Water heater troubles! 2001 Adventurer (32 ft workhorse)

[Kyle]

Howdy! 2001 Adventurer (32 ft workhorse) here.


I am having a rough time at figuring out why my water heater doesn't want to run while running on electricity. I am connected to shore. I am having 119V at water heater switch (above microwave in cabinet). The water heater ran perfectly fine while running on propane. But not heating while attempting to use electricity. Any ideas are appreciated. Thank you!

[Eagle5]

Greetings Kyle,
This Thread seems to have the answers to your troubles.
Life Expectancy of Hot Water Heater?
Welcome to the forum.
Eagle5

[Jim_HiTek]

Do you see that device connected to that brown wire? The one inside the plastic tubing? Disconnect one end of it and then using an ohmmeter, measure it's resistance. It should be close to zero, no more than ~20 ohms. It's a thermal fuse and they blow for no reason at all. A much reviled planned obsolescence part.

Using a magnifier, you'll see a rating stamped into the case. That's the temperature it's supposed to blow. You can order one or 5 from eBay or Amazon or you can find them at an RV dealer. Now days they're probably $2 each.

[creativepart]

Originally Posted by Jim_HiTek

Do you see that device connected to that brown wire? The one inside the plastic tubing?.

If the water heater is working on propane then it can’t be the thermal cutoff fuse. When that “blows” the water heater doesn’t work at all. Not on AC or Propane.

That thermal cutoff diode is a safety device to prevent flames from the Propane burner blowing back into the heater’s front. Once that blows it shuts off 12v power to the control board shutting down everything.

If that fuse wasn’t there, if it had been removed/bypassed, then the water heater would work on both AC and Propane.

So, that cannot be the cause of the OP’s issue.

A likely cause of his issue is, unfortunately, a failed electric heating element. However, there are a few other possible causes. So it will still require some investigation to be sure.

[Bobn1957]

Originally Posted by Kyle

Howdy! 2001 Adventurer (32 ft workhorse) here.


I am having a rough time at figuring out why my water heater doesn't want to run while running on electricity. I am connected to shore. I am having 119V at water heater switch (above microwave in cabinet). The water heater ran perfectly fine while running on propane. But not heating while attempting to use electricity. Any ideas are appreciated. Thank you!

Are you sure the hot water heater has an electric mode? I don't see anything that looks like it in the picture!

[DancinCampers]

I believe your heater has a separate circuit for 120V. Your schematic should confirm. On the back of the heater should be a cover, under which is the element, tstat and ECO. The ECO is resettable, using a pencil eraser thru the hole. Also, you may have a separate on/off switch on the side of the cover, which have been know to go bad.