How do you switch water heater to LP Gas from Electric

[Larry-NC]

Originally Posted by Dodge Guy

My response is to say, why take the chance? Take 20 seconds to flip the switch to avoid any potential mishap.
And yes I have heard and seen it happen to people. Camped next to someone that always drained their water heater, why I don’t know? Well they turned it on and forgot about it. Later on in the day I seen them in the compartment. Yep forgot to fill the heater and burned up the element. Doesn’t matter if you know it or not, turn off the electric and save yourself some aggravation!

This discussion continues to be irrelevant to the original poster's question, but as long as his question has been thoroughly answered, I'll take part in this tangential discussion.

I put a second switch inside, using a brightly-lighted switch that's easy to see. It's easy to turn on and off, and the illumination catches your attention. We flip that switch when we turn off the air conditioner and get ready to leave.

I'll post pictures in a new thread today.

[rlh1957]

Originally Posted by 5picker

Not if the water heater is in bypass.

Say What?
WH in bypass only means new water isn't flowing into WH like when you are winterizing. And if that water heater is drained with anode rod out, the electric element can still be energized and poof the element is toast.
Maybe i didn't understand your bypassed comment.

[TheWolfPaq82]

Hell the OP bailed after the first post. Brain probably exploded with all this and the Thesis in post 21 completely blew him away.

[Mr. Dan]

It didn't help that the water heater thread switched to refrigerators in post #2.

[seasure1]

Just wanted to thank everyone for their input. Well here is what I have figured out with your help....

I have an electric and LP water heater.

Inside the RV is a switch that operates the LP side.

The Hot Water Heater has its own rocker switch on the lower left hand of the water heater that operates the 110v circuit.

You can let both run at the same time if you want to.

I purchased the RV used from an 79 year old man who basically didn't have a clue.
He ordered it and his wife got sick and couldn't use it. When I purchased it I was still taking the shipping plastic off a lot of items

Thanks to all!!

[CHICKDOE]

do you have all the owners manuals for the various pieces of equipment that are installed? if not contact forest river and see if they can give you the build sheet that lists the model and serial numbers of the equipment installed. then go to the various web sites and download the manuals. you never know when you will need one.

[5picker]

Originally Posted by Dc8mdtmech

To my knowledge, as long as there is pressurized water to the system the hot water bottle has water in it. The only way for the bottle not to have water in it is to take the anode rod out, ie: empty it. It only takes 3-4 seconds to burn up the heating element with a/c 110 power on with an empty bottle.

Originally Posted by 5picker

Not if the water heater is in bypass.

Originally Posted by rlh1957

Say What?
WH in bypass only means new water isn't flowing into WH like when you are winterizing. And if that water heater is drained with anode rod out, the electric element can still be energized and poof the element is toast.
Maybe i didn't understand your bypassed comment.

My reply was in response to Dc8mdtmech's comment that he believed as long as the system is pressurized (paraphrasing) there is water in the water heater. (bottle-his words)

That is simply not true.

With the water heater in bypass, you can pressurize the system till the cows come home and no water will enter the water heater. (bottle-his words)

This is where many get fooled by thinking they know whether there is water in the water heater by simply opening a hot faucet. Again, with the water heater in bypass, water will come out of the hot faucet but it won't be coming from the water heater but rather from the cold supply line, into the hot supply line via the bypass.

That is the entire premise of a water heater bypass... to take the water heater out of the system (nothing enters or exits the tank) but still allows liquid (water or antifreeze when winterizing) to flow out ALL of the faucets.

[5picker]

Originally Posted by seasure1

Just wanted to thank everyone for their input. Well here is what I have figured out with your help....

I have an electric and LP water heater.

Inside the RV is a switch that operates the LP side.

The Hot Water Heater has its own rocker switch on the lower left hand of the water heater that operates the 110v circuit.

You can let both run at the same time if you want to.

I purchased the RV used from an 79 year old man who basically didn't have a clue.
He ordered it and his wife got sick and couldn't use it. When I purchased it I was still taking the shipping plastic off a lot of items

Thanks to all!!

Great news!
Glad you got it sorted out.

OP PROBLEM SOLVED!

Now... if cfo111, who stated their water heater auto switches from electric to LP would post their make/model, I'd love to learn something new today. (see post #33)

[wmtire]

Originally Posted by seasure1

Just wanted to thank everyone for their input. Well here is what I have figured out with your help....

I have an electric and LP water heater.

Inside the RV is a switch that operates the LP side.

The Hot Water Heater has its own rocker switch on the lower left hand of the water heater that operates the 110v circuit.

You can let both run at the same time if you want to.

I purchased the RV used from an 79 year old man who basically didn't have a clue.
He ordered it and his wife got sick and couldn't use it. When I purchased it I was still taking the shipping plastic off a lot of items

Thanks to all!!

Sounds like you got it covered. Good deal.

As you can tell, everyone is eager to try and help.

[Dodge Guy]

Originally Posted by seasure1

Just wanted to thank everyone for their input. Well here is what I have figured out with your help....

I have an electric and LP water heater.

Inside the RV is a switch that operates the LP side.

The Hot Water Heater has its own rocker switch on the lower left hand of the water heater that operates the 110v circuit.

You can let both run at the same time if you want to.

I purchased the RV used from an 79 year old man who basically didn't have a clue.
He ordered it and his wife got sick and couldn't use it. When I purchased it I was still taking the shipping plastic off a lot of items

Thanks to all!!

Thanks for getting back to us! Glad you got it sorted out. Sounds like you got a great deal.
Now just remember how to properly operate both side of the water heater!

[Las Cruces]

Over the years I've heard of a few people the burnt the element out of there water heater. The most command reason was the person bypassed the water heater to winterize the system and then drained the water heater. Yes that's right, in the spring when they flushed the system they forgot to close the bypass. Leaving an empty water heater to heat.

[ddgoins]

On my 2015 Sierra look in the breaker panel box their is a switch. Also Don't forget to turn off when finished.

[WolfPup2018]

Might as well jump in and post the same thing the last 6 pages say.

Inside switch gas
Outside switch electric
Run both or one or the other based on your resource available

[TheWolfPaq82]

Originally Posted by WolfPup2018

Might as well jump in and post the same thing the last 6 pages say.

Inside switch gas
Outside switch electric
Run both or one or the other based on your resource available

yeah....6 pages. Incredible.

[OldGoldwing]

I didn't read all 5 pages of posts, only the first few and last few. Just in case nobody mentioned this, if you are boondocking that means you are not plugging into shorepower, which means, by definition, you cannot have electric water heat. You don't need to turn off the switch on the heater.

Just look on your control panels for a switch that says Water Heater Gas. Some units have 2 switches so you can go with electric or gas. If your unit is like mine there is only one switch and it controls the gas. Very simple. Best of luck!

[Ungechbub66]

I have a 378ts . My water heater switch stays on all the time .Normally with propane on ,it uses that ; however when you turn it off (propane)or it’s shut down because the celanoid on my line detected a leak it automatically switches to electric so you still have hot water if you’re hooked up .

[wmtire]

Originally Posted by Ungechbub66

I have a 378ts . My water heater switch stays on all the time .Normally with propane on ,it uses that ; however when you turn it off (propane)or it’s shut down because the celanoid on my line detected a leak it automatically switches to electric so you still have hot water if you’re hooked up .

If you have a Suburban tank type water heater and you leave the electric and propane/dsi switches BOTH on while connected to shore power, then it usually will ONLY use the propane when you 1. first need to heat the water when establishing camp... or 2. use a bunch of hot water quickly (ie showering) and need recovery.


The electric heating element will usually maintain the heated water when neither of the above apply.


See post #18 above.

[WolfPup2018]

Originally Posted by OldGoldwing

I didn't read all 5 pages of posts, only the first few and last few. Just in case nobody mentioned this, if you are boondocking that means you are not plugging into shorepower, which means, by definition, you cannot have electric water heat. You don't need to turn off the switch on the heater.

Just look on your control panels for a switch that says Water Heater Gas. Some units have 2 switches so you can go with electric or gas. If your unit is like mine there is only one switch and it controls the gas. Very simple. Best of luck!

Yep already said!

[5picker]

As always in these long winded threads, confusion results.

There seems to be confusion about whether a water heater AUTOMATICALLY switches from electric to propane and vice-versa.

They DO NOT.

If you have both sides of the system on (electric and LP) there is no auto-magical switching on/off back and forth between them. Both sides of the system are on, period.

As wmtire mentioned previously, if the system is cold and you have BOTH sides of the system on, then BOTH the LP flame AND the electric element comes on. Same for when you shower or deplete your water tank of hot water, BOTH sides come on to heat the water.

Once the water is hot, and BOTH sides are on, 'usually' the electric element will keep the tank hot enough to where the LP side never comes on... but even so... BOTH sides are still ON! There is no switching off/on. It is simply a matter of the electric element keeping the water hot enough where the LP doesn't have to fire up. If the water gets cold enough, the LP will fire up but it doesn't turn off the electric. It is still on. Having BOTH sides on is often done for quick-recovery.

Having said all that... BOTH sides of the water heater have separate thermostats to control the on/off function of each heat source. They control whether the element fires and/or whether the LP fires (as explained above) dependent on water temperature.

[Mr. Dan]

Originally Posted by TheWolfPaq82

yeah....6 pages. Incredible.

It’s only 2 pages if you set your “Posts per Page” count to max!