No hot water in 2012 Big Country

Hoehand

Member
We had lots of hot water since we bought trailer in March but all of a sudden none. We checked outside shower beginning to think this trailer is not so good! Air didn't work( thanks to forum fixes it is cooling much better) refrigerator and microwave both had to be fixed/ replaced .It could live at the dealership but he is working and we need to stay in it ! Just tried it on gas and it works great in shower,very hot, but not as hot in kitchen. We have a 3690SL. Any ideas?
 

gasman

Camp Socializer
When you use the water heater on electric, there are two switches that must be in the on position. There is a switch inside the coach with all of the conglomerate of switches. The second switch is a rocker type that is located on the water heater. Remove the outside cover and located in the lower left corner usually you the other switch. Be sure that it is turned on.
 

danemayer

Well-known member
If it was working on electric and now is not:

1) Is the light on in the large switch that turns the electric side on? If not, the wires to the switch might be loose or the circuit breaker has tripped.
2) I think there is a reset button on the outside surface of the water heater. There might be one for the gas burner and another for the electric element. These trip if there's an overtemp condition. When water gets back to 110, you can reset.
3) any chance you turned on the electric side with the water heater tank not filled? The element would burn up quickly.

As to difference in temp between shower and kitchen, it probably takes longer to get really hot water to the kitchen faucet, but I would expect it to be just as hot after 30 seconds or so.
 

Hoehand

Member
Thanks for the suggestion.... We have been in same spot since April and it was working fine so I know black switch had to be on. My husband said he thinks it is probably the element since it is working on gas. He is going to try and replace it when he gets a day off .Always something, just was hoping not so many with a brand new trailer ! This is our fifth trailer since 1986 and never had to replace an element in any of the others. Guess our luck ran out .....
 

Westwind

Well-known member
Had the same problem on our new 2012 Bighorn, we were in Florida and had plenty of hot water for 2 1/2 months and then none, in the beginning when I hit the reset it would work once but not kick on when it needed to heat more water. It ended up being the electric thermostat that had failed it's easy to replace. I had Camping World work on it and removed the water heater etc. etc. only to end up replacing the thermostat in the end like I told them in the beginning.
 

Hoehand

Member
John finally got time to replace the element we decided to order ourselves instead of going the the hassle we have been through with dealer on all things they left undone on our unit we bought in April....we figured it was our fault maybe happened during power failure ....turns out wasn't the element some screw had rusted out on our new 3690SL...at least we now have a spare element if it ever does go out! just wanted to let y'all know to check that too.
 
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