Suburban hot water heater issue

Could be the new element is bad or the thermostat is bad. The electric element has its own thermostat, I think. Did you test the old element to see if it is burned out?

Locate your exact model number, it is normally located on exterior access frame.
Humming could be coming from relay is equipped.
Some installations have a safety switch in the exterior access. Verif it is on.

We have had to replace the electric heating element in ours. Sometimes they go out, in our case we were in an area with a lot of calcium in the water so it got so gunked up it wasn't heating efficiently.

OEM Electric On/Off Switch in outside compartment ...lower left corner ON?

Did electric High temp t-stat trip......Push to Reset (left one for electric/right for propane)
Wire that connects High and Normal t-stat burnt into? (remove Push to Reset Cover and check)

120V AC circuit breaker tripped?

Use voltmeter and follow the AC Voltage
Standard wiring....AC for element and DC for propane



IF model is a 'DEL' then DC Relay is used to trigger AC to element
Wiring for 'DEL' Models

Possible problems;
Bad heating element (but you say you already replaced that)
Bad/tripped thermostat/hi temp cutout on front of water heater? (did you try the reset button?)
Switch at lower left front of water heater turned off or bad (make sure switch is on)
120 vac breaker tripped (at circuit breaker panel)
Loose or broken wire connection (multiple reports of loose neutral in junction box on back side of water heater)
Bad interposing relay (inside switch sends 12 vdc to relay on back side of WH that in turn sends 120 vac to heating element)

If you are comfortable troubleshooting live 120 vac use a voltmeter starting at the heating element and working backward until you find where 120 vac is last detected.

Thanks for all the replies and advice! I checked over all the suggestions, and it ended up being the wire was melted in the junction box where the hot water heaters wires together. The white wire was melted, right at the wire nut. I cut off the bad, re-connected, and bam it all works!
So, why would this happen? To much electricity running all at once? How do I prevent from happening in the future? I appreciate everyone's help!

My first guess would be poor workmanship. Wrong size of wire nut.
I would get some electrical de-oxidation compound, the correct size wire nut, (high temperature if possible)
You could also use a crimp connector with the de-oxidation compound.

Poor connection in the wire nut plus high current equals high heat. Likely it was loose or the wires were just not properly stripped and twisted. Wire nut is not a problem if done correctly.

jabres wrote:
Thanks for all the replies and advice! I checked over all the suggestions, and it ended up being the wire was melted in the junction box where the hot water heaters wires together. The white wire was melted, right at the wire nut. I cut off the bad, re-connected, and bam it all works!
So, why would this happen? To much electricity running all at once? How do I prevent from happening in the future? I appreciate everyone's help!

Loose connection causes arcing,
arcing causes heat,
heat burns wires.

At least you now have a spare element.

Thanks again guys!