We bought the trailer late fall. I winterized it. My wife flipped the toggle switch that turned on the electric water heater. She thought it was for electricity for other things.
More that 45 minutes elapsed, so I kind of figured the HW heater element was fried. Wouldn’t you know it, it is under the corner with a small opening and stuffed way in the back. The element is behind a black box and has an electric cord plugged into an outlet. So I figured I could simply unplug the plug from the outlet and test continuity for the 10.2 ohms. WRONG!
I spent a couple of hours taking the damn thing apart, and finally tested the element to find out it was fine (!!!!). So then it dawned on me to take a better look in that black plastic connector box. Yes, I think there is a relay in there. I should have looked for a relay from the start because the toggle switch was undoubtedly 12 volt, and the element was 120 volt. So... I put the old element back in and buttoned it all back together.
1. Everything I have read says there is an off/on switch near the circuit board. I can not find it on mine. Did they do away with it since the breaker box is close by?
2. Even with the wall toggle switch in the off position, the romex to the outlet box is HOT so keep this in mind if working on a similar configuration.
3. Apparently the yellow wire into the junction box on the tank is what triggers the relay to turn on the heating element. It apparently comes from the circuit board outside. For future, because it is so tight in there, I would really like to know if I can more easily put 12 volts into the yellow wire (from the circuit board clip outside (to close the relay), so that I can check continuity (for 10.2 ohms) on the male plug in that tight space...