Palomino water heater question

[PapaG]

Hello, newbie here on the boards. I had a question. I just bought a New to me 297 Palomino Solaire and we took it out for a two day trial trip. I am not getting hot water and I am trying to figure out which direction do the three water valves are supposed to be turned to (side ways or up and down) at the hot water heater. Also we turned on the inside toggle switch and the red light came on for the water heater and a fault light also went on. I later found out (when I got home) that there is a switch for the water heater on the unit (on or off) when hooked up to shore power. I never turned that switch on so I am not sure if I would have caused any damage by turning on the inside switch.
We were hooked up at a trailer park so we had shore power and everything else worked great. I have gone through the owners manual, researched the web and found no real answers. Help? Thanks

[wmtire]

The valves are closed when the handles are perpendicular with the piping and open when parallel with the piping. For normal usage you want the cold water inlet and hot water outlet valves open...and the bypass valve between the hot and cold water pipes closed (like in the pic)


This link will help explain the two switches for the Suburban hot water heater.

http://www.forestriverforums.com/for...ore-36197.html

[Iwannacamp]

Hello. The center valve should be closed...it is the one that joins the red and blue lines(normally). The other two are open.
Open is when the handle is parallel with the line. Closed is when the handle of the valve is perpendicular to the line. Be sure to vent air from the tank till it stops bubbling and spitting air. Hope this helps


Sent from my iPhone using Forest River Forums

[PapaG]

My tank looks a lot different and has external valves but I did have them aligned with the hose, I will turn off the bypass (middle one between the two) What about the On/Off switch on the face of the heater that I can access through a small black side door outside Do I need to turn that on after I fill the hot water tank and leave the inside water heater switch off (I read that is for LP). Thanks a lot for the help

[PapaG]

Originally Posted by wmtire

The valves are closed when the handles are perpendicular with the piping and open when parallel with the piping. For normal usage you want the cold water inlet and hot water outlet valves open...and the bypass valve between the hot and cold water pipes closed (like in the pic)


This link will help explain the two switches for the Suburban hot water heater.

http://www.forestriverforums.com/for...ore-36197.html

The link you included is great. Thanks again.

[OldCoot]

Originally Posted by PapaG

My tank looks a lot different and has external valves but I did have them aligned with the hose, I will turn off the bypass (middle one between the two) What about the On/Off switch on the face of the heater that I can access through a small black side door outside Do I need to turn that on after I fill the hot water tank and leave the inside water heater switch off (I read that is for LP). Thanks a lot for the help

DO NOT turn the On/Off switch on the face of the heater until you KNOW FOR SURE the tank is full. This can be checked by flipping the pressure relief valve at the top of the tank.

[wmtire]

Originally Posted by PapaG

The link you included is great. Thanks again.

You are welcome. The Suburban water heater with it's outside electric switch is one of the most confusing things, as well as the bypass valves.

Hope you understand how it all works now and will be good to go. Happy camping.

[awtposts]

I have a 2013 Solaire 292 QBSK. Had same issue with my unit. Make sure your valve knobs are like previously posted.

More info:
- The switch on the outside of the unit is to turn your water heater off/on when you have your power connected.

- The rocker switch on the inside panel with all your light switches, tank level meters etc is to turn the unit off/on via propane.


NOTE: Use one or the other - NOT BOTH.


~~ ALSO ~~


Make sure that turning off your water heater is on your camping departure checklist. I forgot once and fortunately caught my mistake before the tank went dry. I did have to prematurely replace my anode rod however.

[wmtire]

Originally Posted by awtposts

NOTE: Use one or the other - NOT BOTH.

Can I ask about that statement? Were you told by a dealer not to use both? The reason I say this, it's possible you were misinformed by a service tech. We have seen that happen a lot.

This is from the Suburban website below. I emboldened the part about using both at the same time for the fastest recovery rate.

Airxcel | Suburban Manufacturing Products

• Faster Recovery
  
  
  Fast recovery means more hot water and fewer cool water cycles. Six-, 10-, 12- and 16-gallon Suburban gas water heaters feature 12,000 BTUH input and a recovery rate of 10.2 gallons per hour - that's the fastest in the industry. Combination gas/electric models also use a 1,440-watt element to recover an additional 6.0 gallons per hour at campsites. For higher recovery, both the gas and electric element may be used simultaneously.
• Suburban also uses a copolymer insulation jacket specially molded to fit the tank. This does a better job of retaining heat than the "cardboard" style used on some competitive models.
• Examine some of the many options available with Suburban Water Heaters.
• View the specifications for all of our Water Heater models.

[TURBS]

Originally Posted by awtposts

I have a 2013 Solaire 292 QBSK. Had same issue with my unit. Make sure your valve knobs are like previously posted.

More info:
- The switch on the outside of the unit is to turn your water heater off/on when you have your power connected.

- The rocker switch on the inside panel with all your light switches, tank level meters etc is to turn the unit off/on via propane.


NOTE: Use one or the other - NOT BOTH.


~~ ALSO ~~


Make sure that turning off your water heater is on your camping departure checklist. I forgot once and fortunately caught my mistake before the tank went dry. I did have to prematurely replace my anode rod however.

You can use both at the same time !
Whomever told you that was completely delirious!


TURBS
08 duramax tuned n modded, 32bhok Sabre

[glfillion]

The key to managing the hot water switch is to leave it on at the heater and use the breaker switch inside to turn it on and off. This will keep you from turning it on when there is no water in the heater or plugging in shore power and frying your element. You can then use either elec. or propane or both which will give you faster recovery as stated previously.

[awtposts]

Originally Posted by TURBS

You can use both at the same time !
Whomever told you that was completely delirious!


TURBS
08 duramax tuned n modded, 32bhok Sabre

Nobody told me not to, didn't mean to infer you can't, My point was why? My elec heats up in less than 5 min, 2 min on propane. When setting up at the site, the water is usually up to temp before you need it anyway. If you leave both on, the odds of forgetting one or the other when breaking camp are greater which increases your risk to boil your tank dry and wastes propane when off power. Also never run into issue of running out of hot water either just using elec or propane alone.

My advice is one or the other to keep things simple and save on propane when you have elec available.

[glfillion]

You may not run out of hot water at the sink but trust me, anything longer than a three minute shower will make you see cold water in hurry if you are not running both. Your propane and electric only runs when you are drawing water so there is no chance of "boiling" the water in the heater.

[TURBS]

Originally Posted by glfillion

You may not run out of hot water at the sink but trust me, anything longer than a three minute shower will make you see cold water in hurry if you are not running both. Your propane and electric only runs when you are drawing water so there is NO chance of "BOILING" the water in the heater.

What he said!

TURBS
08 duramax tuned n modded, 32bhok Sabre

[BombDoc]

My Sabre has the switch outside that I turn off every time we disconnect from shore power. I also have two switches inside the control panel. One for gas and one for electric (water heater). If I turn on the outside switch after I confirm water is dripping out of the pressure valve, and forget to turn on the electric switch on the inside, I will never have hot water. Both outside and inside switches must be on in electric in order for the element to work.

[OldCoot]

The water heater uses very little propane. We ran over 2 years (well over 200 days) on less than 30# of propane using the RVQ, inside 3 burner stove, refrigerator when traveling plus the water heater the entire 200+ days.

We always have the water heater on propane & electric.

[PapaG]

OK took it to the dealer to get a quote on adding a 2nd air and asked him to take a look at the heater. He told me nothing was damaged because I never turned on the water heater button or the propane when I had turned on the water heater switch inside the trailer. He said that is the propane switch for the heater and if the propane was off nothing damaged the unit. Thankfully he was right.