Step by step water heater info?

[sjaeger]

I am struggling with proper water heater operation. I have a 2007 Mountaineer RKD. The water heater appears to be a suburban SW10DE.
I tried it on electric and figured it was not working properly, then switched on the gas on and it seemed to work. I really don't know the proper protocol for setting it up to work. Thanks to youtube today I learned you can run them on both gas and electric. I thought it was one or the other. It has just been through the shop and had new parts and I don't want to screw it up because i'm a novice. So what steps should i take to ensure it is working on electric?



Thanks!

[DQDick]

One thing to check is that the electric on most rigs has two switches. The one in the pannel and a small black one next to the heater it's self. If the little switch in the heater area isn't turned on the thing won't heat on electric no matter what the inside swithch says.

[rohrmann]

You can run these on both modes at the same time, as this will give you the fastest recovery time. For electric operation, of course you must have the heater tank full of water first, but there will be a 120 volt breaker in the panel that must be switched on. You also may have a small black rocker switch on the face of the water heater outside, which is usually at the lower left corner and it may appear backwards but just make sure it is switched on. Then you may also have a switch on your wall panel where other switches for lights and such are located. That will need to be switched on. There may also be a switch marked for gas operation and with that switched on you can have both systems in the water heater working.

[Daryles]

There is a Suburban water heater troubleshooting file in the files section of the webpage
https://www.montanaowners.com/forums...hp?do=cat&id=3
Here's a picture of the outside switch

[mazboy]

ALWAYS have water in tank when you are turning the electric on...that's all I know.

[twindman]

I had a 2006 Montana and now a 2013 Mountaineer. Neither had an inside switch for the electric water heater. The inside had a switch for propane. I think there is a small red light beside the propane switch that lights when it is trying to start the propane. It is somehow related to propane anyway. LOL I forget if it is on or off when working correctly.

[sjaeger]

Thank you all for the advice!!

[BB_TX]

My 2007 does not have an inside switch for electric, only one for gas. You must use the small black switch outside on the water heater for electric. If you use that switch and it still does not work, there are multiple things that could be the problem.
-Bad little black switch
-Bad heating element
-Bad thermostat/hi temp cutout
-Tripped hi temp cutout (must press the reset button under rubber boot to reset it)
-Bad/loose/burned wire (either at the front of the water heater or in the junction box on back of water heater)
-Tripped circuit breaker in AC breaker panel

Using a voltmeter if you are comfortable troubleshooting live AC power can fairly quickly isolate the problem.

[pitman44]

Our 2006 Outback, I know not a Montana, but still a Keystone didn't have a switch on the WH for electric. It had one on the panel and there was a breaker for the WH when it was on electric. Our 2013 Montana has the same set up. Low hanging fruit would be to look at the breakers too.

[paulinbaja]

Originally Posted by DQDick

One thing to check is that the electric on most rigs has two switches. The one in the pannel and a small black one next to the heater it's self. If the little switch in the heater area isn't turned on the thing won't heat on electric no matter what the inside swithch says.

Also check the breaker panel and insure the breaker is on. If you attempted to turn it on without water you may have burnt the element.