Electric water heater problems...........

[Mr. Cob]

Howdy All,

I am on the road taking my first trip with the 3818, tows nicely but I am wondering what is up with the electric water heater. The water is hot coming out of the shower head but it sure takes a long time to feel hot water, I have used the bath room hand sink and the kitchen sink and I can't get any hot water to flow from these faucets, very luke warm water but NOT hot. I have not tried the gas water heater, just wondering if anyone else has had this weird hot water heater problem or if you can suggest what the problem may be or how to fix it while on the road. Thanks for any advise.

Dave

[sundancer 87]

If you have an outside shower you might want to check to see if the valves are actually turned off.

[Mr. Cob]

Originally Posted by sundancer 87

If you have an outside shower you might want to check to see if the valves are actually turned off.

Howdy sundancer 87,

The outside water valves are both turned off, thanks for the suggestion.

Dave

[sundancer 87]

Are you getting a decent water flow from the bathroom and kitchen faucets on the hot side?

[Mr. Cob]

Originally Posted by sundancer 87

Are you getting a decent water flow from the bathroom and kitchen faucets on the hot side?

Howdy sundancer 87,

Yes, good flow both hot and cold positions.

Dave

[sundancer 87]

Now I'm stumped. I guess I would look under the sinks just to verify the hot side is plumbed correctly. There's no good reason why you can't get hot water to those faucets with good flow.

I don't know the 3818 but in the 3800 the water heater is under the refrigerator, behind the louvered panel. Remove the screws that hold the louver and see if the plumbing back there looks correct.

Other than that, I'm out of suggestions.

Another question, can you get hot water out of the out side shower?

[Mr. Cob]

Originally Posted by sundancer 87

Now I'm stumped. I guess I would look under the sinks just to verify the hot side is plumbed correctly. There's no good reason why you can't get hot water to those faucets with good flow.

I don't know the 3808 but in the 3800 the water heater is under the refrigerator, behind the louvered panel. Remove the screws that hold the louver and see if the plumbing back there looks correct.

Other than that, I'm out of suggestions.

Howdy sundancer 87,

The water heater is under the fridge, I guess I'll have to do some looking around and see if things are as they should be, so far this is the first problem I have experienced with this new toy hauler.

Dave

[sundancer 87]

What a few of us have done is circumvent some of the hot water circuitry to enable quicker hot water delivery to the kitchen sink.

There's a thread here and I think a few pics of what we did. I can't get you any pix of mine because it's in the shop.

The circumvention was done to save water and not necessarily to have hot water to the kitchen and bath. Already had hot there but it was a waste of water waiting for the hot to go from the back of the heater to parts unknown until it reached the kitchen sink three feet away.

[Mr. Cob]

Originally Posted by sundancer 87

What a few of us have done is circumvent some of the hot water circuitry to enable quicker hot water delivery to the kitchen sink.

There's a thread here and I think a few pics of what we did. I can't get you any pix of mine because it's in the shop.

The circumvention was done to save water and not necessarily to have hot water to the kitchen and bath. Already had hot there but it was a waste of water waiting for the hot to go from the back of the heater to parts unknown until it reached the kitchen sink three feet away.

Howdy sundancer 87,

I am thinking your on to something here, the water coming out of the bath room and kitchen sink when the temperature selection control is in the hot position is not cold but it darn sure ain't hot. When I used the shower it took at least a couple of gallons of water running out of the shower head before it was warm enough to take a shower, I have not let that much water run from the bath room or kitchen sinks as it was simply a waste of water and I could get by with slightly warm water. So now I'll have to look at how the water delivery lines are routed, thanks for the tip and if you do run across the old thread where this is discussed please pass it on, thanks.

Dave

[sundancer 87]

I can give you the gist of the modification to the circuit. Maybe the first member that did it will pop up and direct you to the thread.

[ewarnerusa]

Check to make sure the valve for water heater bypass is in the "closed" position. The water heater inlet and outlet valves in the "open" position, but bypass also left "open", could produce the symptoms that the OP is reporting. Normal operation has water heater inlet and outlet open and bypass closed. Winterizing the trailer should have inlet and outlet closed and bypass open.

[Mr. Cob]

Originally Posted by ewarnerusa

Check to make sure the valve for water heater bypass is in the "closed" position. The water heater inlet and outlet valves in the "open" position, but bypass also left "open", could produce the symptoms that the OP is reporting. Normal operation has water heater inlet and outlet open and bypass closed. Winterizing the trailer should have inlet and outlet closed and bypass open.

Howdy ewarnerusa,

Thanks for your post, I checked and the water heater by-pass, is switched to what is labeled, the "normal" position, I am "assuming" this is the position it should be in for regular operation. Please bear with me on many of my questions I have never before owned an RV trailer with so many switches and do-dads to tinker with.

Dave

[ewarnerusa]

Take a look below. The boxes on the left represent the water heater tank. The bypass open allows water to flow through the bypass pipe. The logic is that during winterization, you want to isolate the water heater from the rest of the plumbing. There is no need to pressurize/blow out the water heater or to add antifreeze to it (just drain it), so you bypass it from the system. That would be the bottom portion of the image. Normal use has the valves in the opposite arrangement. If the bypass were left open, then when hot tap is opened it allows both heated water from the tank and cold water that has bypassed the tank to flow to the open hot tap. Usually this means luke warm water that never gets hot. But worth a check, though! "Normal" position for the bypass valve would be closed, valve handle at 90-degrees to the water flow.


EDIT: The post Sundancer made regarding the hot and cold taps open on an outside shower is another excellent suggestion that would have symptoms just like you're describing. Sounds like you verified that this isn't happening though.

[sundancer 87]

Originally Posted by Mr. Cob

Howdy ewarnerusa,

Thanks for your post, I checked and the water heater by-pass, is switched to what is labeled, the "normal" position, I am "assuming" this is the position it should be in for regular operation. Please bear with me on many of my questions I have never before owned an RV trailer with so many switches and do-dads to tinker with.

Dave

Normal is good.

[KeithE]

I just used this thread to solve my "lack of adequate hot water" problem. But can someone PLEASE tell my why having the outside shower valves on, but not running, would limit my hot water throughout the rig!!??

[wahoonc]

Originally Posted by KeithE

I just used this thread to solve my "lack of adequate hot water" problem. But can someone PLEASE tell my why having the outside shower valves on, but not running, would limit my hot water throughout the rig!!??

Because it is allowing the hot and cold water to mix, diluting the hot water.

Aaron

[KeithE]

...and the light goes on!! Thanks!

[sundancer 87]

Originally Posted by wahoonc

Because it is allowing the hot and cold water to mix, diluting the hot water.

Aaron

Wasn't it lately that one of our members mentioned a frozen and broken back flow valve on his outside shower?

At the time I thought someone must be reading and decided a back flow was needed and indeed now install them on newer units.

Definitely would solve the cold water problem when the valves are left open.

[wahoonc]

Originally Posted by sundancer 87

Wasn't it lately that one of our members mentioned a frozen and broken back flow valve on his outside shower?

At the time I thought someone must be reading and decided a back flow was needed and indeed now install them on newer units.

Definitely would solve the cold water problem when the valves are left open.

Believe so, I have had several campers with outside showers and none of them had a backflow valve to the best of my knowledge. I have frozen more than one of the outside showers too... forgot to winterize.

Aaron