Piperflyer
Well-known member
I don't care how long the shower lasts. I want to figure out why my hot water is luke warm on the 120v side.
Suburban water heater.
- Thread starter jgbagwell
- Start date
dlw930
Well-known member
A year or so ago, the 120v side on ours quit working. After replacing the anode rod and heating element, still no hot water. Turned out to be a bad hi-low thermostat. Replaced with a new one and no problems since.
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Westwind
Well-known member
Another thing to bear in mind, our Bighorn is a 2012 and has been in used to snowbird in since then, we are currently in Florida and I have had to remove the check valve on our hot water heater for the 2nd time, they can be problems in area's where the water has high calcium in them. Many campgrounds have well water and even though it clear it can be hard and calcium deposits are a problem.
I never had a problem with our Atwood 6 gallon in our Sunnybrook TT but on the Suburban our problems have been burnt thermostat on the electrical side, faulty switch on the outside of the HW heater (inside was functioning) and the check valves which have stopped functioning prevent us from getting any hot water. Prior to the failure we had diminishing HW, a whining noise when drawing HW and finally no hot water. Hope you find the cause soon. Good Luck.
I never had a problem with our Atwood 6 gallon in our Sunnybrook TT but on the Suburban our problems have been burnt thermostat on the electrical side, faulty switch on the outside of the HW heater (inside was functioning) and the check valves which have stopped functioning prevent us from getting any hot water. Prior to the failure we had diminishing HW, a whining noise when drawing HW and finally no hot water. Hope you find the cause soon. Good Luck.
BigGuy82
Well-known member
Have a Suburban SW12DE. One reason I bought this coach is that it had a large shower and the last time I took what someone referred to as a Navy shower was 48 years ago when I was in the Army overseas. In other words, I like real showers and I don't like taking them in a closet. Obviously, we are not dry campers.
Long story short, we run this unit on 120v and the water out off the tap is very nearly too hot to put your hand under. I take long, hot showers using the factory head and have never run out of hot water. Often times, my wife and I will take showers within 5 minutes of each other and we still don't run out.
When the coach was new, there was a tag on a cabinet handle that I thought indicated that it was a 20 gallon tank. However, it's not - it's a 12 gallon tank with a supposedly faster recovery rate.
If we pull into a campsite and want nearly immediate hot water, we use both 120 and LP simultaneously. Never timed it, but it is very quick.
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Piperflyer, there are two possibilities. You experiencing a hot shower with a seemingly endless supply of hot water affirms that my experiences are true. Or you are just as misguided (aka crazy) as I am.
I have a new trailer and I took it back to the dealer to solve the problem. Hopefuly they will have it corrected in the next couple of months (end of May).
I have a new trailer and I took it back to the dealer to solve the problem. Hopefuly they will have it corrected in the next couple of months (end of May).
Piperflyer
Well-known member
Turned out the thermostat on the 120v side was bad. I replaced it and the water is hot again. $9.00 fix....
Hi All - a little distressed here. As I mentioned earlier I received the thermostat for the Suburban Water Heater. I took pictures for the before and after so I could post the pics. I labeled the pics so you can see my dilemma. The original pic has the reset button at the top (grey round plastic). Red wires on the left. The newly ordered thermostat installed has the reset button (grey round plastic) on the bottom. Not correct. So I looked at the water heater manual on this site and it doesn't speak of thermostat (I did a word search). So, can I mount it upside down and install so the reset button is in the correct position? The red wiring will switch as well. not much room on the right side of the casing but I'll make it work.
Was just wondering if someone has run up against this before and what was done. Bottom line is that the reset button must be located to the top.
Thanks in advance.
C&J
Was just wondering if someone has run up against this before and what was done. Bottom line is that the reset button must be located to the top.
Thanks in advance.
C&J
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danemayer
Well-known member
Cary,
There are a couple of problems.
First, refer to the Water Heater Troubleshooting Guide, page 7. The 120V Thermostat/ECO is normally on the left with black wires. In your pictures, with reference to red wires, it appears you've changed out the 12V thermostat and replaced it with the 120V thermostat. If so, you may still have a non-functional electric operation. I'm not sure whether you'd also now have a non-functional 12V/propane operation because I'm not sure there's any difference in the electrical properties of the two sensors. The difference could just be the mirror image of power connections.
Second, if you note the wiring diagram on page 7, you'll see that power flows through the thermostat and ECO sensors. So one wire is an IN and the other is an OUT. If both sensors are closed, power will flow. I don't know of any reason the circuit would be uni-directional. So you would just orient the reset button toward the top.
I'd suggest you measure the voltage coming into each sensor to make sure you're replacing the 120V thermostat. It's certainly possible that Suburban changed something since our Troubleshooting Guide was written. But if not, you'll want to replace the right part.
Dang it:
Note that the sensor on the left carries 110V AC and the sensor on the right carries 12V DC.
I read it wrong and ordered the wrong one. Well, I have Monday to see if the two local RV shops have a replacement for the 12VDC.
Thanks.
C&J
- - - Updated - - -
Okay, started to dial up the one RV place that is open on Sat. Then I remembered that the 12V does work. The 110V does not. So I ordered the right part, just tried to install it on the wrong side. That's the only thing that explains it all. Will keep you posted.
C&J
Piperflyer
Well-known member
You're 120 V thermostat is on the black wires on the left side this controls your electric heat. The 12 V Thermostat right side is for your electric propane gas part of your water heater. They both have two different part numbers and it appears you ordered the wrong one
Package says 110V(left side). The 12V is working.(right side) according to the picture in the book.
C&J
110V part number is here: http://www.ebay.com/itm/like/252092709640?lpid=82&chn=ps&ul_noapp=true
12V part number is here: http://www.americanrvcompany.com/Su...er-Camper-RV?gclid=CJbnvs3zg9MCFVKFfgod9-gGSg
Again, 12V was working, I ordered correct part number, just tried to mount it in the 12V place.
C&J
12V part number is here: http://www.americanrvcompany.com/Su...er-Camper-RV?gclid=CJbnvs3zg9MCFVKFfgod9-gGSg
Again, 12V was working, I ordered correct part number, just tried to mount it in the 12V place.
C&J
Piperflyer
Well-known member
Piperflyer
Well-known member
30 - 45 minutes you should feel a difference in the water temp. If you want it to warm up real fast turn both electric and propane on for awhile.
Lou_and_Bette
Well-known member
I have a question, if the water is hot using electric, and I switch the 12v on in preparation of fast regeneration, should the red light come on, or does the red light only come on when the ignition sequence actually starts?
