How to wire hot water heater

[Jana052277]

Hello I am new to travel trailers and have a 2002 Salem lite but they swapped out the water heater to a sw6de and never wired up the ac side for electric. Where can I get ac power from to connect the electric portion?

[Mr. Dan]

Are you saying the original was propane only? I ask because if the original was electric/propane, there should be a 110v AC outlet nearby. Otherwise, you'll have to add one and I'm dropping out now - since I can't recommend how to add a circuit to your existing breaker panel.

[5picker]

Most units today have a separate feed from the breaker box.
While you might piggyback onto another circuit I would caution that route.

Water heaters can draw 8-12 amps so a dedicated circuit is best.

[wmtire]

Originally Posted by 5picker

Most units today have a separate feed from the breaker box.
While you might piggyback onto another circuit I would caution that route.

Water heaters can draw 8-12 amps so a dedicated circuit is best.

X2. The SW6DE usually comes with a 1440 watt heating element stock. That translates to 12 amps. So you need a dedicated 15 amp circuit to power up the water heater element.



If there is not a dedicated circuit already in place (you may luck out and there is one), accessable behind the water heater, you may have to run one directly to the electrical distribution panel for this, as you can see in the pics below this dedicated circuit. Look at your panel to see if you already have a circuit breaker for this.