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RE: 2005 Safari Simba Hot Water heater 120 volt Electric
Got it fixed. It was a bad water heater element and bad 12 volt relay. Want to say more but this site says improper formatting, whatever that means.
It means this site will never, ever fix that problem ;)
Glad you got it fixed!
It actually work a bit too well. Just ran the faucet on cold water for a bit and the water that came out was on the warm side. After i let the water run for a bit it cooled down to normal cold/cool water temp. This has me wondering if it's the powerful 1440 watt heater element that they installed?
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Rhalium
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11/11/23 12:03am |
Tech Issues
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RE: 2005 Safari Simba Hot Water heater 120 volt Electric
Got it fixed. It was a bad water heater element and bad 12 volt relay. Want to say more but this site says improper formatting, whatever that means.
Update: figured it out, it was me putting brackets for use as parentheses. here's what I meant to post.
All-right everyone, the rv repair shop said 100% it was a bad Atwood Water Heayer Electric Element and a bad 12 volt relay. He said something about the switch on the control panel, I think he had to do something to it. Maybe turn it upside-down? He said that because there was no water in the tank, then with the switch apparently being in the opposite position in the "off" position with the faint red glowing light that that may have been what was causing the element inside the water heater tank to burn out. Then again, because this is motorhome is new-to-me and has had what seems like more than a few owners, then it's likely that someone else in the ownership line before me might have burned up the water heater element.
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Rhalium
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11/10/23 10:41pm |
Tech Issues
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RE: 2005 Safari Simba Hot Water heater 120 volt Electric
Last, you may have a problem removing the 120 element. It looks like the shelf behind the Water Heater is slightly higher than the back of the water Heater. IF that is the case, you will have to remove all the mount screws on the outside to lift the Water Heater up a few inches to get the 120 element out. Doug
Yeah, actually was watching a YouTube video about that today. The guy said he made a watery mess in all those tight spaces.
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Rhalium
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10/16/23 09:19pm |
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RE: 2005 Safari Simba Hot Water heater 120 volt Electric
OK, BOTH inside switches are 12 volt. NONE is 120 volt. Behind that rear black box is the 12 volt activated relay that turns the Black wire of the 120 wires ON to the 120 element. The YELLOW wire on the outside at the Ignition control module is what is HOT (12 volt) from the 120 red lighted switch in the RV. Inside that black cover are 3 parts.
1. 120 element
2. 120 12 volt activated relay
3. 120 volt water tstat.
The element comes out from behind and is about 12 inches long. Doug
PS. That yellow wire is butt connected to a red going into the black box
Ok I see what you are talking about now. the yellow wire on the outside of the hot water heater tank (viewing from inside the motorhome, underneath the kitchen sink) the yellow wire goes into the red wire.
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Rhalium
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10/16/23 09:17pm |
Tech Issues
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RE: 2005 Safari Simba Hot Water heater 120 volt Electric
Thanks all for the tips and advice. It sounds like this water heater element project is going to be at least more than an hour job? I have an appointment at a local rv place to get this fixed here in a few days. So I might just end up letting them do this job, especially since I don't know what I'm doing and I don't want to make a mess of water down there in all those tight places.
I still need to take a volt meter to this thing and see if I am getting any volts.
Also someone here said to unscrew the control panel where all the switches are (for the slide-outs, etc) I don't know if I'd wanna do that cause there is a lot of delicate components behind there.
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Rhalium
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10/16/23 09:03pm |
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RE: 2005 Safari Simba Hot Water heater 120 volt Electric
Today, I went to the bedroom ofthe motorhome where all the breakers and fuses are. I had someone watch the control panel where the 2 switches are for the water heater on propane and electric. I turned the breaker for the water heater off then back on. The faint red light on the 120 volt heater switch remained on throughout this process.
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Rhalium
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10/16/23 05:14pm |
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RE: 2005 Safari Simba Hot Water heater 120 volt Electric
can the water heater work just fine on propane, yet still not work on 120 volt electric solely cause of the "element" located inside the hot water heater tank? in other words, the hot water will work fine on propane, but not work on electric cause of a bad element?
Certainly.
If the propane-side is working fine (12 VDC, good propane supply, thermocouple good, etc) all is good on propane.
If 120 VAC is not powering the heating element, it will not work. Could be issue with shore power, breaker, fuse in water heater PC board or burned out 120 VAC heating element-- will not work.
Basically two "mostly" unrelated heating sources. PC board being the point in common.
Thx. The common thread in all of this seems to be the heating element that is located inside the hot water tank. I know that I have a voltmeter and that I can use it to test the heating element, is that right? More than likely it is the heating element as that is what seems to be the common thread. Now, I need to see about shutting off the bypass valve to the hot water tank and then draining the tank itself. Then to replace the element, is that how you do it?
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Rhalium
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10/16/23 03:09pm |
Tech Issues
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RE: 2005 Safari Simba Hot Water heater 120 volt Electric
can the water heater work just fine on propane, yet still not work on 120 volt electric solely cause of the "element" located inside the hot water heater tank? in other words, the hot water will work fine on propane, but not work on electric cause of a bad element?
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Rhalium
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10/16/23 01:58pm |
Tech Issues
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RE: 2005 Safari Simba Hot Water heater 120 volt Electric
https://imgur.com/a/F1fH0QQThat is an Atwood. The Tstat and electric element are behind that black plastic box. Odds are from how old the W/H is, the element has burned out. Doug
https://imgur.com/a/F1fH0QQ
here are the pictures of thr water heater from the outside.
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Rhalium
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10/16/23 11:16am |
Tech Issues
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RE: 2005 Safari Simba Hot Water heater 120 volt Electric
My wolf pup also has a goofy single plug outlet near the water heater that the water heater plugs into under the front bed behind a filler panel. The only switch for electric is on the exterior of the heater.
If the indicator light is lit, even dimly, and goes out when you move the switch up to the on position, might your switch be mounted upside down? And operate the opposite of what you thought?
yeah, that's how it was on my old 2000 Komfort 23T travel trailer, one needed to flip the switch on the water heater access panel on the outside of the panel.
yeah I thought that it too might be upside down. but I doubt it since that would be kind of weird. I'll check the water heater access panel on the outside.
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Rhalium
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10/16/23 10:49am |
Tech Issues
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RE: 2005 Safari Simba Hot Water heater 120 volt Electric
That is an Atwood. The Tstat and electric element are behind that black plastic box. Odds are from how old the W/H is, the element has burned out. Doug
so to fix that. just gotta go to the outside of the motorhome to the water heater access panel and se what I can do out there?
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Rhalium
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10/16/23 10:29am |
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RE: 2005 Safari Simba Hot Water heater 120 volt Electric
https://imgur.com/a/9lGXd1FAn electric water heater element should be on a dedicated 110V breaker.
An electric water heater element should be hard wired directly from the breaker to the junction box on the water heater.
Here's how you described your wiring: "there is an electrical cord that is plugged into the outlet where the water heater tank is located. we tested that the electrical outlet works by plugging a phone charger into it".
This is NOT how a water heater element should be wired.
https://imgur.com/a/9lGXd1F
here are the pictures. the water heater is located under the kitchen sink and as you can see it has an electrical cord going to a single outlet.
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Rhalium
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10/16/23 12:11am |
Tech Issues
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RE: 2005 Safari Simba Hot Water heater 120 volt Electric
An electric water heater element should be on a dedicated 110V breaker.
An electric water heater element should be hard wired directly from the breaker to the junction box on the water heater.
Here's how you described your wiring: "there is an electrical cord that is plugged into the outlet where the water heater tank is located. we tested that the electrical outlet works by plugging a phone charger into it".
This is NOT how a water heater element should be wired.
I'll take some pictures and upload them for you.
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Rhalium
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10/15/23 09:46pm |
Tech Issues
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RE: 2005 Safari Simba Hot Water heater 120 volt Electric
First question - What kind of water heater do you have?
This link was just the first one I found, but I don't know if it's the brand of water heater that you have. If it's not, search for a DIY video for your brand. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xu9EqCPmLOk
As mentioned already, if you are not comfortable working with 110V power, then you need to find someone that does know how to work on live voltages.
And last, never turn the 110V water heater switch to the on position if you do not have water in the heater.
there is water in the water heater tank as we have used it a little since getting it on propane and the water is hot when using it on that method. the water heater "bypass" valve is also turned to normal so that water is indeed flowing into the water heater tank. there is an electrical cord that is plugged into the outlet where the water heater tank is located. we tested that the electrical outlet works by plugging a phone charger into it.
I will check out your link here shortly.
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Rhalium
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10/15/23 08:18pm |
Tech Issues
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RE: 2005 Safari Simba Hot Water heater 120 volt Electric
Check the AC voltage at the heater, if OK relplace the heater. Other wise trace back to where you have voltage to isolate the problem.
Be safe - If you're not trained on AC hire a mobile tech.
How do i do this "check the AC voltage at the heater?"
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Rhalium
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10/15/23 05:46pm |
Tech Issues
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2005 Safari Simba Hot Water heater 120 volt Electric
This topic has been moved to another forum.
You can read it here: 30411545
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Rhalium
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10/15/23 03:53pm |
Forum Posting Help and Support
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2005 Safari Simba Hot Water heater 120 volt Electric
https://imgur.com/a/lx6WYkcHello,
Recently got a new-to-me 2005 Safari Simba Motorhome 30 ft with the vortec 8100.
The hot water heater works fine on propane, however on the electric hot water heater switch on the panel right next to it, where the switch is in the "off" position there is a faint red light. However when the electric hot water heater switch is then flipped up into "the on" Position the light then goes away completely and the hot water heater on electric doesn't appear to work at all.
I've checked the fuses in the bedroom of the motorhome and they both seem to be fine.
here are some images of the control panel
https://imgur.com/a/lx6WYkc
Does anyone know why the hot water heater on electric is not working? The motorhome is hooked up to shore power.
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Rhalium
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10/15/23 03:53pm |
Tech Issues
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