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Old 06-29-2004, 04:40 PM   #1
Montana_1683
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Inside Hot water heater switch

We doing a walk through for our 2005 3295RK, I asked where was the switch to turn on the Hot water heater, electric side. I shown the on/off switch at the hot water tank by removing the access panel.
I can't believe there is a switch inside the unit for doing this. I did notice a switch labeled heater that seemed to turn on the gas side of the hotwater heater. Does anyone have any ideas.

Gimmy2001
2001 GMC CCw/Duramax
 
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Old 06-29-2004, 05:01 PM   #2
Joyce H
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Hi Gary, Yes the only hot water switch if you want to run the heater on electric is on the outside. You are correct that the inside switch is when heating hot water with gas. We usually use the gas if we are just overnighting. If on an extended stay we heat the hot water initially with the gas (it seems to heat and also recover faster with gas) and then switch to electric. Some owners here have used their circuit breaker switch to control the hot water by leaving the outside switch on and turning on/off at breaker. However, we do not fool with the breakers in our unit as you also have to remove an access panel even though inside. One key thing to remember is never turn on the hot water heater (either gas or electric) unless your hot water tank is filled with water. Congrats on your new Montana. May you enjoy many happy miles.
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Old 06-29-2004, 05:12 PM   #3
sreigle
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We use the breaker on our '03 3295RK but I don't believe it would work as easily for you as it does for us. I think yours has the better electrical setup than ours but you probably have the inside panel that requires a coin or screwdriver to turn four little holddown pins, making access to the breakers a bit difficult. Ours has the older electrical system. Our access panel has a single holddown which is very quick and easy to turn with just the fingers. The panel is hinged on the bottom. I can open the panel, flip the breaker, and close it all back up in less than five seconds.

So the breaker method is probably not a good solution for you.

We sometimes run electric and gas at the same time. It speeds recovery time. I don't know if all water heaters are like this but ours gets hotter on gas than on electric alone. During the summer, electric only usually works fine for us. In the winter we run both.
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Old 06-29-2004, 07:29 PM   #4
Roofcam
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I installed an inside switch on our 2955RL. I used a switch (with a light to show when it's on) and mounted it just below the monitor/pump switch. It's an easy task, even for a non-electrician, and eliminates the inconvenience of having to use the circuit breaker or outside switch. The Romex wire supplying the power is laying on top of the water heater, making it easy to splice in a switch. The lighted switch can be obtained at Home Depot or other similar stores. Inexpensive and easy upgrade; don't understand why Montana doesn't include this in the units.
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Old 06-30-2004, 02:23 AM   #5
NJ Hillbilly
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I did the same as Roofcam but I mounted the switch under the sink.

John
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Old 06-30-2004, 12:33 PM   #6
ronstan
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We have a 2004 3295 and I use the breaker for shutting of the electric. I used that way on my other trailer for 3 years and never seemed to hurt it. We have just one thing to turn to open up the panel right inside the door. Easy.
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Old 06-30-2004, 07:37 PM   #7
Roofcam
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Here is the method I used to install the switch, if any of you are interested;

I found access to the junction box on the heater on my unit to be too restrictive, so I did the following:

1) I cut the romex where it passes over the top of the heater.
2) Ran a white wire from the silver screw on the switch to both of the cut romex white wires (one from the circuit breaker and one from the heater, so 3 wires are connected here.)
3) Ran a black wire from the circuit breaker side of the cut romex black wire to the brass screw on the switch.
4) Ran a red wire from the heater side of the cut romex black wire to the black screw on the switch (left side of the switch).
5) Connected all ground wires at the romex cut, and attached it to the ground screw on the switch.
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Old 07-06-2004, 07:17 AM   #8
Bob & Lee
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Now this has got me turned around, the dealer told us on the walk thru of our 3685FL to leave the switch outside on with or without gas that that ran the pilot. looks like now I better read the book better to see how this thing really works..
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Old 07-06-2004, 07:53 AM   #9
sreigle
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Bob & Lee, the switch on the outside is for the electric heating element. The switch on the inside is for the propane heating element. You can run either or both at the same time. Just be sure the electric switch is NEVER turned on when there is no water in the tank. It will burn out in just a few seconds. Several here learned this the hard way.

As for leaving the outside switch on all the time, we do that but we turn our electric element off at the breaker box when we hit the road or any time we drain the tank.

Using the breaker as the on/off with the electric switch at the tank turned on all the time works for some of us. But in some models that breaker is not easily accessible. Others prefer not to use the breaker. So that's the reason for this thread, to come up with an inside switch for the electric element in the water heater.

Hope this helps.
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Old 07-06-2004, 03:01 PM   #10
Montana_1683
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It appears that the best place to install a switch on the inside is next to an existing light switch in the rear kitchen. There is a small access door that allows me to see the wiring on top of the hotwater tank and running the wiring next to the existing switch where a new switch for the hot water tank can be placed. I will study this more when I can during our next outing. Just too much rain this week.

Thanks for all the suggestions.

Gary
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Old 07-07-2004, 07:43 AM   #11
Bob & Lee
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I went last night and looked. I have a switch on the out side which is on, and I understand it to be for the eletric heat element, and I looked in the power box and there is a switch for the eletric hot water heater , but I looked all over and under for a way to stop the gas and found none, so if I want to run on eletric and no gas how do I shut it off, any sugestions.?
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Old 07-07-2004, 08:04 AM   #12
Montana_657
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Presumeably you have a little white panel with some push buttons on it to read battery, black tank, gray tank, galley tank. The botom of this panel has two red rocker switches, one labled pump and one Htr... this is the gas control for the water heater.

Off its dark. When you turn it on, it lights up red, and a red spot apears just to the right of it that later goes out. The spot is the igniter fireing up the propane.
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Old 07-08-2004, 11:00 AM   #13
Bob & Lee
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I must have been asleep, I looked everywere but where it was sur can tell Iam new at this
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Old 07-08-2004, 01:49 PM   #14
Montana_1683
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Bob & Lee
On our 05-3295RK, the gas switch is next to the water pump switch marked heater. It has a light to let me know when the gas is being used. For right now, we are only using our Montana for weekend trips and up to 5-days where electricity is provided. So it makes sense to use their electricity instead of using my propane. Although on our trip to NW Arkansas, Barb's twin sister and husband went with us so in the morning when 4 people were using the showe; I used both units to shorten the recovery time. We never ran out of hot water; at least nobody complained of taking a cold shower.

Gary
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Old 07-09-2004, 08:07 AM   #15
Bob & Lee
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Well I gess Iam wakeing up now I have found the switch SO I gess I have been running both all along, and we have no complaint on hot water.
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Old 07-11-2004, 01:26 PM   #16
prariepoodle
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Well I guess we have been running both all along and did not know it. Wow you sure can learn something new on here everyday. Thanks
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