Suburban 12 gal water tank

[jjwhite368]

We have never gotten 'hot' water with our Hot Water set to Electric (tops out at 89 deg.) Gas works fine. Mobile tech. from CW came out today and changed the heating element. No joy. Looks like the plan is to replace the whole unit. Anybody else with a similar experience?

[Carl n Susan]

Have you replaced the Thermostat? That would have been my first place to look. The element rarely goes 1/2 way. It either heats or it doesn't.

Here are links to two water heater diagnostics manuals.
https://www.montanaowners.com/forums...?do=file&id=57
https://www.montanaowners.com/forums...?do=file&id=56

[BB_TX]

I am with Carl. If it heats to 89, but then no hotter I would replace the thermostat before changing out the whole water heater. Replacing a thermostat only takes a few minutes.

[rohrmann]

The thermostat for the 120 volt side will be part number 232306 and it should be on the left side from the 12 volt thermostat. These will be under the rectangular black plastic cover. Just make sure you have power turned off when working on this. Water does not have to be drained from the tank either.
https://www.amazon.com/Suburban-120V...s%2C607&sr=8-3

[DadsHemi]

Mine did the same thing several months ago, replaced the thermostat and all is right in the world again

[Desert Rat]

Camping World Mobile Tech?????? So much for their Troubleshooting Knowledge

[Tom N OH]

A word of caution, DO NOT get the thermostat from Amazon. They are notorious for being counterfeit parts. I ordered 2 from Amazon, both were ordered with the proper part #, both arrived with the wrong number on the actual part. You might pay a couple of $$ more, but go to a RV dealer (preferably not Camping World). There are a few different part #s for thermostats with different set temperatures. Get the highest temperature thermostat that is offered, which would be 232317, which should have an id # of 2475 stamped on the plate itself. 140*F

[rohrmann]

Beware of what you get, even from a dealer. I'm seeing online, photos of these thermostat/Hi-limit switches that have a red reset button on them. I would recommend not getting one with the red button as they may have been old stock from Suburban. After I replaced ours in 2013, which had the red button, with a new one that had the gray button, I discovered that there had been a recall on them, with the red buttons. Turns out, their supplier had deviated from the specs when they made them and they were all failing. The new one worked well and never failed, and probably would still be working if the tank had not started leaking some years ago. This is a photo off of one of the ads on Amazon. They do have others that are being sold directly from Suburban that have the gray buttons.

[Mark7]

Scary part is that a CW tech could not diagnose this relatively simple issue.

Maybe he gets a commission on parts and new appliances?

[dieselguy]

Many "techs" now days are simply parts changers with minimal diagnostic skills. They've been herded that direction as there is little fixing a component now days, but alot of just replacing the entire unit. The problem is definitely not limited to the RV world. When I retired, they were hiring in "mechanics" that had no clue as to reading a hydraulic schematic or where to attach say a pressure gauge to help diagnose an issue. Luckily for them, many large companies are converting to all electric machines and dumping the old hydraulic ones.

[jjwhite368]

Thanks everyone for chiming in.

Confession time. In trying to resolve this issue I was looking everywhere and I came across a post somewhere about 'another switch'. Our rig was delivered to us winterized, including from the dealer. It turns out there is a switch on the heater below the element that should be 'off' when the tank is empty (i.e. winterized). I never saw the switch, and was never told about the switch at delivery AND it was cover in silver foil tape from the factory so it was hard to see. Needless to say, when I peeled the tape off, the switch was in the OFF position. I turned it on and voila, hot water. I missed it, the tech missed it and his boss at CW missed it (he was giving suggestions to the tech over the phone).

Checklist item one on any electrical device not working...is it ON? OOOPs!

Those of you with a Suburban 12 gallon HW heater, go check out your switch.

[BB_TX]

I still live in the dark ages. On older models that outside switch is the only switch there is for electric. There is one switch inside for WH on gas. Newer models have both the inside and outside switch for electric. And both must be on to operate on electric.

[432bartman]

This is a classic example of how great this site is. Knowledgeable people like Carl & Bob, knowing how to diagnose and fix problems, that the so called experts miss.

[mhs4771]

Bill, talk about "Dark Ages" our first TT, a 1991 Prowler had a gas/electric Hot Water Heater, but for the electric that was an unmarked standard home Light Switch below the Microwave.
Turn the switch on for electric to the Water Heater, turn it off if you were going to use the Microwave, and for gas had to go out and manually light the pilot light on the heater.