sheff69 wrote: "it worked fine on our last trip in November but now doesn't work at all"
Something still odd. If the wiring was incorrect, how could it have worked last year. Did you do anything between last year and this?
Sheff
I returned home from one trip in November and everything was working fine, unhitched and put the fiver under it's awning where I left it unplugged then drained water from all the lines and water heater tank for the winter.
In February I got the fiver ready for a trip the next day, plugged it into shore power, closed the drain lines, filled the hot water tank and put water in the fresh water tank and That is when I noticed the switch to the electric side of the tank was already on. Figuring it was on all the time, even when the tank was emptied, I figured the element was damaged when I applied power earlier in the day so replaced it with a new element, THIS is when this fiasco started, the rest is mentioned above.
2006 Duramax Diesel 1 ton dually tugging around a 2006 Mobile Suites 36TK3 #2609. Retired and just travelling around now and then seeing the sights.
This may be insane but my heater once acted the same way. After hours of testing and checking things out I charged the house batteries and bingo the craz thing fired up. I don't know if charging the batteries done anything but it sure fired up.
I think I read somewhere that the electeic swith that I flip in to fire it up works off the house battieries and if they are low the ignitor won't fire it up.
I think I read somewhere that the electeic swith that I flip in to fire it up works off the house battieries and if they are low the ignitor won't fire it up.
I'm not an electrical guy by any stretch of the imagination but I don't believe there is anything to fire up when on 110v. It should simply be the element heating up. I would suspect if it wasn't working on gas then a poor battery could cause it not to work.
PackerBacker wrote: ... 'tex' will usually share his findings with the group once he's got it resolved.... Eric
Eric my friend, for an old man your memory is pretty good, I do share my opinions and findings freely I see that you now have a motorhome, hope you like it and have time to put lots of miles on it!
Today I had to run into town to pick up some paint so while at Home Depot I decided to pick up a heating element and try another brand of element.
After draining the tank once again, I replaced the latest element with the one from Home Depot and.... I now have hot water! Two weeks worth of aggrivation, half the RV park trying to help me, dozens of online folks trying to help and I had three bad brand new elements!
You know, I am 59 years old and if I've learned anything in life it's that you are always learning something.
If someone would have told me that I could have bought three bad heating elements in a row at Lowes, I would have told them they are crazy but that apparantly is exactly what happened to me.
I will be returning all three elements to Lowes in the morning!
The odd thing is that all three elements showed 9.4 ohms resistance when tested with a brand new multimeter, which according to the Suburban factory tech I spoke with, showed that they were working fine. All three elements are clearly stamped 1500W 120V but someone, either here or at the RV park last week mentioned that they could have been 220v elements labeled wrong and if there is a logical answer to this problem, that is it.
So, I learned to not just rely on the readings of a multimeter to prove something is good or not! If this ever happens to anyone, don't run to Lowes, try Home Depot instead!
Eric my friend, for an old man your memory is pretty good, I do share my opinions and findings freely I see that you now have a motorhome, hope you like it and have time to put lots of miles on it!
After draining the tank once again, I replaced the latest element with the one from Home Depot and.... I now have hot water! Two weeks worth of aggrivation, half the RV park trying to help me, dozens of online folks trying to help and I had three bad brand new elements!
You know, I am 59 years old and if I've learned anything in life it's that you are always learning something.
Well George these days my memory is more selective, I only remember good things.
I never would have guessed that three brand new elements would be bad. I'll be 61 this year and I just learned something new too; don't take things at face value and your first hunch is likely the correct one.
The motorhome is currently in winter storage but we did get to use it for a month and a half last fall. It's really great for those 'pit stops'. Now being retired, I'm all set to go anywhere but my wife will only be retiring later this year. We usually start the season late May but this year it will be in April. I just bought a new Jeep Liberty as a toad and will get it on Monday so my next adventure will be to get all the 4-down towing stuff (love new toys).
Man that is a strange one. The 220 explanation does not fly because of the ohm reading which at 120 volts calcs out to 1531.9 watts. The only thing that makes any sense is the elements opened up as soon as they became hot but to have three different elements do this is weird unless there was a manufacturing defect.
Hurricaner wrote: Man that is a strange one. The 220 explanation does not fly because of the ohm reading which at 120 volts calcs out to 1531.9 watts. The only thing that makes any sense is the elements opened up as soon as they became hot but to have three different elements do this is weird unless there was a manufacturing defect.
Sam
or...did the wiring open up after a few minutes of being on ??
What was the voltage going into the trailer? if you had 120 or higher and 114.5 at the element, that would be a pretty good drop.
Ignore the few bad apples here, I am glad to hear your problem and the results so I can learn more. Thanks, for sharing.
EDIT... sounds like you got it working...somehow
* This post was
edited 03/01/09 08:35am by Learjet *
2006 Nissan Titan CC with tow package added Timbrens
2006 KZ Frontier 2303P-F
Dual 6 volt GC batts
Equal-i-zer
Prodigy brake controller
Yamaha EF2600c Tri-Fuel Gen.
Hurricaner wrote: Man that is a strange one. The 220 explanation does not fly because of the ohm reading which at 120 volts calcs out to 1531.9 watts. The only thing that makes any sense is the elements opened up as soon as they became hot but to have three different elements do this is weird unless there was a manufacturing defect.
Sam
I agree, a 240V element with a 9.4 ohm resistance calcs out to over 6000 Watts which is too high for any residential water heater element that I know of. Some hot tub elements are like 5500 watts, but I don't think they have the same footprint and would have much larger screw connections to handle the necessary 25 amps. On the other side, a 1500 watt 240V element calcs out to about 38 ohms, not 9.4 ohms.
George,
Did you ever measure the heating element when it wasn't connected, either before or after installation? Maybe the 9.4 ohms measured was a parasitic number and the real element resistance was 38 ohms, I.E. a 1500 watt, 240 V element. If that was the case, then operating this element on only 114 V would generate less than 350 watts and result in just warm water. Just a thought.
Larry Day
Texas Baptist Men-Retiree Builders since '01
'03 GMC 2500HD D/A EC SB, Jordan controller, custom RKI bed/hitch, Putco boards, TF 45gal tank, grey Speedliner
'04 CrossRoads Cruiser CF29RK, Mor/ryde IS, Carefree Eclipse 12V awning Rig Photos
I spent my life as maintenance manager in a steel mill. One thing I learned after all those years is that there are very few coincidences. The first thing to look at is the last thing you touched. If you don't find the problem there then look at it again. You probably just missed something and any logic you use to disprove this rule is probably faulty.
The second thing I learned is that there are exceptions to any rule.
I guess the rule, and not the exception, applies here but who would have thought, three bad elements in a row.
2005 F250 Crew Cab LWB Power Stroke, 2007 Montana 3500RL Fifth Wheel,Honda EU3000IS, Honda EU2000i, Porta Bote with 6HP Nissan and sail kit, S&W security system
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I see that you now have a motorhome, hope you like it and have time to put lots of miles on it!
