Help!

I'm having one of those "Honey, I think I left the curling iron on in the bathroom, can we go back?" moments. I know I left the outside switch on the water heater on. I'm thinking that the switch under the bathroom wall shuts the water heater off whether the outside switch is on or not. If the outside switch is indeed on, is it possible for anything bad to happen? I'd check it myself, but the TM is currently in the garage and I'm not terribly excited about the prospects of pulling it out and setting it up... Thanks!

[mjlaupp]

Scott,

Put a large note on the TM to remind you to turn the switch off before you plug in the next time.

It is only possible to have something go wrong (burn out the heating element) if you are plugged into shore power and have no water in the water heater. Turn the switch off before you plug in the next time and you should be ok unless you drained the water heater before unpluging from shore power.

The bathroom wall switch only turns off the 12 volt circuits to the rear roof lights and the propane detctor.

Mike

[mcgyver210]

I also have a habit of also replacing the cotter pin in the on off switch for the water heater.

I used a label maker and added a large label to the Power cord connector door that says Water heater. That way I remember.

[mjlaupp]

You should send a suggestion to TrailManor to put a water heater caution label on all new TMs.
Mike

Okay I am confused! What is the deal with the water heater, shore power, etc.

Originally Posted by O2BOutside

Okay I am confused! What is the deal with the water heater, shore power, etc.

You can check this thread out:

http://www.trailmanorowners.com/foru...+heater+switch

The way it works on my 03 model, is there is an outside switch that you can manually set for your water heater to run off electricity . If you keep it set to electric (by forgetting to turn it off), and then drain your tank when you leave a campsite........the next time you plug your trailer into shore power somewhere else, the electric water heater element immediately comes on. If you plug the electricity up before filling the heater with water, then it'll burn up the heating element inside the water heater..........and fast.

Bill made a great pdf file for us all, in the forum library here about the water heater: It's worth printing out and placing near the switch as you become familiarized with it.

http://www.trailmanorowners.com/foru...ead.php?t=2457

When we say outside switch, it means the switch is accessable from the outside of the trailer. You will pull off a panel on the outside of the trailer where the water heater is, then flip the switch.

Shore power is the 30 amp electric power you hook into, either at a campsite, your house, etc. If you are not hooked up to shore power (aka electricity), then you will have to run your water heater off of propane to use it.

Well, I bit the bullet today, pulled the TM out of the garage, and turned off the offending water heater switch, which was indeed residing in the 'on' position. My problem was that I plug in the TM weekly or so to keep the batteries up, which would then turn on the water heater. It was full of water when put away, but I feared that over the course of a couple of months the water level could possibly drop to the point the heating element would get fried. Anyhow, it was a pain but now it is done and I can rest easily.

Thanks Bobby! As soon as I got home from work I checked the water heater switch. Lucky for me it was set in the "Off" position otherwise I probably would have replaced the element by now.