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JosieRV
Explorer
May 15, 2014

Hot Water Heater

We have a 2011 Larado 5th wheel. This is our 4th season we are using it. We are hooked up to electric and had the hot water heater working fine for 5 days. All of a sudden stopped working on electric. It works fine on gas. Can anyone help me with this. It is a suburban model number SW6DE.
  • BTW its a water heater not a HOT Water heater if it was hot you would not need to heat it.
  • Suburban uses 2 different sets of t-stats.....one set for 120V AC element and one set 12V DC for propane

    If the normal t-stat fails to OPEN at preset temp (130*F) then the HI temp one is preset to 'trip' OPEN (170*F)
    When it trips it has to be 'reset'

    In outside compartment left side is a rubber cover with 'Push to Reset'
    Left button is for electric element.
    Push it and see if it resets. If it does electric element should get power again.
    BUT you will need to replace that set of t-stats cause normal is not opening and water will heat to 170*F then trip HI temp t-stat again.

    IF it's not a tripped t-stat then it could be:
    Loose connections, faulty element, tripped 120V CB
  • Most likely a tripped GFCI. My water heater is plugged into a GFCI protected circuit. It was a bear for me to determine why mine wasn't working. It turned out to be the GFCI in the bathroom.
  • We'll if it is none of the simple things to check (breaker tripped, local switch turned off) then I would get an ohm / voltage meter and check the electric heating element which may have gone bad.

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