Suburban HW Heater Secondary Switch Outside Seized

[EurekaJ]

I noticed no hot water on weekend on 120volt. Investigated and the outside secondary switch is stuck in the on position. As well the black housing around the switch appears damaged/cracked. I didn't have time to look into it further but my guess is it shorted out in behind.

We are parked full time year round and wondering if I should just bypass this switch? We are out of warranty.

 

[danemayer]

The secondary switch is just to protect the heating element from people who might be walking through a coach that has an empty water heater tank. In that situation, switching the electric side of the water heater ON inside the coach would burn out the heating element very quickly.

If the switch is not conducting power, wiring the leads together is one way to work around the problem without affecting normal operation of the water heater. The wiring diagram below shows that clearly.

But before assuming that's the problem, use a volt meter to verify that there's power on one side of the switch and not on the other side. Our Water Heater Troubleshooting Guide can help you track down the problem.

 

[Garypowell]

On our last unit I removed the switch and wire butted the two wires together. Never caused a problem.

 

[JohnD]

I would think that replacing that switch would be in order . . .

I like having that there as a safety feature so that when there is no water in the heater, just in case someone turns on the electric switch inside it won't burn something up out there.