Hot Water Heater - Montana Owners Club

dannyl · 06-24-2007, 04:21 PM

I was camping last week and using the electric water heater for hot water each day. No problem for three days. My wife calls me and says she has no hot water. I checked all the circuit breakers and switches and there was no problem.
I turned on the propane and it worked just fine.
Last weekend, I went out again and the electric would not come on again. I lit the propane again and got hot water.
Any ideas on what to look at?
My dealer is about 55 miles away so I hate to keep going back to him. Usually I have to take it over after taking off work early, leaving it with him and making another trip to pick it up.

Charlie · 06-24-2007, 04:42 PM

Could be the element is burned out.

sailer · 06-24-2007, 04:49 PM

best answer yet . check fuse or element but i only use elect as why burn my gas
john

snfexpress · 06-24-2007, 05:08 PM

Try the reset button - it is covered by black rubber and located inside the exterior heater compartment.

01RAMer · 06-28-2007, 07:32 AM

Please, can I ask a really stupid question? How would I know if my water heater works off of electric, and how do you select between gas and electric? I have a SPST lited rocker switch on the wall that goes up the steps to the bedroom that's labeled water heater, and I turn this on for hot water either on shore power or not. I always hear the burner start and thought that it only operated off of gas. Am I missing something? Appreciate the info!

Imp · 06-28-2007, 08:39 AM

Open the water tank door on the outside. About half way down the right side you will see a on/off switch. There is usually a pin through it so it won't be turned on accidently. Be sure the tank is full of water before turning it on. Pull the pin and turn it on. We usually turn it off before travelling and only use it if we have 30 amp or 50 amp.

VanMan · 06-28-2007, 08:59 AM

01RAMer, that rocker switch turns on and lights the propane burner. If you are plugged into shore power and the switch if off (not lit) you are heating the water with the electric element only. If the switch is on (lit) you are using BOTH electric and propane (you'll get faster recovery and a little hotter water). If you are not plugged in to shore power, the rocker switch must be on for the water to heat with propane.

FYI - you can delete those duplicate posts if you like by clicking on the little trash can icon above each post.

snfexpress · 06-28-2007, 01:03 PM

01RAMer,

Since we have the same model 5er, you might want to consider putting in a lighted 120 volt switch in the kitchen, above the propane detector, and just below the counter. The wiring going to the hot water heater is easily cut, here, and can be wired into a switch.

We turn off this switch when we are in CG's with 30 amps or less, and wen we prepare for travel to our next CG. Makes it more convenient than going outside. It also is helping to keep the paint on the hot water heater door.

trfield58 · 06-29-2007, 11:04 AM

Since we have the same model 5er, you might want to consider putting in a lighted 120 volt switch in the kitchen, above the propane detector, and just below the counter. The wiring going to the hot water heater is easily cut, here, and can be wired into a switch.

We turn off this switch when we are in CG's with 30 amps or less, and wen we prepare for travel to our next CG. Makes it more convenient than going outside. It also is helping to keep the paint on the hot water heater door.

snfexpress,
That's a GREAT idea...can you elaborate a little more? Such as, what wires I would find there???etc...etc....

01RAMer · 07-02-2007, 07:16 AM

Thank you very much to all on your guidance in this matter. I never knew that the water heater was dual powered. Knowing this sure would have saved me on propane. Oh well, that's why we have a wonderful forum such as this. Thanks to all.

SNFExpress, you indicate that if you're hooked up to 30 amp or less you turn the switch off. Are you saying that I shouldn't run the water heater on electric if I'm hooked to 30 amp shore power? I don't have a second AC yet and rairly if ever hook up to 50 amp so does this mean I can't use it on electric?

HamRad · 07-02-2007, 07:39 AM

I'm not SNFExpress,

But we run ours on 30 amps all the time. Unless we're also running the AC. Then we turn the HWH electric off and just run the propane when HW needed.

And don't feel like the Lone Ranger..... Took us a year to realize we could use both ELECTRIC and PROPANE to heat the water! Thankfully the MOC Forum helped us too.

HamRad

snfexpress · 07-02-2007, 05:14 PM

I'm with HamRad - we turn our electric switch off if 30 amps and low voltage and we need A/C (or when my DW is using the hair dryer in the morning), like where we are now, in Loveland, Colorado.

trfield58,

Pull the access panel off in the kitchen (on the cabinet face above the propane detector), and you will see some Romex going to the HWH. Just cut the wire, hook neutral to neutral, ground to ground, and hot (black) to switch to hot (HW side). I would put in a "remodel box" found at nearly every hardware store. If you have any more questions, let me know.

fulltimedreamer · 07-03-2007, 06:24 PM

We have a 30 AMP only rig. We use the electric water heater element to save on propane. The rule is we can only use two high current draws at a time, i.e. water heater and AC, water heater and microwave, AC and Microwave. As long as we don't try three high current users we are OK. I do have an autoformer and a Kill-A-Watt meter and monitor the line voltages. We also have a washer/dryer in our coach. I wired a separate 20 AMP circuit that goes to the additional 20 AMP fused circuit that is on the park pedestal in most parks we frequent. If this is not available, I have SPDT switch that takes the water heater element out of the circuit and puts the washer dryer in instead. Of course then we are back to our two high current draw rule.

Here's a link to the Washer/Dryer 20 AMP circuit I installed:
http://www.geocities.com/fulltimedre...0_Amp_upg.html

01RAMer · 07-10-2007, 07:15 AM

Went camping this weekend. I hooked to 30 amp and threw the switch on the water heater. It worked wonderful! Plenty of hot water and I didn't have to use the LP. Oh, and it was 95 degrees so we were running the A/C also, with no problems. I appreciate your help in this matter!

sreigle · 07-10-2007, 10:26 AM

01Ramer, one caution. Be sure the electric element is off if you ever drain your water heater. That electric element will burn out in seconds if not covered by water. And warranty does not cover that. I don't think a replacement element is more than 15 or 20 bucks but still...

The electric switch is a PITA to get to just to turn it on and off. We leave that switch on all the time and just turn it off at the breaker. It's the only thing on that circuit.

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