BH270 Water Heater

JKLM2011

Member
We took our maiden voyage in our TT this weekend! The one thing we could not figure out was how to run the water heater on hose power. We let the tank fill and tried turning on the inside switch, checked the breaker and looked in the heater panel. The switch light never came on, and there isn't a secondary switch that we could find in the panel. It would run on LP fine. Any suggestions what to do or where else to look?
 

danemayer

Well-known member
Hi JKLM2011,

Take a look at our Water Heater Usage Guide. It's oriented toward Suburban water heaters, but most of the information also applies to Atwood units. If you have a Suburban unit, you may need to turn on the secondary switch on the outside of the water heater, under the exterior cover. It's pictured in the user guide.

Heartland mostly uses water heaters that work on either 120V AC (when plugged into shore power), or on 12V DC with Propane. But I think they do ship a few models with propane only water heaters. You can check under the exterior cover panel to find out make and model of your water heater.
 

JKLM2011

Member
Hi JKLM2011,

Take a look at our Water Heater Usage Guide. It's oriented toward Suburban water heaters, but most of the information also applies to Atwood units. If you have a Suburban unit, you may need to turn on the secondary switch on the outside of the water heater, under the exterior cover. It's pictured in the user guide.

Heartland mostly uses water heaters that work on either 120V AC (when plugged into shore power), or on 12V DC with Propane. But I think they do ship a few models with propane only water heaters. You can check under the exterior cover panel to find out make and model of your water heater.


Dane Thanks, I did pull up the water heater guide, pulled out the manual we had in the trailer. We have even tried finding a video on youtube. None of these have helped. We had an experienced traveler next to us as the park that could not figure it out. Our interior switches are lighted when on, the water pump, LP heater both came on. The electric one for the water heater did not.
 

danemayer

Well-known member
Dane Thanks, I did pull up the water heater guide, pulled out the manual we had in the trailer. We have even tried finding a video on youtube. None of these have helped. We had an experienced traveler next to us as the park that could not figure it out. Our interior switches are lighted when on, the water pump, LP heater both came on. The electric one for the water heater did not.

If it's a Suburban water heater (look under the exterior cover panel), you can track down the problem with our Water Heater Troubleshooting Guide. It might be something as simple as pushing the reset button. Or it's possible the electric element was turned on while the tank was empty - maybe even before you took delivery. The troubleshooting guide will walk you through finding what's wrong with the electric operation.
 

JohnDar

Prolifically Gabby Member
Have you confirmed whether it is a Suburban or an Atwood water heater? Some Atwood's are propane only (if you look at their manual). Because you have a switch inside for electric operation might not guarantee that you have a dual source water heater. If it's an Atwood and the model number does not have a "C" as the second character, yours is a propane only unit.

A friend has a newer SOB 5th wheel and his Atwood water heater is propane only.

You might also remove the inside switch and make sure it's actually got wires attached to it. These rigs are almost "kit" built, without a lot of consideration to minor details.
 

Gerri

Member
We just picked up our 2018 bh270 good water heater also. I did a walk thru with the dealer but I just ended up having enough of the b.s. i was told. The finishing in these isn't great. We also had sawdust on the beds and yesterday I went out to our storage to put more stuff in and found 5 or 6 screws from under the couch. Not sure what these are for. As for the finishing that was done I am a handy man so I can make it look good but I shouldn't have to. We were missing the light remote and the dealer has no idea what I'm talking about.
 
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JKLM2011

Member
We just picked up our 2018 bh270 water heater also. I did a walk thru with the dealer but I just ended up having enough of the b.s. i was told. The finishing in these isn't great. We also had sawdust on the beds and yesterday I went out to our storage to put more stuff in and found 5 or 6 screws from under the couch. Not sure what these are for. As for the finishing that was done I am a handy man so I can make it look good but I shouldn't have to. We were missing the light remote and the dealer has no idea what I'm talking about.

We are still finding shavings after taking it out a few times. We found our remote in the top of the refrigerator door. Its about the size of a credit card. As far as the water heater it is LP only. Not sure why they have the extra switches. Enjoy your camper.
 
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