Water heather SW12DEL

Kaidocl · 01-01-2019, 10:02 PM

So I have have notice that my water only gets warm on electric so I replaced the electric heading element worked for a day and now I'm back to warm its -9 outside at night and 20s during the day any suggestions? I'm reading 120v at heading element but cant tell when it turns off maybe thermostat? My understanding is that there is 2 in line 1 for electric 1 for LP?

travelin' texans · 01-02-2019, 05:08 AM

There's 2 - a 12 volt & a 120 volt, both under the black cover with the resets.

Kaidocl · 01-03-2019, 02:17 AM

Well every time I empty the tank to try something new it work fine then few hrs later back to warm cold..

travelin' texans · 01-03-2019, 02:44 AM

It doesn't run on electricric or gas? If not it may be the control board.

Kaidocl · 01-03-2019, 04:43 AM

Runs on both. 130F on LP and probably 65F on electric if that

travelin' texans · 01-03-2019, 05:20 AM

Sounds like the 120 volt thermostat. Remove the black reset cover & check that the wires haven't shorted against the tank. Mine had this happen, the cover rubbed the wire against the tank & fried the thermostat, I trimmed the cover about a 1/4" & bent the metal lip over a bit, replaced t stat & has worked ever since.

Kaidocl · 01-03-2019, 05:49 AM

I think that is a solid answer. I'm going to check tomorrow for exposed wires got my new thermostat on order and added a new on off switch seem a little corroded and getting a new cover for thermostat the 120v side witch I believe is the one on the left had a small hole on the rubber part. I will comment back when this parts arrive.

**hoosierguy** · 01-03-2019, 02:38 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by travelin' texans

Sounds like the 120 volt thermostat. Remove the black reset cover & check that the wires haven't shorted against the tank. Mine had this happen, the cover rubbed the wire against the tank & fried the thermostat, I trimmed the cover about a 1/4" & bent the metal lip over a bit, replaced t stat & has worked ever since.

I had that happen in the 2cd year of ownership. Replaced thermostat and it has worked fine for 5 years.

travelin' texans · 01-03-2019, 03:57 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by hoosierguy

I had that happen in the 2cd year of ownership. Replaced thermostat and it has worked fine for 5 years.

What's ironic Guy is that we were traveling from Florida to Arizona with Roland & Laurie, fellow RW owners, & the same morning we both had no hot water& both had shorted the t stat wires against the tank.

Kaidocl · 01-03-2019, 10:45 PM

How far from Thermostat did the wire short out?

travelin' texans · 01-03-2019, 11:08 PM

Fried the wires off at the t stat. Mine was obvious as soon as I removed the black reset cover.

GTXRAS · 01-04-2019, 05:44 PM

You can see the indention's on the red and black wires. The cover does this. But the metal lip can also cut the wire. Need to bend the upper and lower lips flat.

Rick

xtasee · 01-04-2019, 06:21 PM

This is a great reminder post. This issue has come up several times before. In fact, I read about this issue on this forum enough that the cover modification was the very first thing I did when I took delivery of my factory ordered trailer. I found the clearance issue would have caused me problems down the road right from the factory.

My opinion, everyone should pull that cover and trim it before you have an issue. It is flawed at installation from the start.

r time soon · 01-04-2019, 08:01 PM

When we winterized the year before, I turned the switch on the front of the water heater to the off position and turned the circuit breaker off also. In the spring after filling the water heater tank and turned the breaker on went to turn the switch back on and it's internal parts broke. I had to pry the old switch out and made a quick jumper wire to take the place of the switch with terminals on the ends until my new switch arrived. When I removed the black cover to our thermostats and energy cut off our wires were pinched also. Not by the metal casing of the water heater but from the black plastic cover. Notched the plastic where the wires are located to prevent them from rubbing further. I believe that Surburban/ Dometic needs to modify the cover so the wires don't get pinched on their new builds.

GTXRAS · 01-04-2019, 08:15 PM

Our original water heater, the pic I posted, had a large dent near the cover. That is what caused the connector to melt. new water heater did not have the dent but I did the mod anyhow.

Rick

travelin' texans · 01-04-2019, 09:00 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by GTXRAS

You can see the indention's on the red and black wires. The cover does this. But the metal lip can also cut the wire. Need to bend the upper and lower lips flat.

Rick

Mine & Rolands looked exactly like this picture. I bent the metal lip down & trimmed a 1/4" off the cover all the way around.
The most difficult part was replacing the connector, there wasn't much slack in the wire to splice onto.

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