Two Hot Water Switches

[Keyra]

Does anyone know why the Heartland North Trail FBS22 has two hot water switches? One is in the bathroom and one is behind the little door that also houses the switches for the slide out and the awning. If there is only one hot water heater why are there two switches.

 

[priorguy]

One is probably 12VDC/propane operation and the other 120VAC operation. There should be a third switch on the back of the water heater itself.


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[pegmikef]

In my North Trail, the one that looks like a light switch (behind the little door) is the 120 volt and you have to be hooked up to shore power to use this one. Do NOT turn it on unless your Hot Water heater is full of water or you will burn out the heating element. As Dan said, the other one is used to run your HW heater on propane (it also requires 12 VDC) and you do not have to be connected to shore power to use this one. When you do use it you will see a small red led light up for a few seconds while it is waiting for the propane to ignite. Once ignited, it will go out. If it does not go out, check your propane.

 

[bsuds]

The 12V light on mine never goes out.

 

[danemayer]

The 12V light on mine never goes out.

On the LP operation, the switch has a light built in that stays on. There's a small LED under the switch that illuminates when igniting and stays on in a failure. Our owner-written Water Heater Usage Guide has more information.

 

[Keyra]

Thanks for your help everyone. Do we always have to have the LP switch on even when we have shore power? Or is there an electric only water heater too?

 

[danemayer]

Thanks for your help everyone. Do we always have to have the LP switch on even when we have shore power? Or is there an electric only water heater too?

You should also have a switch that will turn on the electric heating element. It's usually a larger wall-type switch that illuminates when turned on. If you also have the Yeti/Arctic Package, it may have a similar switch. When using either, make sure you have water in the water heater or the element will quickly burn out. On the Yeti Package, the switch turns on the tank heating pads and if there's no water in the tank(s), you can burn a hole in the tank and destroy the pad.

Suburban Water Heaters also have a safety switch on the outside of the water heater. It's there to prevent accidental damage to the heating element if someone comes into your RV and flips the switch when there's no water in the tank.

You can run on propane alone, or on electric alone, or you can run both for faster recovery time.