Hot water heater not working

Kstehle · 08-14-2012, 06:37 PM

I just purchased a 18' sunline with a non working hot water heater. After looking it over I discovered 3 wires not connected to anything. Blue, Brown and green. I also do not see how this unit turns on. The valve has no knob to turn on or pilot button to hold. I assume the wires go to a switch of some sort but can't find it or a location where a switch would have been mounted. Do any of you have suggestions on how to connect the wires in a way that might start the water heater? I would like to connect the wires manually just to see if the heater will start. Thanks,

**JohnB** · 08-14-2012, 07:44 PM

Hi Kstehle,

Welcome to Sunline Owners Club and congrats on your new Sunline!

Now to the hot water heater. We can try and help but we need some more to go on as to what you actually have. The heaters have changed over the years.

See if you can provide this info or if you can't find it, let us know that too and we can help point you here to find it.

Do you know the year and model of the camper?

We do not know if the heater is the orignal that came with the camper? We need the make, model and serial number of the HW heater? The make if original will most likley be Attwood.

Any chance you can post a few pictures of the heater showing the entire area behind the outside fold down cover, then a close up of the wires that are off and what they may be heading towards?

Hope this helps

John

Kstehle · 08-16-2012, 06:59 PM

It is an Attwood. Trailer is a 1988. I will try and get some pics for you tomorrow. I did notice today that the two inlet and outlet lines have been disconnected from the tank and tied together. I touched the brown and blue wires together just to see if anything would happen and nothing. Did not check for voltage yet. Took out the bath tub today due to a leaky drain and can't get underneath to work. May just leave the tub out and replace with a larger sink to wash hair and such. Wife keeps telling me to get rid of it and buy newer. Only problem I see with that is a lot of newer ones (in the 90's) have much more water damage than this one. Thanks,

**JohnB** · 08-16-2012, 08:23 PM

The HW heater is unhooked on the pipes... that may be a sign!

Do you have and air compressor? the tank may be cracked. Filling the tank with 10 to 15 psi of air will tell real quick if it is water tight. If no compressor, look under the bottom with a mirror if you can. A tank split from freezing some times bellows out the tank and you can see it.

Good luck

John

Kstehle · 09-15-2012, 12:19 PM

Well, I pulled the unit, pressure tested, reinstalled. I purchased a switch with plate and connected wires per drawings. Walla, hot water. It ended up not being the original H2O heater. It was a Suburban instead of the Atwood. Wiring was the same. Don't know why it was disconnected except that maybe the guy just gave up on the installation. I had to reroute the water lines just to get the heater tank to fit properly.
Fixed the hot water than discovered the pilot on my furnance wouldn't stay on. Found the pilot gas line pinched. After being told the parts can't be purchased, I bought a coupler and cut out the kink. Now that works. Next project will be to find a good used gas/electric refrigerator. For now, I'll just use my good old green Colman cooler. Off to some fall camping if I can get the time off from work. Thanks for everything.

EMD_Driver · 09-15-2012, 08:55 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kstehle

Don't know why it was disconnected except that maybe the guy just gave up on the installation. I had to reroute the water lines just to get the heater tank to fit properly.

Another possibility, is that may also be how they winterized the unit. I have seen winterization kits, that simply connect the inlet and outlet lines together. That will truly bypass the WH!

WASA 1500 · 09-16-2012, 08:58 AM

Well done, winterized sounds likley,
MAKE SURE you use a little dish soap and water on any gas connection you touch!!!!!
the lp line Must be under pressure, pilot line only has lp in it as you hold down button! NO LEAKS = NO BOOMS!

Kstehle · 09-26-2012, 03:54 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by EMD_Driver

Another possibility, is that may also be how they winterized the unit. I have seen winterization kits, that simply connect the inlet and outlet lines together. That will truly bypass the WH!

This did have a winterization kit installed but was not in use. The input and output lines were tied together and the winterization kit was on the tank with nothing connected. I think the person that bought the Hot water tank just didn't want to be bothered installing once he/she discovered it didn't fit quite right. Spend last weekend in NH and 1/2 day in Maine looking for Moose. 4 great days but no Moose. Oh well.

Kstehle · 09-26-2012, 03:56 PM

Thanks for the tip on soap and water checking the LP line. Did that when I installed the coupler and seems to be fine.