Rockwood water heater question

[wmtire]

Originally Posted by SweetOleBill

OK, to be sure with the outside switch off and the inside on = no hot water.

With both on then = electric hot water

So I can control the electric hot water by turning the inside switch on or off - correct? (Meaning there is no need to ever turn the outside switch off except as a safety if the tank is empty?)

This is correct, Bill. For the Suburban DEL model, you must have Both (the inside and outside) electric switches on for the electric heating element to be on. You can just leave the outside switch in the on position (which you push in where the switch has the letters ON).... then control the On/OFF function for the electric heating element with the inside switch.

If either the inside or outside electric heating element switches are OFF, then the electric heating element does not come on.

Now Suburban makes another model water heater that is just the DE version (no L in the model name). This model has ONLY the switch on the outside for turning the electric heating element on/off. This has been the more common version of Suburban water heater installed in Forest River products, but we are seeing more and more of the DEL version (that has the inside and outside electric switches) as of late.

The link I posted in post #2 of this thread will help you even though it is more oriented towards the DE model. I do state in that tutorial you could possibly have an inside electric heating element switch in addition to the outside electric switch (which is in reference to the DEL model).

It may be time to go ahead and update that thread with more info on the DEL model Suburban since we are seeing more of them being installed on Forest River products.

Anyhow, let us know how it all goes, when you turn on both electric switches (make sure you have water in the heater though as explained in the tutorial link in post #2).

EDIT: Here are some other discussions previously on the Suburban DEL model that may help everyone following:

http://www.forestriverforums.com/for...ml#post1169026

and this one shows the wiring differences between the DE and DEL models which isn't just a whole lot. The DEL model utilizes an inside 12 volt DC switch that in turn controls a 12/120 volt relay to send power to the outside 120 volt AC switch.

http://www.forestriverforums.com/for...ml#post1152872