suburban water heater

[wmtire]

Originally Posted by bobothewizard

So looking at the schematic it doesnt seem as complicated as i thought. It really is only a positive and negative wire broken by a switch on the negative

Bobothewizard, not sure here what schematic you are looking at or I guess switch. If you are talking about the switch to the electric heating element on the Suburban, this switch has no negative wire. The blk wire is 120 volt hot, as this is 120 volt AC house wiring......not 12 volt DC automotive. Please do not confuse them.



The switch just breaks power/continuity on the 120 volt hot leg/line....then the same line goes to/thru the ECO hi-limit/thermostat...then the same line to the electric heating element.

Because you do not have a neutral or ground wire connected to either the switch or the Emergency Cut Off Reset/thermostat...then when you are using you multimeter to test, you have to place the multimeters negative probe on a ground somewhere to test for voltage. You will not be able to place one probe on one terminal of the switch and the other probe on the other terminal...since you are testing voltage and have to have either a ground or neutral to do such.

Same applies to testing the ECO/thermostat too.

Hold on and I will get you another thread I explained this in to help.

[KyDan]

Originally Posted by Brewhedd

Darn, I don't know why I would bother to use a $100.00 Fluke Multimeter when Harbor Freight has them for $6.

I have both as well.
The HF free meter (with coupon) works! IF someone just needs to check
voltage present or continuity the HF will work.

If you are trying to check battery charge level where you need accuracy
down to 1/10 of a volt then the Fluke is probably better.
The Fluke is definitely more rugged. Mine is mine safe so it's water proof and explosion proof. Or so they claim. I'm not going to toss it in the pool to find out!

Now back to the water heater discussion.....

[wmtire]

Here is the thread I was looking for to help explain how to test the switch and/or hi-limit/thermostat. You can read from this post forward as it may help in solving your problem. This member originally was not checking voltage correctly using his multi-meter, but it got all fixed up.

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

Also this site may help, and has links to using a multimeter:

RV Electric

We also keep a pretty detailed Suburban water heater operational FAQ here, including schematics:

http://www.forestriverforums.com/for...tml#post327988

[wmtire]

Here is also a pic of the Suburban resettable ECO hi-limit/thermostats that are under the rubber covers. The one on the left is to the 120 volt AC electric element. You may notice that the small thin fusible link (to the far left) is burned out between the hi-limit and thermostat sides (thus will need replacing as it will not allow 120 volts to flow thru to the element now). This happens fairly common if the electric heating element burns up.

You can see this situation visibly, without using a multimeter. However, if the hi-limit or the thermostat is bad, you still have to check with the multimeter.

[bobothewizard]

wmtire, awesome. Thank you, i am reading those threads now. I can even see i was pushing the wrong reset button, i was hitting the one on the right.

[bobothewizard]

Installed a new thermostat this past weekend and all is good. I cant thank you guys enough, you all were a tremendous help!

[wmtire]

Originally Posted by bobothewizard

Installed a new thermostat this past weekend and all is good. I cant thank you guys enough, you all were a tremendous help!

Excellent, and thanks for letting us know the final outcome. It may help others in the future who are searching for the answers to similar problems.

[bobothewizard]

Easier to resurrect an old thread but does anyone know what size socket fits the anode bolt to drain the tank for winterization?

[wmtire]

inch and 1/16th ( 1 and 1/16th)----- and use a six point socket so as not to round the edges off the anode.

EDIT: This thread in the FAQ section may help also:

http://www.forestriverforums.com/for...val-38708.html