Water heater 6 verses 12 gal

[travelin texans]

If you have a Suburban water heater there's a black cover with 2 reset buttons, remove that cover & check that it has not pinched the wires to 1 or both of the thermostats shorting them out against the tank.. What was odd & very coincidental is while I was tearing mine apart my buddy parked next to me with the same rv came out & said he had no hot water, we looked at his & it was the same pinched wires.
My last 5er did this so I repaired the wires, replaced both thermostats, bent the metal lip down a bit & trimmed about a 1/4" off of the cover, never another issue.

[CHIMOMMY2]

Originally Posted by travelin texans

If you have a Suburban water heater there's a black cover with 2 reset buttons, remove that cover & check that it has not pinched the wires to 1 or both of the thermostats shorting them out against the tank.. What was odd & very coincidental is while I was tearing mine apart my buddy parked next to me with the same rv came out & said he had no hot water, we looked at his & it was the same pinched wires.
My last 5er did this so I repaired the wires, replaced both thermostats, bent the metal lip down a bit & trimmed about a 1/4" off of the cover, never another issue.

Well there is something else I will check. With all this information I'm going to explode ��

[JRTJH]

Originally Posted by CHIMOMMY2

Well there is something else I will check. With all this information I'm going to explode ��

If you "explode" people will assume that you were "full of it"

[CHIMOMMY2]

��
Some say that I am .....full of it
But they coming back ��

[ssthrd]

Silly question maybe..... How do you know for sure that your heater is 12 gallons? spec in a brochure, sale advertisement, or the actual model number the unit in your trailer.

[CHIMOMMY2]

Originally Posted by ssthrd

Silly question maybe..... How do you know for sure that your heater is 12 gallons? spec in a brochure, sale advertisement, or the actual model number the unit in your trailer.

Hummm your right , something I need to check out, being a used keystone the sales staff told me lol
Will check the model now that you mentioned it .

[wiredgeorge]

Originally Posted by CHIMOMMY2

your full of good info ! thank you so much for that
i will try to absorb as much as you give

I added a 135F thermostat to my Suburban water heater and thus use less hot water when mixed with cold during a shower.

[wiredgeorge]

Originally Posted by ssthrd

Silly question maybe..... How do you know for sure that your heater is 12 gallons? spec in a brochure, sale advertisement, or the actual model number the unit in your trailer.

I know the Suburban water heater in my camper has a placard on the side wall behind the outside access door and gives the model. Suburban units will have the size in their model such as SW6DE. The 6 is a 6 gallon tank; 12 gallon will be SW12DE... there are a lot of variations but the number is the size.

[pdaniel]

I have found in conversing with others, including DW, the 12 gallon introduces a mindset that hot water is plentiful compared to the 6 gallon.
So, we do as we have done with RVs with the 6 gallon-splash and go-used the button on the wand to conserve hot water.

[Mikelff]

Originally Posted by sourdough

Some thoughts;

You just purchased this trailer, a 2018. Did you go through the water heater? Make sure both the electric and gas work? Did you pull the anode rod to drain the tank AND see how much "stuff" is/isn't in it?

One or the other of your heating sources may be down or malfunctioning. You may have 2' of deteriorated anode rods in the bottom - or only one depending on how it was taken care of. I always had Atwoods until this on and was shocked when I pulled my anode rod/drain at 8 mos. and it was completely gone not to mention the ton of debris in the bottom of the tank.

I would suggest going over the heater from top to bottom since it is 4 years old if it hasn't been done to see what's what.

Was wondering why you used an anode rod in an Atwood water heater. My 2018 Atwood water heater does not require an anode rod and I was told by a tech that none of the Atwood heaters need one. I know the Suburban heaters require anode rods. Perhaps the much older required one? Curious.

[sourdough]

Originally Posted by Mikelff

Was wondering why you used an anode rod in an Atwood water heater. My 2018 Atwood water heater does not require an anode rod and I was told by a tech that none of the Atwood heaters need one. I know the Suburban heaters require anode rods. Perhaps the much older required one? Curious.

Excerpt [I always had Atwoods until this on and was shocked when I pulled my anode rod/drain at 8 mos. and it was completely gone not to mention the ton of debris in the bottom of the tank.]


Atwoods don't have anode rods. I always had Atwoods until this one as I mentioned and when I pulled the anode rod on this one (Suburban) I found all the goop.