Throwing the breaker

campfire7

Active Member
I have not yet pulled the Hot Water Heater to investigate, But I am hoping to get some idea as to what is wrong. My HWH is throwing the breaker, and when I flip the breaker back on, I hear a buzzing noise and it immediately throws the breaker back off. On my last trip we had to run it on Propane, which works great. I have never pulled a HWH before so I really don't know what I am up against, Any advise or suggestions would be greatly appreciated. Thanks
 

Flick

Well-known member
I have not yet pulled the Hot Water Heater to investigate, But I am hoping to get some idea as to what is wrong. My HWH is throwing the breaker, and when I flip the breaker back on, I hear a buzzing noise and it immediately throws the breaker back off. On my last trip we had to run it on Propane, which works great. I have never pulled a HWH before so I really don't know what I am up against, Any advise or suggestions would be greatly appreciated. Thanks

Your HWH element more than likely has a whole burned in it and has gone to ground. Replace element.
 

danemayer

Well-known member
Assuming you have a Suburban Water Heater, you don't need to pull out the entire water heater. The 120V AC heating element can be easily removed and replaced. You'll find instructions starting on page 9 of our owner-written Water Heater Troubleshooting Guide. Replacement elements are available at RV dealers, Amazon and other online stores, or even at most hardware stores.
 

danemayer

Well-known member
One other thing. There is a junction box on the front, inside corner of the water heater where the 120V AC power from the circuit breaker panel connects to the water heater wiring. Occasionally there's a problem inside that junction box that can trip the circuit breaker.
 

SLO

Well-known member
If you have a ohm meter it’s easy to check element condition before you remove it.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk
 

JohnD

Moved on to the next thing...
Always make sure you have water in the water heater before you turn on the switch for electric.

That is probably what happened...
 
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