How do I operate the hot water heater on a 2011 24RBS

Hello,

We purchased a 24RBS in February and have had it in storage until this weekend. We are on our maiden voyage! We seem to have forgotten everything since the walkthrough. How do we operate the hot water heater. There appears to be two switches. One that is red and backlit and the other is part of what appears to be the battery. The battery switch seems to work perfectly. We hear and see the gas start. The backlit red switch, however, doesn't do anything. We are hooked into the city water line and our holding tank is full (just in case) but we sure would like to have hot water without burning out our element. Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

Generally, the red lighted switch on the tank/battery monitor panel is the water heater switch for Propane operation and the red lighted residential style wall switch of for AC power operation. Never flip that AC power switch to on until you have filled the water heater tank where water comes out the water faucet with the hot water faucet on. This ensures your water heater tank is flooded and water is covering the heating element. If you have turned that switch on for more than a few seconds, you have likely burned out the AC water heating element. Simple to replace. Just need a new element and the water heater element wrench (super-thin wall socket from hardware store).

Jim

Yes the walk through can be a bit overwhelming and we tend to forget a few things.
Do you have any hot water at all? If you get no hot water at all then your water heater could still be in the bypass mode. You said that you see the LP flame at the water heater.
Be sure that the tank is full of water before you turn on the electric heating element.
The red backlit switch will provide power to the water heater element. But wait, there is more. There might be a black rocker switch on the water heater itself and that may have a roll pin cotter in it. Remove the pin and turn the switch on.
If all fails, it is not a crime to ask a fellow camper to help out.

Peace
Dave

JVJBurton said:

Hello,

We purchased a 24RBS in February and have had it in storage until this weekend. We are on our maiden voyage! We seem to have forgotten everything since the walkthrough. How do we operate the hot water heater. There appears to be two switches. One that is red and backlit and the other is part of what appears to be the battery. The battery switch seems to work perfectly. We hear and see the gas start. The backlit red switch, however, doesn't do anything. We are hooked into the city water line and our holding tank is full (just in case) but we sure would like to have hot water without burning out our element. Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

Click to expand...

First of all, be absolutely sure the water heater tank is full. Running the water heater on electric with an empty tank will burn out the electric heating element. Not overly expensive to replace, but a bit of a PITA. The red wall switch is to operate the water heater on 120V electric. There is also a black switch on the face of the water heater, outside, that needs to be in the ON position. Once it's set there, you do not need to turn it off, since the red switch will control it. The little red switch on the monitor panel is to operate the water heater on propane. It also has a small indicator light to show it is on. You can operate the water heater on electric and propane simultaneously, if you wish, by turning on both the red switch and the one on the monitor panel. Or, leave the propane off and just use electric. Or leave the red switch off and just use propane (so long as your battery is good, since you'll still need the 12V for the circuit board).

View attachment 12621 The red backlit switch is in the lower left corner of the cabinet (in my rig)

View attachment 12622 The electric switch on the water heater panel is behind the gas tube. It may have a pin in it.

View attachment 12623 The water heater propane switch is the one on the right.

Your rig may not have the same switch configuration as mine, however. If you're still unsure, take some photos and post what you have. Or someone with a similar rig may be able to provide you with better detail.

When I've de-winterized, and am filling the hot water tank, I'll open the pop off valve on the hot water heater for 2 reasons, 1 to let the tank completely fill with water, 2 so I'll know that I've got water in the tank. I'll watch it, and when water starts coming out, I'll close it.

Thanks JohnDar as i was guessing thats how the HWH worked but did`nt know for sure.. I did not wanna be the first to ask..LoL

Don't do what I did & I thought I knew what I was doing. We had 2 motor homes and I never had any problems. However on the TT walk through the guy forgot to show me that on the 24RBS you have to take off a panel on the left side pass through to get to the two valves that allow water to pass into the water tank. After filling and getting water to flow through both hot and cold taps I thought the tank was full. As olcoon stated the best way to determine if water is in the tank is to open the pop off valve on the tank. I did and no water came out but I thought since water was coming out of the faucets it was full. I turned on the electric switch and promptly burned out the heating element. Fortunately they are not difficult to change. As a precaution to any future repairs that you might have to make, I'd take the element out and you will need a special tank element socket which you can get at any hardware store. Take the good heating element to HD or Lowe's and buy a spare element. They are somewhat the same but shorter than a what I've replaced at the house. We were in a hurry and I bought one at a camper place ($30). They should only cost around $10-15.

Not a bad idea to have a spare element on hand. You could always sell it at a profit to a fellow camper that fries his on a holiday weekend. Depending on how desparate he is, you could end up camping for free.

Seriously, since it is relatively easy to have one's brain pass gas on occasion, the spare is cheap insurance that you won't be the one giving a quart of blood to buy one.