Water Heater Help

I have not used the water heater in my PC yet.  I wanted to turn it on today, but couldn't get it to work.  I have the 2 black switches below the sink.  Is up on or off?  I have tried with one up and the other down, but nothing happened.  I tried the reverse and nothing.  Any suggestions?

Jeff

I have not used the water heater in my PC yet.  I wanted to turn it on today, but couldn't get it to work.  I have the 2 black switches below the sink.  Is up on or off?  I have tried with one up and the other down, but nothing happened.  I tried the reverse and nothing.  Any suggestions?

Jeff

Each switch is independent. On my 3100 the left switch is for using electricity, the one on the right is for propane.  They might be marked with a lightening bolt or a flame molded into the plastic.  The red light will not come on unless there is failure.  When turning on the propane, you should here it ignite.  My switches are white. UP is on. I’m currently not far from you in Rockport.

Cheers
Barry T

Make sure your Hot Water Tank (WHT) is full of water before trying it, most especially the first time.  The HWT holds 1/2 gallon of water "After" it is drained.  That 1/2 gallon remains inside to protect the 120V heating element in-case the owner accidentally has the HWT turned on 120V after draining it.

A few years after purchasing our PC, that 120V heating element stopped working.  It might have been my fault.  Back then when storing our PC at home, I used to plug it into a wall outlet to allow the PC's power converter maintain the batteries during the storage period.  I might have accidentally had the HWT switch turned "on" for 120V operation so over time, the element might have burned out due to a lack of enough water for so long of a period.

When replacing the heating element, I had the white plastic drain plug out, then unscrewed and removed the 120V element.  I was shocked to have so much water flowing out from the hole.  It was then that I learned how much water remains inside after draining.

I stopped plugging in our PC into 120V during storage at home after the first 2 years of ownership.  I found that being too hard on the batteries.  Since, I maintain the batteries by charging them every couple of months using an external battery charger.

I share all this in-case you did what I did, thinking like I did back in 2007-2008.

If you're not plugged into shore power check your house batteries. I believe you need 10.5 volts to fire water heater or fridge.

I have not used the water heater in my PC yet.  I wanted to turn it on today, but couldn't get it to work.  I have the 2 black switches below the sink.  Is up on or off?  I have tried with one up and the other down, but nothing happened.  I tried the reverse and nothing.  Any suggestions?

Jeff

I don't know your experience level with RVs so I am giving you full instructions as if you have never done it before. RV's are different than brick and mortar residential living spaces.

One of the switches will have a flame icon on it (right side I believe) the other will have a lightning bolt icon.   The flame icon is propane.  The lightning bolt is 120v electric heater inside the tank.

Pushing the TOP of the rocker switch turns it ON.   Push the bottom of the switch to turn off.

Yes, there must be water in the heater.  The bypass system needs to be set to let cold water in and hot water out.

For 120 v operation, you must be connected to. Shore power or running on the generator.  For propane operation, you must have propane in the saddle tank and the outlet valve MUST be turned on.  The first time you use it, it may take several tries before the air in the propane lines clears out.  You also must have your coach battery connected, Have at least 10.5 volts charge in the batteries and have the battery cutoff switch in the ON position.

All of the above should be covered in your owner's manuals.

Do all 2020 PC's have the Truma Combi, or is that only used in the 2351D?

First question is what hot water tank does the OP have?  Most of us have the standard 6 gallon dual model but I believe some of the newer rigs (2020) are using the on demand Truma one.  Phoenix said at some point that they could not get the standard one due to supply issues so substituted.  Not sure how long that lasted or how many rigs it affected.  OP should check their owners manual to what they have.

One trick to try if this is a start up situation is to light the burner on the stove and make sure you have propane and the lines are clear before trying the HWT.  It is a lot easier to tell if the stove has propane than it is the HWT.

Thanks for all the suggestions.  I have been using propane for the furnace, so I know it is on and flowing.  I have the hot water tank full.  I was plugged in when trying everything.  I checked the breaker and it is on.  When I try each switch up (on) nothing heats up.  I don't hear/see it trying to ignite when gas switch is on.  Absolutely nothing happens.  I disconnected and reconnected each connection on the furnace (one at a time) just to make sure they were connected good.  I just got back home. I'll try it all again.

Jeff

It looks like you are under warranty....call PC. 

That was my next step.  I just wanted to make sure I wasn't overlooking something obvious.

Jeff,

When I picked up my brand new 2552 at Elkhart in 2019, I spent my first night on the courtesy hook-up at the factory to get familiar with the coach--my first RV.  It was quite late when we made the hook-up, and after Pete helped me hook-up, he left--the last one out the door.  I ran to town to get a bite to eat and when I got back, I set about trying out all the various RV systems.

A lot of interesting things happened (or didn't) that night, but one of the things I couldn't get to fire up was the water heater.  We had put water in tank and filled the heater, but despite carefully following instructions in the manual I couldn't get the heater to function on either electric or propane.

I had even more interesting adventures than that which I'll skip here, but when I got through the night and staff showed up the next morning, the tech took a short look at it and quickly ran in to get a replacement control board.  He replaced it in no more than a couple minutes, and the heater immediately fired up on both propane and electric.  He mentioned that the board was a pretty common failure point, and when a new heater wasn't starting up on either source he was pretty sure a replacement board would fix it.  He was right, and I've had no problems with it since.  I've often thought I might add an extra board to my onboard stock of replacement parts, but I haven't.  Based on that experience, the board might be a pretty good bet for the culprit in your situation.

Mike

Would it be to much for a new purchaser of a 150,000 dollar Phoenix Cruiser to ask the company to please test all systems to make sure everything is working properly upon delivery?

Thank you Mike.  It sounds like mine might also be the control board.  I'll check with Phoenix.  Thanks for the info.  Is it easy to replace the control board? 

I would hope they would check everything before they ship the RV.  Maybe the board dies after the check?

Jeff

Jeff,

I don't know whether they checked the unit initially or not.  They didn't mention and I didn't ask.  Seems like a basic function test for all the systems would be standard procedure before scheduling delivery to the new owner.  Pete did the walk-through with me and explained the heater switches, but didn't actually activate it at that time.

Only took the tech a couple of minutes to change out the board.  As best I recall, he pulled something off with a couple of screws, unplugged the old board and plugged in the new one.  The heater immediately fired up.  The change-out being so simple is what made me consider buying a replacement board to keep on hand.  I've never followed-up to check out the cost, but if it's minimal, I still might get one.

Mike

Unless things have changed there is no real "system test", just a walk through mostly to show the owner where switches and things are.  That is one reason they strongly suggest you spend a night locally to check everything out before leaving.  I'm sure a lot of things do get checked out during install by the person installing it but not in any organized fashion.  I think that is standard in the industry.

Unlike a car which is expected to be perfect driving off the lot an RV is more of DIY project as far as testing things are concerned.  And in general this works out OK.  However, it leaves new RV owners in a bad place because they don't always know what all to check.

In our case we tested everything we could think of before heading home.  Except the air conditioning.  And since it was 20 degrees out we never thought of it until we hit Southern California and tried it out.  Nope, no AC.