off AC breaker to element
Drain water heater
Remove covers on element
Remove wires from element
Unscrew element and pull it out of tank

Clean up threads and flat surface on tank
Install new element

Atwood uses a 120V 1400W element and IIRC Suburban used a 120V 1440W or 1500W element

[Alpenliter]

Easily done. Hardest part is removing the old element. Get an element wrench from the hardware store, put a pipe wrench on it to remove it. Go back to the hardware store with it and find one closest to the size in the 110-120 volt variety. Cost you about $8-$10. While the element is out, flush the tank. Make sure the power is off until you fill the tank. The guys at the shop probably fried it by turning it on without water. PS. Check your breaker before doing the job!

[Mandalay_Parr]

Try a mobile repair guy. They always seem good. Or, an independent service place.