Hot water heaters... any Experience??

[roperteacher]

Hey there! I ahve a Living quarters horse trailer. I may need to switch out my hot water heater. Seems like it is a pretty basic install... The only thing I am unsure of is the wiring. . I have the Suburban 6 gal that has the auto Start, Propane only. How difficult is it to change these out???

 

[HBarlow]

In a word, easy. The only challenge may be using a putty knife to remove the RV caulk seal between the face flange of the water heater and the side of your trailer. The wiring is easy. It's 12 vdc. I don't remember if it is two wires ie one hot and one return or if it is one wire only. If it is two simply label the wires and connection points. Are you sure you need to replace the water heater? The parts are all replaceable and not expensive.



Oops. On reread I remembered you may have a 115 volt AC electric heater element in it also. That is also easy. Being AC it doesn't matter which wire is connected to which terminal but normally it is a simple plug in.



Harvey

 

[clem]

The hard part might be getting to the water lines,but not impossible someone put it in there. The control boards are only about $100. 00 there is not much to your tank everything is right there in front when you open the door.

 

[PKozlowski]

It is cake. I did mine last September. Took about 15-20 minutes.

EASY!

 

[CCBrady]

Roperteacher

Before you get carried away and spend money and time that you don't have to, why do you think you need a new hot water tank? If it's not leaking then it is easyer and cheaper to fix it than it is to replace it.

Sense I can't check it for you, if you tell us what it is doing or not doing maybe I can tell you if it is the board or something else that is your problem.

Chris

 

[roperteacher]

OK, here is what I have noticed. THe unit works perfectly. In my trailer, the unit sits on top of two man made wooden pieces like a CRADLE of sorts to keep the tank level and facing streight out to the side of the trailer. I noticed here a while back that the front piece of wood has some moisture on it... I felt around and could not feel any wetness only visually saw it on the wooden cradle. . Hope this makes sense. I guess I could take a picture. . So it has to be seeping from the bottom, but not enough to run out or make a mess, just soak a little part of the wood cradle it is sitting on. . Thanks for the help!

 

[CCBrady]

Ok, what it sounds like to me is that the seal around the tank face on the side of the trailer maybe breaking down. What you need to do is remove the access door, which is easy to do, then clean off the old seal around the face, then clean the area with thinner or other good cleaner and then reseal with silicone all the way around the tank face.

Unless you let the tank freeze, most tanks will last longer than the trailer does.

Hope this helps, and let us know if this fixes your problem or not.

Chris