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Old 02-18-2006, 02:37 AM   #1
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In a previous post this week, I suggested the electric element on the WH might be bad since I have no hot water on electric but LP works fine.

Well, I crawled under the rig and discovered I did not have the tools with me to remove the access cover to get to the element. However, I did cycle the small rocker switch on the back of the WH and we had good hot water on electric for about 12 hours. Something is tripping that switch. I do notice that the water is very hot but there is no adjustment. The manual is not helpful. If the water gets too hot, I'm thinking something is getting tripped...not the circuit breaking in the coach, of course, just the little switch that Winnebago and Attwood conspired to place in a location where you must crawl on our back to get to!!!!!

Any suggestions?
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Old 02-18-2006, 02:37 AM   #2
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In a previous post this week, I suggested the electric element on the WH might be bad since I have no hot water on electric but LP works fine.

Well, I crawled under the rig and discovered I did not have the tools with me to remove the access cover to get to the element. However, I did cycle the small rocker switch on the back of the WH and we had good hot water on electric for about 12 hours. Something is tripping that switch. I do notice that the water is very hot but there is no adjustment. The manual is not helpful. If the water gets too hot, I'm thinking something is getting tripped...not the circuit breaking in the coach, of course, just the little switch that Winnebago and Attwood conspired to place in a location where you must crawl on our back to get to!!!!!

Any suggestions?
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Old 02-18-2006, 03:31 AM   #3
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Gary,

I crossposted your question to the RV appliances group as one of the experts will see it there.

I'm not sure if the water heater has two thermostats on the electric heater or if just has one thermostat plus the overtemp cutoff which is tripping. If the thermostat is bad, the electric element is probably running until it trips off because of overtemp.

I've seen water heaters running on LP that have bad thermostats and only shut the burner off when they hit the high temp cutoff. Since some of the cutoffs for the LP automatically reset, when the water cools down, the burner will relight. In this way, the unit is actually cycling the burner on the safety switch rather than on the thermostat.
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Old 02-18-2006, 05:17 AM   #4
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Gary,

I'll take a guess that the overheating could be caused by the heating element shorted to ground.
The rocker switch you are talking about is a high temp. limit switch for the 120v side of the heater which is different than the eco switch for the gas side. I'm assuming you have the same water heater that I do. What is the temp of the water after a few hours on electric?
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Old 02-18-2006, 05:57 AM   #5
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On my 10 gallon unit it has a rocker switch to turn the power off/on to the elements. It is located on the back of the cover for the elements. Inside the cover is a reset button for the elemnts. I have triped the rocker swith before by bumping it while loading the storage bay. The cover has a small hole where I can insert the eraser end ofa pencil to reset.
Good Luck.
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Old 02-18-2006, 05:57 AM   #6
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If it turns out to be the element, keep in mind that Lowe's and Home Depot usually carry one that fits RV's (1500 watts) and they also have a socket (around $5) that fits to use to get it out with.
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Old 02-18-2006, 01:38 PM   #7
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I believe you will find that the switch itself is the problem. The thermostats and safety is located on the tank itself. THe current draw of the heating element has taken it's toal on the 120 volt switch. The amp load rating of the switch is so close to the actual wattage of the heating element that it is somewhat short lived. The fact that it is located in an area that is subject to road salts and water just compounds the problem. When you reset the switch it does make enough of a contact to work for a little longer but again soon fails. Replace the switch and you should be good for a few more years.
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Old 03-06-2006, 05:14 AM   #8
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Mike:

I'm finally getting around to dealing with the WH problem. I plan to remove the switch this week. Will I need to get a replacement from Atwood or will I be able to find a suitable replacment otherwise? It it a simple SPST switch or more of a circuit breaker?

Thanks.
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Old 03-06-2006, 07:04 AM   #9
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We had a similar problem when we first bought our Adventurer. In our case we would arrive at a campground only to find the H/W heater would not work on electric. It turned out that the water would become so hot from the Winnebago Motor Aid system the high temperature cutout that Titanfan mentioned would trip and would have to be reset as he described. The Motor Aid system really gets the water hot on a long days travel(160 degrees plus). The high temperature cutout switch was replaced and the problem has not occurred since. Getting to that reset is a real bear. Apparently the original switch had too low a cutout point. Also, we have made a practice to leave for a days travel with the hot water heater cooled off.

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Old 03-06-2006, 07:16 AM   #10
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During my investigation into my aux coach heater (which unfortunately is located behind my HWH) malfunction, I was able to get a look at the HWH wiring. My unit is the Atwood 10 gal Electric/gas combo with motoraid.

The AC rocker switch is installed by Atwood, Winnebago adds a remote AC switch, thus the one on the HWH is always on. IMHO, if it is bad I would remove it from the circuit instead of replacing it.

The AC hot wire goes from the switch to the thermostat, then to the Manually Resetable Hi Limit Switch then to the element.

When I get the willpower I will remove my HWH to try & repair my aux coach heater.
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Old 03-06-2006, 09:48 AM   #11
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<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by NASAGuy:
We had a similar problem when we first bought our Adventurer. In our case we would arrive at a campground only to find the H/W heater would not work on electric. It turned out that the water would become so hot from the Winnebago Motor Aid system the high temperature cutout that Titanfan mentioned would trip and would have to be reset as he described. The Motor Aid system really gets the water hot on a long days travel(160 degrees plus). The high temperature cutout switch was replaced and the problem has not occurred since. Getting to that reset is a real bear. Apparently the original switch had too low a cutout point. Also, we have made a practice to leave for a days travel with the hot water heater cooled off.

NASAGuy </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

I thought that was the case but my rig was parked for 5 days and the electric would heat for a few hours then shut off.

Is the small rocker switch I am seeing on the back of the water heater the same as the 'high temp cut out switch?' My parts diagram labels the rocker switch as 'power switch.'
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Old 03-06-2006, 10:39 AM   #12
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On our Adventurer the power switch is located on the forward side towards the rear of the H/W heater. Last summer the power switch failed and really stunk up the RV. It was necessary to remove the entire H/W heater to replace the switch.
Again, on our coach at least, the electric high temp cutout is at the rear of the H/W heater and I have to use a mirror to just see it. The dealer was able to replace the cutout switch without removing the H/W heater. I have to admit I was never able to get the hang of using a pencil eraser to reset it and had to take it to a dealer. Nothing is easy.

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Old 03-06-2006, 10:49 AM   #13
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<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Is the small rocker switch I am seeing on the back of the water heater the same as the 'high temp cut out switch?' My parts diagram labels the rocker switch as 'power switch.' </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

I don't believe so. You should see all 3 items (on/off switch, thermostat & hi temp cutoff switch) in the wiring schematic for the electric side.

NASAguy, do you remember what spec unit your hi temp cut-off switch was replaced with?
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Old 03-06-2006, 11:01 AM   #14
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I went thru a lot of agony in dealing with Lazy Days on this one and was told about three different stories on what they did to solve the problem. To the best of my knowledge the original cutoff was replaced with one having an identical P/N. I can only assume the original switch was faulty. Unfortunately, I do not know the specifications for the cutoff.

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