Water Heater not Working on Gas or Electric

[GMCamping]

So we turned on the refrigerator on battery power and when we arrived at the campsite and hooked up, our water heater is not working on gas or electric. Did some troubleshooting and found the igniter fuse in the breaker box was blown. When I put a new fuse it blows immediately. Has anyone experienced this?

[Camping Carpenters]

I can't imagine why the refrigerator operating in DC would have any bearing on failure of the water heater. Assuming you have shore power and the fridge and water heater have been tested for AC operation? The fact that BOTH electric and gas operation of the water heater have failed should be telling. Are you certain electric operation has failed? The AC heater will not heat the water as fast as gas does. Without looking at my TM's panel (camper is closed right now), not sure which fuse you are blowing. Don't know that there is a fuse to the ignitor only. Probably a fuse for the AC heater? Something or things seriously shorted? I believe you do also need DC (battery or converter) for powering water heater controls. Can you provide more symptoms? Certainly you have the heater full of water.

[ThePair]

You may have blown the electric heating element -- I've noticed all sorts of strange effects when that happens. There are lots of threads here talking about how to diagnose it (continuity check after pulling the element). I've done it once myself -- the repair is easy and cheap, you just need the correct parts.

I'd look there first.

[GMCamping]

Thank you to all who contributed. We found the problem with our water heater. The DC circuit that is used to give power to the igniter and powers the gas alarm had shaved and was causing a short on the circuit. The bundle of wires that is routed underneath the sink into the floor had shaved because there was no rubber grommet protecting the wire. We will get a pvc pipe, cut it in half to use as a sleeve. Tie wrap the 2 pieces of pvc together. In the meantime we put a piece of wood panel to separate the wires from metal floor.

It now works on gas but electric is still not working. We believe it could be the heating element.

What is the Ohm reading of a good heating element?

The gas turns ON on the water heater regardless on which position the switch is on.

[Bill]

Originally Posted by GMCamping

What is the Ohm reading of a good heating element

The water heater draws about 1440 watts at 120 volts, so the resistance is about 10 ohms. A burned-out element will register an open circuit. There is no "in between" situation. Of course you will disconnect all power sources, including the battery, before measuring the resistance, and you will also disconnect one of the power leads from the element.

The gas turns ON on the water heater regardless on which position the switch is on.

That is because the rocker switch on the water heater body controls only the electric element. It has no control over the gas burner. By the same token, the switch on the kitchen sink apron controls only the gas heating element. It has no control over the electric part.

Bill

[muz123]

Just ran across a related problem that someone I'm sure had reported. I couldn't get my ignitor to light the water heater. Even the red light didn't go on. After checking the fuses and power, I read the trail manor instruction book. It mentioned a temperature shutoff. So since I had just moved the camper, the water was still pretty hot. So I let the hot water run out until it became cool and tried again. the ignitor switch worked as it should.

[GMCamping]

We will test the element when we get home. We believe it's bad. Thank you for your responses!