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nosebreaker's avatar
nosebreaker
Explorer
May 12, 2018

Wiring help needed for water heater

I installed a Suburban Nautilus IW60 tankless gas water heater today. The electrical connections on it do not match the old 6gal suburban water heater I had in before. I am hoping someone can help me with the connections.

From the MH, there are only 3 wires:
Yellow
Yellow
White

The old hot water heater had this:
Yellow->Red
Yellow->Blue
White->Green

The new hot water heater has:
White w/crimp (for control panel)
White w/crimp (for control panel)
Orange w/crimp (another panel?)
Blue w/crimp (another panel?)
Black (12V- I think)
Red (12V+ I think)
Also has a green grounding screw on back of unit.

Can anyone help with how they should be connected? I connected the hot water heater control panel to the white and red/black to yellow but no luck. Also potentially noteworthy is the MH panel switch has a led for pilot light. I have not put water into the system yet, I understand that the control panel should light up if it was wired correctly.

This is how I connected it:
Yellow->old red->Red
Yellow->old blue->Black
White->old green->disconnected
  • nosebreaker's avatar
    nosebreaker
    Explorer
    May 14, 2018
    dougrainer, I am not sure what you mean, I did not use all the wires. The deluxe panel only has 2 wires on it, I didn't use the orange/blue nor did I use the wire that goes to the panel LED "pilot" light.

    Our expected lifespan for the tankless system is only 3 months of use before we sell the RV. I sure hope it doesn't have a failure during that time!

    I was irked because people keep telling me what works for them, and I keep saying that isn't what will work for us. Kind of like you did! If the system doesn't work then we won't be going in a RV, we'll sell it and drive or fly around instead.
  • nosebreaker's avatar
    nosebreaker
    Explorer
    May 14, 2018
    Old-Biscuit, thanks that was it! The control panel lights up now and I think once I put water in it should work, thank you!
  • dougrainer's avatar
    dougrainer
    Nomad
    May 13, 2018
    I believe I told you in your other post, the system is set up for 2 inside remote switches. The amount of wires is for those 2 different switches. You use ALL the wires for the deluxe inside remote panel. You use just the wires Biscuit mentioned for the older standard wall switch. You then set the DIP switches for the output temp you desire if you do not want the standard 120 degrees. Doug

    PS, you seemed irked in another post because people were telling you not to change and you explained your wife was adamant she wanted it. Well, sorry, just because your wife wants it does NOT make it the best way to go. I hope you are honest enough to post in the future about how well that tankless system functions for her and if it REALLY meets her expectations. I have 38 years as an RV Tech and still working. I have yet to find ANY brand LP RV Tankless that I would install or recommend to my friends or customers. Just have seen to many failures.
  • Old-Biscuit's avatar
    Old-Biscuit
    Explorer III
    May 12, 2018
    Old water heater
    RED---12V DC POS (+) from fused DC Power
    BLUE..12V DC POS (+) to LIGHT
    Green --12V DC NEG (-) from battery

    Nautilus (connection on module board)
    RED 12V DC POS (+) from fused DC Power
    BLACK 12V DC NEG (-) from battery
    Blue is 12V DC POS to Light
    Orange is 12V from light

    Two WHITES are for to/from the control panel

    Yellow/Green from module board to chassis ground

    See Figure 11 on pg 9.........CLICK HERE

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