Black/Gray Water Heater help needed please!!

[Stream_tRVlr]

So my wife & I purchased a used but like brand new '11 FC 20. We are on our honeymoon in WI and the weather has gotten cold with colder temps predicted. I turned on the fresh water heater located in the bathroom and I turned on the grey/black water switch and heard the fuse pop and the lights flickered. I assumed it was a freak thing and bought another 15amp fuse and same thing. Any ideas/suggestions? Thanks in advance and sorry if this is in the incorrect location.

[idroba]

Does the gray water tank heater pop the fuse without the fresh water tank heater on? Or do both of them have to be on for the fuse to go?

If only the gray water tank heater pops the fuse, all alone, you have at least located part of where the problem is.

Too bad it is probably out of warrantee, otherwise it would be a AS problem. They have a 2 year warrantee, you know.

[Stream_tRVlr]

I originally had the fresh water heater on and it popped. After picking up another fuse I tried it by itself and it popped again.

[idroba]

You have isolated it to the gray water tank heater then. That is a start at least. Unfortunately the tank is completely covered from the underside and the heat pad is probably not going to be exposed, nor are the wires which feed it. I am not at home right now, so I can't look under mine to see if there are any access ports or not, but my memory does not recall any when I have looked at the one on my new FC 20'. So, unfortunately, I can't give you any more help right now. If my memory serves me correct, I think the heaters each take about 7 to 8 amps, and thus probably are on two different fuses. You can read the fuse feeds on the panel which has them, and see if there are two circuits, but that still won't tell you why the fuse is blowing.

[TouringDan]

It is not clear to me where the problem is.

I would turn off all electric tank heaters and operate the water heater on propane.
It is not that cold even in Wisconsin yet.

Enjoy your honeymoon. Troubleshoot it when your trip is over.

Dan

[mefly2]

Also possible that there was a lower voltage at your pedestal and that made the current pop up on the tank heater. That happened to us once in our 20 ... we put in a slightly larger fuse just to see if it would pop as well (it didn't) and checked the voltage with a meter. It is wise to stay with the suggested fuse rating, but it helped diagnose that there was not a problem in our FC20 ... but the problem was with the supply voltage.

[Stream_tRVlr]

TouringDan the problem is the heat pad for the gray/black water holding tank not the actual water heater. The low in WI where we are is going down to 24 tonight so that's why I was concerned.

[Stream_tRVlr]

I tried the 20amp fuse as suggested and it popped as well

[TouringDan]

Originally Posted by Stream_tRVlr

TouringDan the problem is the heat pad for the gray/black water holding tank not the actual water heater. The low in WI where we are is going down to 24 tonight so that's why I was concerned.

I don't think 24 is cold enough to absolutely need tank heaters.

[Mtplsnt]

We have a 2011 FC 20' as well. Our black/gray water heating pad fuse blows every time we try to use it. We have tried unplugging from city power;we have turned all other electrical appliances off before using, we have tried inserting a 20 amp fuse. Still the fuse blows. The interesting thing is that when we had our dealer look at it, he said it was working properly. But once we're on the road, it blows again. The temps will dip into the teens and possible single digits tonight and tomorrow, so I am a little concerned. Sure would like to know if you solved your problem and if so, how.