Water Heater Quit Working???

[williep13]

Hello,
I have a 2012 Voltage 3950 that the Electric portion of water heater stopped working on, the propane works fine. My family and I have been living in the RV for over a month and currently traveling from WA to NC. Sometime today the electric side of the water heater quit working, any suggestions? I am assuming it has some kind of heating elements? Where would I find them and how do I test them? Any help would be appreciated, photos would be awesome!

[Mole]

Here is a link to an Atwood manual: http://manuals.adventurerv.net/Atwoo...er-Service.pdf. This should get you on the right track for troubleshooting but the electric system is not in the same enclosure as the gas heater (mine is located on the opposite side of the gas heater and is accessible from inside of the trailer).
Hopefully, this helps!

[MartyG]

It should have been mentioned, but just to be sure, check the circuit breakers in the power panel. There will be one for the 120 VAC to the water heater. Also, some units with a fireplace have one circuit that feeds either the water heater or the fireplace, but not both. That switchover switch is normally by the fireplace.

[Pirate]

I'd bet your layout in the kitchen is much like the layout in my 3800.

If your water heater is an Atwood, which I'll bet it is...In the outside water heater enclosure you will find a sticker, mounted on the side of the enclosure with the Model Number.

Mine is a GC10A-4E

G - propane gas
C - Combination Gas and AC Electric
10 - gallon unit
A - heating element (screw in)
4 - revision
E - Electronic Ignition

The hot water heater is located behind the wood grille beneath the refrigerator.

Remove the grille, there should be four screws, one in each corner.

There you should see the back end of the foam water heater insulation. In the lower center is a black plastic cover with a bolt at the top and a bolt at the bottom. This covers the electrical connections to the water heater electric element.

Remove the black plastic cover, in which will be located the wiring connections.

Open the Hot Water Heater circuit breaker.

Use an ohm meter to check for continuity. Would bet you find it is an open circuit. Which means the element is dead.

Drain the hot water from the outside cabinet. But be ready, there is still water in the tank and upon loosening the element its going to begin pouring out. So have a supply of towels ready to soak it up.

With the circuit breaker open, remove the two wires from the element. It doesn't matter which wire goes to which connection on the element, so don't worry about marking them.

Use a 1 1/2" socket or a pair of channel locks to loosen and then remove the element.

I would guess your RV has a 10 gallon Atwood gas/electric combination water heater...just like mine.

Go to Amazon.com and search: Atwood 92249 Heating Element with Gasket

This is the correct electric element and I just replaced mine it was $16.95 delivered.

It comes with a new gasket, apply no sealants. The gasket seals things up.

Hook up the wires...fill the hot water heater...and turn it on using the electric option.

Now...a thought...we winterized ours on returning from Arizona the first of March. Forgot to reopen the bypass valves on first day of next outing...probably didn't take more than a couple of minutes to kill the electric element.

Lesson learned!!

Pirate