Electric water heater, heats when it wants to

[Gizzy]

Hope someone can help. We are having problems with the electric water heater. It will come on (sometimes) and work great. Will take a shower and have plenty of hot water. Then later (perhaps a couple hours or even several hours) when the DW takes a shower there is no hot water. Then later (maybe a few hours or next day) when checked, there is hot water again. There seems to be no consistent pattern. Anyone have suggestions as to what I might try next to figure this out? Any help would be appreciated. Oh yea, it works fine on propane, but I just hate buying it when I should be able to use the campground electric.

Thanx.

 

[cookie]

Re: Electric water heater when it wants to

Take a look at all of the electrical connections.
My bro had a similar problem and we found a spade connector that had come loose.
Look under the little metal cover on the water heater, the breaker and the switch.
Be sure to disconnect from shore power and turn off your genny if you have one before messing around with the wires.

Peace
Dave

 

[danemayer]

Re: Electric water heater when it wants to

A couple of people have had problems with loose connections in the junction box that's mounted to the inside corner of the water heater. You have to take down the basement wall to see the box.

 

[mobilcastle]

Re: Electric water heater when it wants to

I had the junction box problem when I bought mine - it turned out to a bad short. Your thermostat may be going bad. I once had a wire broken inside the insulation of the wire itself. Get out your volt meter and check connections for current.Good luck.

 

[ILH]

Re: Electric water heater when it wants to

I had the junction box problem when I bought mine - it turned out to a bad short. Your thermostat may be going bad. I once had a wire broken inside the insulation of the wire itself. Get out your volt meter and check connections for current.Good luck.

Not likely the thermostat since the heater works correctly with propane.

 

[mobilcastle]

Re: Electric water heater when it wants to

Mine has two thermostats - one for electric and one for 12volt propane

 

[MTPockets]

Re: Electric water heater when it wants to

Not likely the thermostat since the heater works correctly with propane.

My water heater has separate thermostats - one for elec, one for gas. My elec went bad last year and was replaced under warranty by a mobile service tech. When you know what to look for it's easy. Took him 5 minutes to replace. Next time, I'll do it.

 

[danemayer]

Re: Electric water heater when it wants to

The Suburban water heater has 2 thermostats; one for electric and another for gas. I believe the Atwood water heater has a single thermostat for both.

 

[Gizzy]

Thanks everyone, I will check out your ideas and see what comes of it. Will update when I get the problem solved.

 

[JohnDar]

I had the opposite problem last summer that the propane system was intermittment. Changed the board, no joy. Changed the 12V thermostat and problem solved. It is a simple DIY project to change it and they run about $30. The ones for Suburban are available in either 130 or 140 degrees. OEM was 130, but local RV dealer only had the 140 on hand. Called Suburban and was told no problem using the higher one.