Friday morning we woke up to no hot water. I turned on the LP hot water and soon we had hot water. The electric side of our hot water heater was not working. Even though I know a bit about electrical, I have learned that I am a klutz with electric stuff, so I have someone else do the work. Yesterday the mobile tech came, took the cover off the hot water heater and pushed the left reset button on our Suburban hot water heater. He said it clicked, which meant it was tripped. The right reset button is for the 12 volt system, which runs the LP hot water. He used his clamp-on multi-meter and it was pulling 11AMPs. We have electric hot water again and I got to pay someone to push a reset button I could have pushed myself. I guess that is learning. The mobile service has not invoiced us yet, so I don't how much this lesson cost. We have had this hot water heater over 10 years and this the first time we have had this problem. He said it happens all the time and a reset cures the problem in most cases. If the problem reoccurs quickly, then something else is broken, either the thermostat or the electric element.
Now I know to check the reset button and where to hook my clamp-on multi-meter to check the electric side of the hot water heater.
The Bear II said
08:32 AM Dec 30, 2014
It is true...we learn something new everyday....thanks for sharing.
TRAILERKING said
11:03 AM Dec 30, 2014
The reset part of the switch could be getting tired too. They are cheap and should just change it.
bjoyce said
01:34 PM Dec 30, 2014
Actually it reset again, so the tech is coming back. The hot water is supposed to stop heating at 140 degrees, but I checked it a couple hours after doing a reset and it was 155 when I turned it off. That indicates a thermostat problem. The reset trips when it gets to about 180 degrees for safety.
Edit: It was the thermostat. The old one was black and burnt out. Turns out it is a 130 degree F thermostat.
-- Edited by bjoyce on Tuesday 30th of December 2014 01:35:55 PM
-- Edited by bjoyce on Tuesday 30th of December 2014 03:25:19 PM
TRAILERKING said
03:29 PM Dec 30, 2014
Hopefully they didn't charge you twice for that issue that he should have caught the first time out.
Friday morning we woke up to no hot water. I turned on the LP hot water and soon we had hot water. The electric side of our hot water heater was not working. Even though I know a bit about electrical, I have learned that I am a klutz with electric stuff, so I have someone else do the work. Yesterday the mobile tech came, took the cover off the hot water heater and pushed the left reset button on our Suburban hot water heater. He said it clicked, which meant it was tripped. The right reset button is for the 12 volt system, which runs the LP hot water. He used his clamp-on multi-meter and it was pulling 11AMPs. We have electric hot water again and I got to pay someone to push a reset button I could have pushed myself. I guess that is learning. The mobile service has not invoiced us yet, so I don't how much this lesson cost. We have had this hot water heater over 10 years and this the first time we have had this problem. He said it happens all the time and a reset cures the problem in most cases. If the problem reoccurs quickly, then something else is broken, either the thermostat or the electric element.
Now I know to check the reset button and where to hook my clamp-on multi-meter to check the electric side of the hot water heater.
Actually it reset again, so the tech is coming back. The hot water is supposed to stop heating at 140 degrees, but I checked it a couple hours after doing a reset and it was 155 when I turned it off. That indicates a thermostat problem. The reset trips when it gets to about 180 degrees for safety.
Edit: It was the thermostat. The old one was black and burnt out. Turns out it is a 130 degree F thermostat.
-- Edited by bjoyce on Tuesday 30th of December 2014 01:35:55 PM
-- Edited by bjoyce on Tuesday 30th of December 2014 03:25:19 PM