Diagnosing a Suburban RV Water Heater AC and DC Electrical Problems
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 22 ก.ค. 2024
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My RV Works, Inc. Certified Mobile RV Technician, Darren Koepp, diagnosing a Suburban RV Water Heater AC and DC Electrical Problems
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Suburban Water Heater Parts:
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Water Heater Cam Lock amzn.to/34gkRYN
Suburban 120 VAC T-Stat Assembly amzn.to/2FzTZZh
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Service Tools:
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Water Heater Element Wrench amzn.to/2Q9vUe5
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![[Q & A] 10 Minutes With A Tech - Session 4](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/shv000WUiuA/mqdefault.jpg)
![[Q & A] 10 Minutes With A Tech - Session 4](/img/tr.png)
Hands down, best of the best. Never seen another person come close to being this thorough.
And he moves through the process instead of putting us to sleep. I agree, great work.
This man is my hero!
Agreed
My boss asked me to look at his water heater on his Grand Design camper. I have never worked on a water heater in a camper , and took one look and started looking on line and Google sent me to you..... You just made me look good by saving my boss a trip to the RV shop. Thanks so much! I gave subscribed to you and saved you in my book marks.
Thanks for making this niche info available to the public at free of charge.
Omg! You’ve saved my first road trip in my new travel trailer. 3rd day of 30 day trip and my water heater stopped working. I called the dealership where I bought my trailer back in April and like other calls with other operational questions they were of no help to me. Once they got there money I became history. Watching your video gave me information and clarity of what might be wrong and confidence to continue on and look for a mobile rv repair or rv repair shop. Thank you so much for the video. I look forward to more and gaining rv maintenance and repair knowledge.
Thank you for doing this. When my wife screamed while in the shower I knew something was up. You have taught us to test and not just through parts at it. It turns out after testing my issue was the switch also. I happened to have a switch and now all is working.
I stumbled onto your video. One of the best self help videos I have ever watched. I subscribed to your channel and will now go back and watch your historical videos. Thank you!
He explained it so a 7 year old could understand being so thorough
Thank You for providing this gas/electric circuit troubleshooting course. The way u explain and show the process is supurb. Your Surname s/b Professor ! Keep up the great work ! The last camper propane w/htr I owned was manual pilot light with push/turn valve. A friend has a newer Suburban w/h needing fix. I used up my ammo with nothing fixed. You have me locked and loaded to attack the problems again. Thanks Professor !
I’ve followed the trail to true professional diagnostics and it leads to this channel every time , keep up the good work 👍👍
Ok bud I’m not sure how to thank you for these videos, you are a mechanical genius and for those of us that are lacking in this field rely on you. Last year you taught me how to repack my wheel bearings on my rv and you didn’t even know it, thank you.
You put so much effort into your videos. You make it easy for people to understand every detail of how things operate and I want to say THANK YOU!
Hands down the best and most detailed step by step break downs I’ve seen to actually help a person out in finding hot water tank issues.
Your video saved my water heater almost exactly a year ago and it’s saved me again. Last year it was the AC thermostat. This year it’s the switch. Thank you. It’s the video that keeps on giving! 😍
How do I access the junction box behind all the stuff on the outside do I have to pull the water heater completely out to get that or just the metal facing on the outside
Thank you so much for making this video! Living in a rural area makes it a bit difficult to find someone willing to come out here and this has been so helpful. Thank you, thank you, thank you!
I have a 1 year old RV Travel Trailer and I'm taking notes with your video. You are a great teacher, I'm suscribing and going to watch all of your videos. It's like going to RV Class 101 and I feel so much more confident about my own RV and understanding how to take care of things myself. Thank you so much!!!! Keep up the great work.
This is the most comprehensive video that I have ever seen, the proper way to diagnose each component on these dual energy water heaters.
Great video, subscribed and will be using your links to fix and service my H2O heater, Thank you.
This video is awesome! My suburban sw12de stopped firing up on the gas side . Thanks to this video, I was able to diagnose that both solenoids had failed. I ordered the part on amazon replaced it and I’m back in business! Thank you Darren!
Wowwwww what a great explanation! I feel like i absorbed like a month school worth of informarion in only half an hour video. This is great. Thank you very much! So useful!!
Thanks for the video! I used this to go through and diagnose my Suburban water heater. Found it worked except some burnt wires in the junction box. Replaced some connections and back in business.
Very well done! I was a maintenance instructor for many years and could not have done a better job. As thorough as this video was I would like to have seen you discuss the circuit board. Mine got fried in a thunderstorm 2 days ago and I had nothing, AC or DC, so I knew to look there first. Sure enough the board was cooked, Q3 on the board to be exact. Keep up the good work!
This was a very helpful video. We had a power outage for 20+ hours and when the water and power came back on we had no hot water. We replaced a couple parts we knew how to, then watched the part on the on/off switch, and that was where we had no power coming in. Went to local dealer to pick up part and it works. Thanks for posting the viedo.
Sir, you are a youtube how-to video rock star. Top-notch allowing someone with a wee bit of know-how to understand the pieces, parts, how's, and why's allowing them to tackle any RV service issue. Something about you and your know-how reminds me of Gene Hackman in Enemy of the State. Thank you for letting me get to know and tackle my used RV issues.
Superbly done! You sir, are a great teacher! Thanks for taking the time to do this video and for sharing it with us!
Wow! So thorough. You are a great teacher. My stepson is renting our fifth wheeler from us, and the hot water heater quit. Now I have the confidence to go out there and see what’s going on.
Thank you for this video. My electric switch was stuck and bad and my LP solenoid was bad. Now cant wait for the parts to come in!! Great Job!!
I cant thank you enough I changed my stuck switch like you said and now the electrical portion of water heater is working again... THANK YOU SO MUCH... So much value in your video thank you for explaining in so much detail
Thanks to my rv works , I trouble shot my water heater issue and came to find out I was only getting 26 volts to my switch , problem being a short in the junction box (from the poorly manufacture)( wire nuts were not safely secure made contact and fried the wires upon contact with each other) that caused my breaker to trip..... I did replace the electrode and thermostat, prior to me finding this channel , went and bought me a ohmmeter and was troubleshooting the right way , thanks my rv works!!!!
I know everybody else has already said this, but this was excellent video. All of your videos are very good. They are very detailed and they explain everything in plain English. Thank you so much.
And now, I understand all the elements of my water heater and I can further troubleshoot mine. After flushing it to replace the anode rod, I am no longer getting hot water. You gave me the tools to fix this myself. I appreciate this so much!
I've taken about 40 pages of notes regarding various repairs on campers....THANKS!!
THANK YOU for taking the time to do this. You are awesome. I feel confident to troubleshoot my daughter's WH now. It is not working on AC power. It's a 2021 model and I was going to just start replacing parts starting with the element etc. But now I can test them first. Also, I noticed you made a new screw hole for the thermostat. :) Well Done!
Great troubleshooting techniques! I have an issue with the A/C side. LP works fine. Checking that element and the switch first. Thanks!
Never apologize for long videos.........the longer they are, the more we learn. Excellent video Darren and Dakota !!! Thank you....
Thanks! You helped me fix my problem. It was the thermostat. But I replaced the anode and the element, just because it was time. BTW. It found it easier and more thorough to flush from the element hole and let it flow our ot the anode hole OK. Next is test the LP side and see how that’s works. Took it all apart anyway. Thanks again. I am in E NC or I would call you for a few projects. And thanks too to Dacoda!
Well done. My Dometic gas/electric WH works on neither source. This is my first RV ever and it has been a full-on head scratcher to get all of the systems up on this 2005 5th wheel. The WH is the last one to whip and I now feel well-informed enough to check it out (minus head scratching). thx
I have watched ten videos on testing hot water heater. I learned more from this video than all the others. Thanks.
I appreciate the time you take to explain how to diagnose a problem. Thank you!
10/10 As always. Outstanding piece of video instruction Darren. Would have been nice to see you pull off the solenoid but I'm thinking you've already done that in a previous video. Thanks for taking the time and stay safe!
Great video. Fantastic step by step analysis. Just started trouble shooting the same heater, you have given a tremendous amount of information. Thank You!
Ps. You are the best self help guy because of the way explain and breakdown...
Excellent video....parts list is much appreciated since this is a very common water heater configuration throughout the RV industry
Thank you!! The clearest and simplest best self-help video for heater troubleshooting ever!!
This was the best and most informative video! It really helped me to understand the works and operation of the water heater and now I can repair mine most easily! Thank you!!!
Thanks for the super informative video, I chased all these wires down, wasn’t getting power at the water heater at all, found the relay, still no power. Turns out the wire was never pushed into breaker! The more you know, thanks for getting me to that point!
I'm not getting power to my water heater either, suspecting the problem is the relay. Where did you find it?
I'm 66 and I enjoy your videos. I love learning. I watch as many as I can even if I don't have a problem or the same equipment. Wanted to let you know that you are appreciated .
Thanks, Burt!
Great video and detail and camera work. I'll watch a few more times only because its a lot of information to adsorb for a RV newbie like me.
Excellent technical description of functionality of the unit. I'm in the electronics industry and I found it very informative as I have had my Fiat Ducato MH only a short while. Cheers
Thanks, this video really aided my understanding. My SW6DE has a 120v side problem. There is a continuity between neutral and ground on the circuit that trips the shore tie if it is plugged into a GFCI. The housing on the electric element is cracked, and the reset button rubber guard is deteriorated and the reset post missing on the DC side (although the unit works fine on LP).
Awesome video! Your expertise is clear to see. I'm good at fixing things overall. But for some reason I've never learned electrical troubleshooting, especially how to use a testing meter. Now I really know that I know nothing about it!
Normally I would have a level of skepticism if I had an issue and needed to call a mobile service technician. It seems you never know who/what you're getting. But I can say that seeing you work, anyone in your service area will be getting a thoroughly qualified expert level of service. Very impressive..........
You explained everything perfectly and went above and beyond! Thank you for all that you do! What a teacher 👏
That was a great video. I really like how you take the time to explain the theory of operation and explain and show how you are troubleshooting in great detail. Your videos have helped me diagnose and fix my furnace, ac, and now I, about to troubleshoot my water heater using this video. Thanks again for another great video.
Very helpful video, particularly where you get into the technical details, voltages, amps, ohms. You explained briefly but effectively. Thanks for sharing such good info.
Very helpful, My RV Works, Inc.. Could not have fixed my Suburban SW10DE without your guidance.
As a heads up to both you and anyone you sees this post: A 10~ ohm resistance does not necessarily mean that the element is good. I had that here but it took replacing the element to fix AC side of heater. Not only that, the replaced element was nasty, nasty, nasty, with a heavy caking of calcium carbonate.
What a great video. I am currently having issues with my hw heater so this is going to go a long way in helping me diagnose the issue.
Great video this was very helpful to diagnose that my AC on and off switch is broken. I really like how you opened everything up so I know what to expect.
Thanks!! I believe this was my EXACT issue! I've ordered the switch, and it'll be here Wednesday.
That was one excellent video. It is the gold standard of the way videos should be presented. Thank you for taking the time to make this.
Excellent tutorial! I learned so much from it and best of all repairing a problem oneself is so much cheaper than a shop call or mobile tech!
You saved me at least 250$ with this video. Thanks man. Life saver.
Love your troubleshooting videos...thank you so much!
About those scotch lock connectors...those are a horrible connector by design, as they tend to actually cut the conductor when crimped, and even worse when in an outdoor, exposed environment.
excellent video, i knew all this stuff a 1 time, and then forgot it from lack of use... great refresher, much thx
Thankyou so much! I went step by step and got my water heater working on electric again!
This is great, but I am surprised you don't mention safety, like turning off the breaker or even mentioning that there are high voltages present where you are casually touching wires.
WOW!!!! ABSOLUTELY THE BEST!! What a great video, the entire troubleshooting, repair and maintenance for these water heater! Plus added basic electrical explanations!!! Thank you!
Very detailed, greatly explained! Doing work for my parents and this helped plenty. 👍🏼
Great video on the step by step process! Excellent camera work!
Easy to understand. Electric switch going into our spare parts bin! Would have liked to see you replace the solenoids.
Thanks again!
Simpler to get rid off that switch all together and add switch inside vehicle.
This is by far one of the best and helpful videos I have watched. I was able to use your teaching in this video to diagnose that I also had a faulty switch. I assumed right away that it was going to be an element but your tests all came back positive. That left the switch and sure enough while it looked fine there was no continuity. You just saved me hundreds of dollars for an $9.00 Canadian part at good old Canadian Tire. Thanks!!
Dang super helpful thanks for the detail and explanations 👍🏼 after watching this video I successfully diagnosed my water heater thanks to you I now have hot water on the 12v side 🙌🏻👍🏼👍🏼 thank you much
Darren, Thank you for your time and expertise. You’re a great instructor.
Such a great video! One of the most thorough I’ve seen.
Thanks for the informative video. Dont know if you're in Utah? Having one of the several problems you have pointed out. So many things it could be, and you pointed out most of them, if not all...I will check this problem out & see if I can get it working. Thanks again for taking the time to educate us!
Absolutely the most informative troubleshooting videos online! Thank you my good man, much appreciated!
Thank you again...seems like the on-off switch is bad. Love your easy to follow videos.
What a great video. I learned so much about my heater. I hope my unit doesn't fail me or my wife again.
Very helpful as always. I am having an issue and now I will reference this video so I might be able to fix it myself, Thanks, and have a blessed day.
This is the PERFECT video that I needed! Was able to diagnose the problem for my water heater. Great step by step video!
Great to hear!
Exactly the same as what was wrong with mine! Thanks for the step-by-step troubleshooting guide!
Thanks so much for this video! The water heater on our new trailer was working fine on gas but nothing on electric. I didn’t know there was an on/off switch on the heater until I saw this. Went out and found it under a piece of silver tape. It was turned off!
Thank you - helpful, and now I'm about to do some troubleshooting a propane fault condition where the flame does not stay lit long enough to heat the water.
We have a Suburban water heater on our 2013 Montana. Really enjoy learning from your well trusted videos! THANK YOU & DAKOTA for the time you spend sharing such a wonderful information! Been experiencing issues with hot water. Doesn't work on 120v; does great on LP. Where can I share pics of melted wires to thermostat? The excessive heat affected the wire to the ECO wire too. Am replacing the switch, thermostat & wires. Thanks again Darren! Will try to contact you when we visit our son again stationed at NAS Whidbey Island.
This unit doesn't take up a lot of room under my kitchen sink. I love that I have instant hot water when ever I want! Has enough capacity for my dishwasher also.
Hi just what to say thanks for all the videos as I’m about to move in to a old Rv while I renavaet a house. And a lot of the sistems don’t work. And your content gives goo descriptions and insyt
very helpful. I am a newbie to RV life and needed to know about my water heater. thanks
As with All your videos: VERY IMPORTANT Info presented and explained perfectly * Who needs Any other repair videos but Yours? Answer: No One! TY SO MUCH!!!
Excellent instructional video. I have a much better understanding of how my water heater works.
Great video! Detailed and super helpful for RVers which troubleshoot their own issues. Thank you!
Great video. Isn't it true that if the flag connection is loose on the spade it will cause resistance which causes heat and burns the connection? Mine actually burned the insulation off the wire going to the thermostat. That little switch on the tank seems to be a constant source of failure as well.
Great job teaching all of us who watch your videos how to test and fix these things. You gave me the know how and confidence to replace the cooling unit on my Norcold 1210. Thank you Darren, Cody and Anne.
Excellent video! The exceptional detail. Thank you for giving me the confidence to problem solve systems on my motorhome.
I'm glad your video turned into a long one thank you!
Awesome tech video, really! Thank you. Quick question. I am getting a small flame right at the gas nozzle under the solenoid when there is no flame needed. I'm guessing the gas valve is not shutting off entirely. New valve? New solenoid? Maybe overhaul the gas valve? Suggestions?
Great video! I have been on the hunt to help my father who lives in another state figure out the 120v side of his water heater on a 2012 fuzion that he just got. First he turn the breaker off for the water heater and when he went to test the element he got a shock from the white wire and it also arched on the frame of the water heater. What do you think could be causing this?
I have watched 11 different videos before I found yours. You helped so much and spoke well and presented the information in a way I wasn’t bored to death and didn’t drag out your words. I instantly subscribed and plan to watch a few others. From a field electrican thank you sir!! I
Thanks for this video! What could make my ECO keep tripping after a few hours of heating fine? I reset the switch, get hot water, take a shower and half an hour later i got no hot water anymore. Do i have a bad thermostat?
I have found on Newmar products an additional convience switch for the AC side of the water heater. Sometimes they are under the upper cabinet near the sink. Some are a single switch with a pilot light. They can fail, but most often they are forgotten or for the new to them owner they can be difficult to locate.
You are correct. Our 1997 American Star 5th wheel has a switch/pilot light as you describe. We had difficulty locating it. Another Newmar owner suggested several possible locations.
It is on the bottom of the upper cabinet next to the range. A logical location for ease of turning it off when using the microwave if hooked up to shore power of limited amperage.
Nice, helpful, sufficient detail, short, concise (did I leave any descriptive adjectives off?)
awesome! thank you so much! i was wondering if you can show how to get ride of the rust that build on the tank. also, i was wondering if it's possible to pain them so it looks a little better and maybe protects it better.
thank you again!
Hi Mike, not sure how to get rid of rust once it has started. The Anode rod is supposed to manage that. Anything put in the water heater can end up in the water lines of the RV (including rust) so I would be careful what was used in there. Think kitchen cooking water and shower water...
This video was extremely helpful I have diagnosed my issue and it was the main black wire coming from breaker panel too my hot water heater connections. It got extremely hot and melted the wire nut and insulation on the wire. I was extremely fortunate since I was here at my trailer when this took place I just noticed that when I got home from being gone for a few days I did not have hot water. We’re doing quite a bit of research I came across this video which was extremely helpful diagnosing the problem. My question is what could have caused this wire to overheat in is my hot water heater safe to reconnect this wire ??
Watched your entire video…great tips to check performance. My water heater won’t work at all…thinking my 12v to the module/circuit board isn’t working. Question, if no 12v to the circuit board the water won’t work at all…AC or DC?
My model SW6D is propane only. Still a best help I have found video. I just need to trouble shoot getting the 12 to the waterheater. Gas works to the cook top; The in the camper switch may be my problem; I'm going back in with my VOM. Could you please up date on this? thanks.
Thank you thank you... this helped me figure out what was wrong with mine.