Did I dodge a bullet?

[Boxerslave]

Kids slept in tt over Xmas. Winterized of course. Turned on water heater instead of lights by accident and I caught it today when I got the bedding. Removed access cover to check the element and the tank was hot, no water in it. Do I consider myself extremely lucky or do I change element anyway?

[hohenwald48]

"wobbly pops" - now that's one I've never heard but I think I know what they are. 🙂

[Boxerslave]

Thanks OB, will add that to my winterize list, also trip 110 breaker. Westend will check ohms on Sunday and report, not the greatest access on mine but doable.ChooChoo I saw the 110 switch on and hit it so fast that I dont know if the gas was on or not. Both switches are side by side. Funny thing is I had allready unplugged 110 so I didnt need to panic. Only funny now. I should have mentioned that the kids are 30 years old, and there were wobbly pops involved. Dave

[mrgreetis]

Since we rarely camp with hook ups, I just turned the breaker for the water heater off. That only takes care of the electric side, though.

[ChooChooMan74]

By the sounds of it, the propane side was turned on, and not the electric side?

[westend]

You can also test the electric element without powering it and heating water. Disconnect the wires from the element (be sure to interrupt power by using circuit breaker) and check resistance through the element. I don't know, offhand, what a 120V element has for resistance value but infinite or none mean a bad element.

[Old-Biscuit]

Boxerslave wrote:
Hey Dutchmen No switch outside. Drained tank by pulling nylon plug, blew lines and reinstalled plug. Clear hoses at heater so when I found the tank was hot I could see air bubbles rising from tank so I assume some water in it but not a lot. Any way to stop it from lighting on propane if switched on accidently?

Pull the 2A fuse on circuit board ....in outside compartment

Your 2011 Atwood uses 12V DC to activate both electric and propane
Without fuse neither will operate

[Old-Biscuit]

beemerphile1 wrote:

Boxerslave wrote:
Kids slept in tt over Xmas. Winterized of course. Turned on water heater instead of lights by accident and I caught it today when I got the bedding. Removed access cover to check the element and the tank was hot, no water in it. Do I consider myself extremely lucky or do I change element anyway?

If the tank was hot it proves the heating element is not burned out so yes, you dodged the bullet.

Bet the element burnt out within minutes of dry firing and tank was hot due to propane on also.....until t-stat shut it down

Electric elements NEED to be submerged in water to survive the high current flow

[DutchmenSport]

Boxerslave wrote:
Hey Dutchmen No switch outside. Drained tank by pulling nylon plug, blew lines and reinstalled plug. Clear hoses at heater so when I found the tank was hot I could see air bubbles rising from tank so I assume some water in it but not a lot. Any way to stop it from lighting on propane if switched on accidently?

It might take a little work, but it would be well worth it if you double switched the (electric) water heater. The easiest spot to tap into would be right at the switch on the wall. Cut one of the lines on the back of the switch and install a second on-off switch. Running the extra wire, and depending upon you want the second switch may be the challenge. You might be able to run a second switch closer to the water heater.

About the gas switch. My camper has only 1 switch for gas also, and it's on the same panel as everything else. I leave my propane tank on all the time, except when I absolutely know the camper is not going to get used for some time. (we usually sleep in it over the winter months ... quite a bit). But now that you mention it, it's kind of strange that this switch has never been flipped by accident that I know of (in 3 different TT's).

But here again, if it REALLY becomes a problem, you could also install a gas cut-off valve at or near the water heater too, so gas can be killed at the water heater and left available for the rest of the camper.

(I suppose my strategy comes from playing chess. I always try to protect each piece on the chess board at least 2 ways). :B

[JESTER7406]

I put one of the gfci exterior covers over the electric switch in our old class c. I used a tiny zip tie to secure it closed. It was way too tempting for the kids to flip on.

[STBRetired]

I take a piece of painters tape, write the word NO! on it and put it over the switch so that it would need to be removed to turn the switch on. Sometimes DW doesn't read the labels when she turns on switches.

[Boxerslave]

Hi Americal. Had propane on so kids could use furnace. Dave

[AmericalVette]

Boxerslave wrote:
Hey Dutchmen No switch outside. Drained tank by pulling nylon plug, blew lines and reinstalled plug. Clear hoses at heater so when I found the tank was hot I could see air bubbles rising from tank so I assume some water in it but not a lot. Any way to stop it from lighting on propane if switched on accidently?

Close the valves on the propane tanks

[Boxerslave]

Hey Dutchmen No switch outside. Drained tank by pulling nylon plug, blew lines and reinstalled plug. Clear hoses at heater so when I found the tank was hot I could see air bubbles rising from tank so I assume some water in it but not a lot. Any way to stop it from lighting on propane if switched on accidently?

[DutchmenSport]

Does your water heater have a rocker switch at the water heater? If so, start making sure it's flipped off too whenever you drain the water heater. And make sure the switch is off inside the camper too.

If the water heater was warm, are you sure you drained the water? It's possible there was still water in the tank and the heating element was still under water. I think you dodged the bullet, but you really won't know for sure until spring.

I put a secondary switch on my on-board water pump too. The switches for lights, slides, water heater, and water pump are all in the same spot. Over the last couple years I have found the water pump running when the fresh water tank was empty. I don't know how that happened, but it did (several times).

I ran a second automotive type toggle switch, so both switches have to be "on" for the pump to run now. When I drain the water tank I always flip the switch at that time. Now I flip them both. The second switch is NOT any near close to the factory installed switch. It's actually on the wall under our bed. Since I did this, the pump has never been left running with empty tanks again.