# Hot Water Heater... Won't Shut Off!



## koobly (Aug 11, 2016)

Hi All,

Looking for someone who's maybe been through this or at least had to trouble shoot heater electrical for some tips.

Hot water heater (electric) crapped out end of last season. Gas works very well, so finished off season on that, figured I'd pop in new element this year.

Checking the element with my voltage meter shows 117 on one side only. If it was working, should get voltage on both sides, so all good so far, it's the element, easy peasy fix.... or so I thought.

Because when I flipped off the switch in the heater, I STILL get 117 volts. Huh. Bad switch I supposed. Then I flipped off the lighted control switch on the main interior panel inside the trailer.... STILL get 117 volts.

OK.... I'm seeing how the element got fried. Switches are off, element still gets juice. If trailer gets plugged in, even with both switches off and there's no water in the heater... Poof. There goes the element. So THAT made sense.

So.... Unlplugged at main. New element installed, water heater filled. Plugged back in at main. sure enough, we got hot water. The thermostat seems capable of switching off the heater when it gets hot, and it DIDN'T trip the overheat button, so theres that on the good side.

Except, I sure would like to be able to turn off my heater with the switches as intended.

I can't get my head around why BOTH would be an issue. Anyone with an idea of where to start? I'm comfortable checking voltage with the meter anywhere that might be suggested, but not so much at reading a wiring schematic. So looking for most likely place to start.

No voltage leaking into the heater frame, btw, or into trailer frame.

Also, feel like it was the white that was the hot wire, which is the opposite of what I'd expected when testing them.

Ideas & opinions welcome.

THanks!


----------



## koobly (Aug 11, 2016)

Lol.. That's probably a good place to start. It's a suburban dual electric/gas. Came in the 2011 230RS. The labels are so curled over and crusty, I can't get a model number very easily.


----------



## Dhdb2 (Jul 13, 2017)

I went through a very similar issue 2 years ago. Ended being the Service Switch. The switch would heat up, and stop working. It also felt "soft/mushy" when pushing the rocker switch. Didn't have a nice snap to it....


----------

