no hot water electric or LP

[pa_bell]

Suburban SW6DEL will not heat water with LP or electric. Stove and furnace work fine with LP. Not sure what to look for. Any ideas?

[pa_bell]

Opnspaces, I do have 12vdc to both sides of the tstat. That is Good information to have with troubleshooting guide. Hope to work on it this week. Thanks

[opnspaces]

On the LP side, there are two wires to the t-stat. Do you have 12 volts on one wire or both wires?
Here's a step by step troubleshooting guide that might help.
Link

[pa_bell]

I have just now today been able to get back to my water heater problem. ON the LP side, I do have 12vdc at the switch and at the tstat but no spark. Could it be the control board? Not sure.

On the electric side, I see the 12vdc at the inside switch but nothing at the tstat. The relay is not accessible unless I pull the unit out.
The switch at the face of the heater has no slack in the wire so I was not able to pull away to check.

Any help would be appreciated.

[pa_bell]

Thank you Old-Biscuit. I will be doing this tomorrow afternoon.

[Old-Biscuit]

You have 12VDC at & thru the Switches

The AC side....
DC goes to the DC Relay in DC Junction (backside of water heater tank) which then triggers AC to the OEM on/off switch (in outside compartment) then to the Left set of t-stats to element
**If you have DC from Electric on/off switch then you should have DC at Relay in Junction Box

Propane side....
DC from On/Off Switch goes to Right set of t-stats to circuit board (backside of water heater). From circuit board to gas valve/spark electrode
**If you have DC coming from Propane on/off switch then you should have DC at High Temp T-stat RED wire

[pa_bell]

Yes, it has been used for 5 winters in Florida. Last spring before we left the electric would get too hot and come out the pressure relief valve. The LP worked fine. I took the switches from the wall and see 12V passing through both LP and electric with a multimeter. I do not see 12 V at either t-stat. I cleaned out the LP tube and orifice.

The battery is at 12.8. I had the generator running to provide shore power.

I am running out of time since the RV in a storage lot and I am using water from fresh tank. Tomorrow night will be 16 degrees and I think I should drain that tank and winterize.

[time2roll]

pa bell wrote:
Suburban SW6DEL will not heat water with LP or electric. Stove and furnace work fine with LP. Not sure what to look for. Any ideas?

Did it ever work?
Do you have 13.2+ volts on the battery and in the 12v distribution center?
Any chance the WH was not filled before turning on?

[Old-Biscuit]

You stated it was a 'DEL' model

'DEL' models use 12VDC to control both electric & propane functions

Need to verify that you have 12VDC to BOTH on/off switches.
From the on/off switch the 2 circuits are independent ....
120VAC is triggered by a DC Relay
12VDC is used for propane

[pa_bell]

The SW6D is a direct ignition water heater with no pilot light. Are there any symptoms when you try to light on Propane? Nothing when using LP

Is there a light illuminated on the power switch in the RV? Power switch does light.

If you turn on the water heater do you hear or smell any propane? NO

Do you hear the igniter clicking or sparking? NO

Do you have a digital multimeter to check for power at various places?
Yes, I will be working on it tomorrow.

Thanks

[opnspaces]

The SW6D is a direct ignition water heater with no pilot light. Are there any symptoms when you try to light on Propane?

Is there a light illuminated on the power switch in the RV?

If you turn on the water heater do you hear or smell any propane?

Do you hear the igniter clicking or sparking?

Do you have a digital multimeter to check for power at various places?

[BFL13]

Does the red light come on when you turn on the switch for using propane heating?

That whole side needs 12v to work the switch and the control board to operate on propane.

If the red light comes on you have 12v to the switch, but the switch might be bad. (or downstream the control board might be bad) Pull the switch out and get at the back of it to jumper the wires to see if now the burner lights. No joy, next get at the control board to see if it has any 12v.

Can't remember if the Suburbans need 12v to operate on 120v.

[pa_bell]

The unit only has 2 t-stats, one for each LP or electric. Not sure if this is right but the reset on either t-stat does not physically move or click when pushed.

Also the 120v breaker is ok.

[DutchmenSport]

Had a similar problem years ago on my previous camper. Turned out to be the thermostat (not the one on the wall of the camper, the one on the water heater itself). However, I did take mine into a shop and they fixed it. I would have never figured it out myself.

[pa_bell]

The gas does not try to ignite. Not sure this model has a mother board or is there a mention of a thermo sensor.