Please help...I made a newbie mistake...

[gozagswoohoo]

So I bought my first travel trailer about 4 weeks ago. My wife and I have always loved camping. We have 2 small children, which made the idea of a travel trailer that much more exciting.

We bought a 2005 Jayco Jayfeather 27BH. In our first 4 weeks, we've already taken it out 3 times, and LOVE it! When we picked it up from the dealership, they gave us a good walk-through and 'orientation' about how to operate it/hook it up, etc. It was fairly overwhelming, because it was all new to me. I remember one of the important things he told me was to MAKE SURE I didn't turn the electric water heater button on if I had no water hooked up.

Well...last week, as I was getting everything ready to leave the campsite, I disconnected the water supply....emptied all of my tanks, then walked inside the camper to see that the electric water heater button was still on...(had been for probably 4-5 minutes. I hooked it up again this weekend to test it and see if I screwed anything up, and low and behold, I must have because I hooked the water up, turned the water heater on, gave it 90 minutes or so, and had no hot water...


What did I do? And how big of a repair is it....?

Thanks for any help/info...

[mike837go]

If the hot water tank was empty with the electric element on, the electric element overheated. Probably melted and/or internally opened.


If I am not mistaken, the element can be replaced.
If it was in my hands, I'd gain access to the back of the water heater and run a continuity test on the element. Then check for 120VAC delivered to the element. Then change the element, fuse or controller that got blown out.

[DocBrown]

Did you drain the water heater? If not, leaving it on is no big deal, especially only for a few minutes. But that doesn't explain why the water heater isn't working.

Have you tried running it on propane?

[gozagswoohoo]

Originally Posted by mike837go

If the hot water tank was empty with the electric element on, the electric element overheated. Probably melted and/or internally opened.


If I am not mistaken, the element can be replaced.
If it was in my hands, I'd gain access to the back of the water heater and run a continuity test on the element. Then check for 120VAC delivered to the element. Then change the element, fuse or controller that got blown out.

I am HOPING that is what happened (that I burned up the element). If that's all that the damage consists of, I have seen a few YouTube videos showing how to replace the element, and it looks fairly simple...


DocBrown- Not yet. That thought crossed my mind. That may be a good alternative for the time being.

[letigre87]

My 2yr old son withing the first few minutes of us being home flipped ours on for a second or two before I could shut it off, luckily it still works. I then went and shut the breaker off, no more tempting red switches for the destroyer of nice things.

[buddybar]

I would guess it was just an element. If so, not really that expensive, and relatively easy to fix. Some Google searches will probably get that figured out.

Check all of the breakers/fuses, make sure that is OK. Then I would try replacing the element.

[Iraqvet05]

Testing the element should be pretty easy. Remove it and check for continuity with a multimeter.

[Chrislorl]

Does emptying your holding tank empty the hot water heater? I wouldn't think so because there is a separate drain. ?????????

[mike837go]

Originally Posted by Chrislorl

Does emptying your holding tank empty the hot water heater? I wouldn't think so because there is a separate drain. ?????????

Yup separate drains for each tank.

Fresh water, grey water, black water, hot water, low point drains for the fresh water lines.

Some RV's with extra waste tanks have additional drains!

[Griswald One]

My bride has done this twice to me in our old TT's. The heater has a "breaker" (my term is not right but stems from lack of knowledge in the proper term) that is designed to prevent over heating. It will be a wire with a pink plastic tube around the sensor. In all likelyhood all you need to do is replace that. You can buy it at most if not all RV parts suppliers. They go frequently enough that they are sold in two packs, I always travelled with a spare on board.

[Jagiven]

YouTube is wonderful.

I recommend labeling the breaker in the converter box, then flip the breaker for the water heater off when it is dry. It will not guarantee it will not get burnt up again. But should help.

[Griswald One]

Had a chance to research my earlier post. The part I mentioned is the Thermal Cut Off (Per Atwood's site). This is a single use fuse that is designed to blow if the Temperature exceeds 190, which will easily occur in the situation you described.

The fuse is inside your water heater. Access it from outside and you will see the pink tube surrounding the fuse and wires connecting to two points. It is very easy to remove and instal a new one. As I recall it was fairly easy to tell upon inspection that it was blown.

And as I mentioned... They sell them in two's so you will be all set when it happens the next time.

[Macrosill]

Originally Posted by gozagswoohoo

So I bought my first travel trailer about 4 weeks ago. My wife and I have always loved camping. We have 2 small children, which made the idea of a travel trailer that much more exciting.

We bought a 2005 Jayco Jayfeather 27BH. In our first 4 weeks, we've already taken it out 3 times, and LOVE it! When we picked it up from the dealership, they gave us a good walk-through and 'orientation' about how to operate it/hook it up, etc. It was fairly overwhelming, because it was all new to me. I remember one of the important things he told me was to MAKE SURE I didn't turn the electric water heater button on if I had no water hooked up.

Well...last week, as I was getting everything ready to leave the campsite, I disconnected the water supply....emptied all of my tanks, then walked inside the camper to see that the electric water heater button was still on...(had been for probably 4-5 minutes. I hooked it up again this weekend to test it and see if I screwed anything up, and low and behold, I must have because I hooked the water up, turned the water heater on, gave it 90 minutes or so, and had no hot water...


What did I do? And how big of a repair is it....?

Thanks for any help/info...

When you empied all the tanks does that include draining the water heater itself? If not I suspect something is going on other than a burned up element.

[gozagswoohoo]

Macrosil- Unfortunately...yes...I had emptied it. *Slaps self in forehead*






And thanks for all the info guys! Huge help. And GriswalkOne, I'm going to look into this first thing when I get home! That would sure simplify things if that's all it was. Thanks.

[Jagiven]

Did a google search to determine where and what the thermal fuse looked like. Very easy to get to and replace.

I do know that I do not want to burnup the electric heating element as it appears to be a real challenge to replace on my unit as it is located on the back of the unit, near the bypass valves, in a top only access cabinet and there is not much room to work.

Here are a few images from the web, showing details.

[gozagswoohoo]

UPDATE: So, I decided to try and replace the heating element before replacing the thermal cut-off, mostly because I had already purchased the heating element weeks ago...

First off, it was a PAIN to get the old element out. I'm pretty sure Andre the Giant and the Incredible Hulk were the last ones to install and tighten the old one. It was also not much fun getting it out because I could only access it from inside the travel trailer, under the bunk bed. Most of the tutorial videos I saw online showed the heating element beautifully located and accessible from the outside (right there at the panel!). NOT MINE! So, finally got it out, put the new one in, PUT WATER IN IT, THEN switched the electric water heat on. BAM. Hot water.


Oh, and PS- Thanks Jagiven for the pics in your last post. It wasn't until I saw that, that I realized my heating element was in the BACK of my tank. That was a huge help.


I was so thrilled. I am pretty sure I screamed like a girl and started jumping and clapping when I felt the hot water. haha. We are leaving in 5 hours to go on a 3 day camping trip...so it was excellent timing to finally get it worked out...


Thanks everyone for your tips/thoughts/help.