HW Heater easy repair

[campdog]

Just a little info to share. I own a 2010 Passport 245RB UL. The electric side of the water heater stopped working last fall. The gas heat was working OK so I finally got around to troubleshooting the problem this summer. Removed the access panel, turned on the elec WH switch and checked for voltage at the WH connections. No voltage. Looked at the electrical schematic and traced the wires and figured the relay that cycles the electric heater on and off was probably located in the brown plastic box on the floor behind the heater bypass pipes. I opened the breaker, removed the tape holding the cover on the relay box and the cover popped off. The relay is actually part of the cover.
Setup my digital voltmeter and closed the circuit breaker and I heard the relay click. Now have voltage at heater. I put the cover back on the box closed the breaker no voltage to heater. Pulled the cover off, relay clicked on and voltage to heater again. The cover was hard to put on because so many wires inside the box so I pushed the wires around in the box so there wouldn't be any pressure on the relay or connections when I reinstalled the cover. Only conclusion was that pressure on the connections to the relay were causing the relay to lose power. I opened the circuit breaker and inspected the relay connections and found no problems at connectors. I reassembled everything and electric HWH has operated for 15 nights of camping since problem corrected.

I was sure happy that I didn't have to change out a heater element.

Campdog

[Englishman]

Nice work . It's always satisfying to fix something yourself and also save some money.

[Ron]

Thanks Campdog, it's nice hear about trailer issues like yours and others and try to remember the solution if it ever arrises. Trouble shooting problems sure makes one feel good and definetly saving money if taking it to the dealear. Thanks again for the tip and Happy Campin................Ron