Back, like the proverbial bad Penny :)

[gslabbert5119]

Greetings again. Well life has a way of getting in the way, and my wife & I had a hiatus from RV-ing for the last 2 years, however we are now rejoining the community. We had our 5er standing outside on our property and it has taken a beating in the Texas weather.

The RV developed a large soft spot at the base of the 2 stairs that go up to the bedroom, and I suspect that it is from the fridge icemaker water feed that split a few years ago. I am going to have to remove the floor covering & open up the floor and fix whatever goes on there. I did attempt to replace the icemaker pipe however it is secured somewhere and hopefully with the floor open I may be able to trace it so that I can replace it.

Other than that, the 120v hot water system no longer seems to be working and I have checked voltage and the element and find no fault. The circuit seems to be fine, and there may be a fuse somewhere that I am not aware of. The gas side of the heater works just great so there is not rush to fix that, but while I am working on everything else, I might as well find that fault and fix it as well.


After I repair the flooring, I am going to need to have the carpet and linoleum replaced. Does anyone have an idea what this would cost and where to find such a service ?

The solar system that I installed 3 years ago works fantastically, just wish that I could find lithium batteries at a reasonable price.

Well that's it for now.

Hi to Jerrod and others ...

Gavin

 

[Mrsfish]

Greetings again. Well life has a way of getting in the way, and my wife & I had a hiatus from RV-ing for the last 2 years, however we are now rejoining the community. We had our 5er standing outside on our property and it has taken a beating in the Texas weather.

The RV developed a large soft spot at the base of the 2 stairs that go up to the bedroom, and I suspect that it is from the fridge icemaker water feed that split a few years ago. I am going to have to remove the floor covering & open up the floor and fix whatever goes on there. I did attempt to replace the icemaker pipe however it is secured somewhere and hopefully with the floor open I may be able to trace it so that I can replace it.

Other than that, the 120v hot water system no longer seems to be working and I have checked voltage and the element and find no fault. The circuit seems to be fine, and there may be a fuse somewhere that I am not aware of. The gas side of the heater works just great so there is not rush to fix that, but while I am working on everything else, I might as well find that fault and fix it as well.


After I repair the flooring, I am going to need to have the carpet and linoleum replaced. Does anyone have an idea what this would cost and where to find such a service ?

The solar system that I installed 3 years ago works fantastically, just wish that I could find lithium batteries at a reasonable price.

Well that's it for now.

Hi to Jerrod and others ...

Gavin

Costco online has LION Energy Lithium batteries on sale right now for $1399 for a pair. This sale ends soon though. Ours are due to arrive today!!

 

[centerline]

the 120v hot water system no longer seems to be working and I have checked voltage and the element and find no fault. The circuit seems to be fine, and there may be a fuse somewhere that I am not aware of.

The solar system that I installed 3 years ago works fantastically, just wish that I could find lithium batteries at a reasonable price.

Gavin

if you checked voltage at the element and its all good, then either, there is a bad connection at one end of the wire, and not allowing it to carry the current needed to operate the element, OR, the element burned out, which can often show ok when using an ohm meter, because its only showing the continuity and NOT the ability to carry the current needed....

solar panel are so nice to have if one boondocks very much... the lithium batteries are great in that they supply a lot of power in a small package, and are maintenance free, but in my opinion, with an adequate solar array, and decent true "deep cycle" batteries, you will never notice a difference in usage..... its too common to see the Marine/RV deep cycle batteries in trailers, which arent really deep cycle at all, but only a little bit better than a starting battery for the application.... with the solar capability, true deep cycles is the best affordable way to go....

 

[danemayer]

If you measured 120V AC with one test meter probe on the heating element screw, and the other on a known good ground, that demonstrates that power is getting to the element. The circuit needs to be complete however: the other wire from the heating element goes back to the neutral buss behind the main circuit breaker panel. In between those points, there is a connection inside a junction box located on the front inside corner of the water heater.

It's more likely you have a heating element that isn't working. I'd remove power and disconnect one wire from the element to check continuity. Even if not sure, you can usually find a suitable replacement at most hardware stores, and certainly from an RV Dealer Parts Dep't. If you're sure you have a good element, take down the rear wall of the pass through basement storage, near the water connections, to locate that junction box. Check it with power disconnected.

 

[gslabbert5119]

if you checked voltage at the element and its all good, then either, there is a bad connection at one end of the wire, and not allowing it to carry the current needed to operate the element, OR, the element burned out, which can often show ok when using an ohm meter, because its only showing the continuity and NOT the ability to carry the current needed....

solar panel are so nice to have if one boondocks very much... the lithium batteries are great in that they supply a lot of power in a small package, and are maintenance free, but in my opinion, with an adequate solar array, and decent true "deep cycle" batteries, you will never notice a difference in usage..... its too common to see the Marine/RV deep cycle batteries in trailers, which arent really deep cycle at all, but only a little bit better than a starting battery for the application.... with the solar capability, true deep cycles is the best affordable way to go....

Thanks for the insight, I am my solar running off 6v batteries currently, and †hey are super heavy. The 2 reasons I want to use lithium is weight and the smaller package. If those were not a concern then I would simply add more 6v units/

 

[jbeletti]

Welcome back Gavin!

Keep on asking questions and the forum will keep on providing ideas.

If you checked for AC voltage across the 2 screws on the back of the element and measures 110 to 120 volts, then that sounds good. If you measured something else - please elaborate.

As others have suggested - the issue is likely the element itself. Maybe it got left on when you drained the water heater last.

Here's the thin-wall 1-1/2" wrench you'll need to remove the element: https://www.amazon.com/ELEMNT-SCKETWRNCH-1-1-MfrPartNo-151-021/dp/B000H5WXTO/

It's best to do a resistance check on the element when it's removed.

 

[Bob.jr]

This is a bad wire connection on my suburban water heater. A loose neutral wire caused this.

Sent from my SM-G781U using Tapatalk

 

[jbeletti]

This is a bad wire connection on my suburban water heater. A loose neutral wire caused this. View attachment 65298

Sent from my SM-G781U using Tapatalk

I've had that issue before.

Gavin said he had power at the element so I'm thinking (hoping) he doesn't have an issue in that j-box.

 

[Bob.jr]

It's a tight squeeze to get there to fix it.

Sent from my SM-G781U using Tapatalk

 

[wdk450]

If you measured 120V AC with one test meter probe on the heating element screw, and the other on a known good ground, that demonstrates that power is getting to the element. The circuit needs to be complete however: the other wire from the heating element goes back to the neutral buss behind the main circuit breaker panel. In between those points, there is a connection inside a junction box located on the front inside corner of the water heater.

It's more likely you have a heating element that isn't working. I'd remove power and disconnect one wire from the element to check continuity. Even if not sure, you can usually find a suitable replacement at most hardware stores, and certainly from an RV Dealer Parts Dep't. If you're sure you have a good element, take down the rear wall of the pass through basement storage, near the water connections, to locate that junction box. Check it with power disconnected.

Water heater electric heating elements are relatively cheap and available at home improvement stores. If there is any doubt whether this is the source of your non-electric water heating problem, it might be worthwhile to go ahead and change this out.

 

[gslabbert5119]

I've had that issue before.

Gavin said he had power at the element so I'm thinking (hoping) he doesn't have an issue in that j-box.

Yeah, I voltage tested everything and I have 120v at the element, and I have continuity on the element. Still not hot water via electricity. I did replace the element a couple of years ago when I first discovered this, and sliced my pinkie finger deeply into the joint and had to have reconstructive surgery after the element tool slipped off and the protective plate that protects the reset switches clevered my finger open.