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Old 08-03-2020, 07:56 PM   #1
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Hot water not running on electric

Runs on gas fine, but will not run on electric. Any ideas why?
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Old 08-04-2020, 03:39 AM   #2
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Holy cow, that is an open ended question. First, I would suggest that if you need to ask the question you should probably take the trailer to a service facility that can do some troubleshooting and repairs, or a mobile service.
The quick check is to check the AC breaker for the water heater. If it is not tripped you could still have a wiring problem to the heating element. It could be a burned out heating element. You could also have a control board problem. That board is located in the compartment that you access from outside, but there is nothing you can do there except replace the board. There is also a relay component in the AC circuit wiring.
In short, it could be a number of things.
Larry
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Old 08-04-2020, 06:19 AM   #3
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Is it a gas only hot water heater? Mines a gas only and I've never been able to get it to work on 110v no matter what I do.
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Old 08-04-2020, 07:38 AM   #4
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Kebrita,
After you have exhausted the usual suspects you may end up buying this:
https://www.amazon.com/Dinosaur-Elec.../dp/B0130Y8I1K


The install is duck soup.
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Old 08-04-2020, 08:29 AM   #5
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If it has been working fine and it is not now my guess would be a bad heating element or the breaker, or.......
I run my water heater on gas all the time even though it has the electric element. So it would not bother me much.
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Old 08-04-2020, 08:34 AM   #6
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Quote:
Originally Posted by kebrita View Post
Runs on gas fine, but will not run on electric. Any ideas why?
Are you able to use a meter and follow diagnostic troubleshooting?

Can you provide the model number of the water heater? That allows folks to research wiring diagrams etc.

Checked circuit breaker for water heater?

Gary
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Old 08-05-2020, 08:17 PM   #7
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hot water heater

Thank you all for the feedback. I did check the breaker and have eliminated that. I have owned the unit for a couple of years and the hot water heater has always run fine on gas but the electric has been spotty at best. We are heading out for our first long trip out west and it would be nice to have both the electric and gas operating. Thank you all, i will follow up with your suggestions starting with the model #.
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Old 08-05-2020, 08:25 PM   #8
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Maybe it’s a 2021 model....burn
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Old 08-05-2020, 11:03 PM   #9
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I recently had this same problem and fixed it by replacing the electrical heating element.

Diagnosis:
(1) Heats on gas, but not on electric, so it's not a plumbing problem.
(2) Turn on electric hot water and measure voltage across heating element. I got something close to 120Vac, so I know all the electronics are working correctly.
(3) Replaced heating element. I think I spent about $6 at Home Depot...but the tool to remove/replace the element cost me $10!
(4) Everything now works as designed.

Potential Red Herring: I measured continuity across the heating element, and it appeared to be in good shape. I am guessing I had a bad/damaged heating element that was intact when cold and would lose continuity when heated up. So don't rely on resistance measurements to diagnose electrical heating element troubles.
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Old 08-06-2020, 06:36 AM   #10
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hot water heater

jay, Thank you for the detailed process, I will definitely follow your process. I will let you know how i make out.
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