sealand water heater breaker

[Gary Wolfer]

I cannot find a 120v breaker for the seaward water heater. The water heater switch under the counter on my 1998 Patriot shows no power No service panel breakers are kicked. I am plugged into shore power 50 amp service. I have no hot water. My hurricane heater has needed purged for quite some time so I have not used it. The water heater has continued to work til yesterday. The water heater switch under the counter does not look like solid copper but instead looks like 14 gage 12v wire at the switch. I cannot get the cover off the front of the seaward to reset the high limit switch I sure could use some help.

[Edward Buker]

Gary,

Is there a way to get at any 120V connection that feed the heater. It is hard to know if you do not have 120V feeding it or the thermostat or heating element has failed.

I would try and reset all the 120V breakers, they can be tripped with the handle in the on position. Storage bay may have another breaker box also to reset each breaker on. Not a whole lot of help here without you getting some wire connection access.

Later Ed

[Gary Wolfer]

Update I had to buy a new one and I talked to a tech who said the same thing It probably is a heating element. It does have two red wires coming from under a cover on the front of the water heater that connect to a hot buzz bar at the bottom of the Hurricane control panel. They are small gage wires like maybe 12 or 14 gage He said they are 120V according to the diagram he was looking at. Before I got to talk to him I had already purchased an anode so I figured I might as well change it out and clean out the tank. Unfortunately when I lossened the old anode it snapped just behind the threads. I tried to drill the magnesium anode and easy out it but it did not work. That is why I ordered another one. It is supposed to be here Tuesday so hopefully it will just be plug and play. I assume the water heater was still full of water because it was still coming out of the tap just cold. Always things happen on weekends. Thanks and good to hear from you hope things have been good for you.

[Gerald Farris]

Gary,
You need to check for 120 volt current to the water heater before just replacing it with a new heater. There is a possibility that you have a bad heating element, but it is just as likely that you have a problem elsewhere causing no 120 volt power to the heater. If you take a volt meter and diagnose the problem before you start throwing parts at it, you will save a lot of money and frustration. 

Gerald

[Gary Wolfer]

Gerald I unfortunately have to add a new hot water heater anyway I failed to change the anode and it deteriorated in the tank I have had problems with my Hurricane heater last winter and had to put a water pump in it and was unable to purge the bubbles out of it so It is inoperable for now. I took the seaward water heater anode out to see if the tank was full of water and if it was I would try the reset button under the front cover. When I tried to take the anode out the threaded plug broke off leaving the anode stuck in the hole and it did not leak. I tried to drill and tap the magnesium anode but it was froze so I had no choice but to replace the water heater. I ordered it friday( problems always occur on the weekend.) It came today so tomorrow I will put the new one in. There are only two power wires from the seaward both are red and go to a hot bus inside the Hurricane control panel. I have no idea where they go from the panel. I have no wiring diagram for that part of the hurricane system. I will test the old heating element when I take the old one out hopefully it will have an open. and I will be able to plug and play. I held tight on everything til the new water heater got here so I at least have cold water. Been boiling water for two days fortunately My son lives in a local rv park and we have been able to shower at his Safari. Thanks for both of you guys I appreciate it. I probably will disappear around here soon as my membership runs out. I can afford the dues but never use the other club so It is a waste of money to me to rejoin that club just to be able to use this site. I am living on a fixed income now.

[Gary Wolfer]

I installed the Seaward Hot water heater in myu 98 Patriot today and unfortunately it would not heat water. Gerald you were right. If anyone can tell me where the 120 cable comes from I would appreciate the help. It comes down thru the top of the outdoor cabinet with a white, black and ground in house wiring 12-2 cable. I am not sure where it is coming from. Also the switch and power light inside the coach under the counter top along with the water pump switch and power on light for it. Neither of the power on lamps light up but the pump has power. I disconnected both sides of the switch and checked voltage by putting the red wire of my multimeter on the red wire on the up side of the switch and the black lead to the other wire which is white on the other side of the switch and shows .3 Not good with a multimeter but that tells me there is no power to the switch. I am not sure what is upstream from there. I see no circuit breakers that are kicked either in the main panel in the bedroom or the two 30 amp breakers after the inverter. I have no wiring diagram for the water heater it is mounted in the same outside box as the hurricane heater.

[Edward Buker]

Gary,

I do not think that the water heater would ever be fed from the inverter circuit so the feed must originate from the main breaker panel. Start by pulling the cover and measure each breaker output side to neutral or ground to assure all circuits are working and have 120V output. A breaker can fail internally and have no output so you need to measure it to be sure. While there with the 120V coach feed off you can check tighten all the breaker output wire screws and the ground and neutral lugs as a check.

The wiring at the heater switch will tell you something about what is going on. If it is a standard 120V type wall switch in a box using Romex then it will probably feed the heating element directly. If it is single wires and 120V then I think they would be in flexible conduit and color coded black, white, and green wires per the NEC codes. If not and it is a lighter wire and switch, and not housed in a junction box then it is a low voltage control for a relay that is probably housed somewhere in the compartment with the heater. Look for a covered box or some small panel with a cover. I am using logic here and sometimes Beaver builds were not always logical....

The other possibility is that the heater is wired into a circuit that has a GFI outlet on it before it reaches the heater and that could be tripped or defective now, especially if the old heating element failed in a way that brought shorting current to neutral or ground as opposed to being an open. Try and reset all the GFIs in the coach and if one of the buttons seems stuck or will not reset pull it and check it out.

Last but not least, call BCS, ask Ken Carpenter who the electrical guy is and see if he will pass you through. They must have some idea how this circuit would be controlled if a low voltage on off circuit was involved and where that is housed. Hope this helps.

Later Ed

[Gary Wolfer]

Thanks Ed. The switch has a light beside it that is supposed to light up when the switch is on. (it does not light up) There is a switch for the water pump in the same panel with a light as well. Neither light shows up and appear not to have any power. They are not in a box just connected to the panel cover appear to be 12v there are one red wire connected to each of the lights that are supposed to come on when the switches are turned on. I have two gfci switches one at the end of the kitchen cabinet and runs all the plug ins on the kitchen counter . I have another in the bathroom. I see nothing else that goes off if I push the button off and on but the button does turn off and on that plug. I also have two plug ins without a gfci under the counter that say gfci protected outlet. Under the coach in a bin the hurricane heater and control panel are on the bottom and the control panel on a side wall then there is a shelf with the seaward water heater. There are two red wires that go from a switch that is glued to the side of the water heater tank and two wires go to the control panel for the hurricane. It must measure temperature of the water heater tank by touching it. The power wire comes thru the roof of the bin and is romex white 110 12-2 with one white one black and ground wire. I connected them to the black white and green wires like was the same as the old unit. No other wires go into the water heater so I assume it is powered thru the romex wire but I cannot see where it goes. from your post I will check tomorrow if the bedroom 110 50 amp panel and check the power on the breakers there. They have not kicked on the switch. on the panel the 50 amp breaker is top left below that is the front then rear air conditioners on the other (right side top) is refer below that is pass recepticles below that is the inverter converter and bottom right is washer dryer and radiant heat. I have taken out the splendite washer dryer that failed but the plug in that space is still hot. Radiant heat must be the Hurricane It turns on but will not stay lit . Kevin Lampbert from Itr said it needed the antifreeze side of the hurricane needs purged but my attempt has failed. The water on the engine antifreeze side is moving by the pump that pushes water thru the hurricane.

[Edward Buker]

Gary,

The switch appears to be 12V control for a stand alone 120V relay that feeds the heater or it is a control for a switching arrangement built into a circuit board that has the same function. The glued arrangement would be a temperature sensor that seems to be integrated back to the hurricane controls. You mentioned two more wires from the hurricane to the water heater, what do they connect to at the water heater end?

Going back to the inside 12V switch, you said 12V on one side of the switch, when you flip the switch, 12V to the other side can be measured to know that is working? If the light is wired to the switch output and 12V appears to be there then the bulb would be bad. If the light has two wires and they do not connect to the switch but are remotely fed back by the control circuit then it is telling you that the control circuit is not working.

The Hurricane folks must work on these and should have some good insight on how the control and wiring for the Seaward is integrated, maybe even where the 120V relay or control circuit might be in a Beaver like yours. The folks at BCS should also know, worth calling these two resources if it is not clear where it is. You can confirm all breakers are passing 120V and then focus on sorting out this control circuit with BCS and or the Hurricane folks.

Later Ed

[Gary Wolfer]

Hi Ed My Brother and I finally traced down the problem. The breakers were all good in the main panel We twisted the white and black wires from the front of the Water Heater and plugged them into an extension cord from an outside source and the water heater started working. We went back into the bedroom and I was standing next to the bed looking directly at the main breaker panel and my brother was standing on the bed and the doors over the main breaker were open. The bottom breaker on the right side said washer and dryer and radiant heat. My brother asked me what is this switch in the cabinet next to the Breaker panel and I said what switch I did not know what he was talking about. I could not see a switch standing by the bed. I looked and the switch was clearly marked Radiant heat and it was off. I turned the switch on and the water heater started working like it was supposed to. I had slid two plastic bins in that cabinet last week and inadvertently turned that switch off and that is why I had no power to the water heater. I could not see it standing beside the bed and did not know it existed. I had not changed the anode in the water heater since I have had it and it had corroded so bad that it would not come out and twisted off at the threads anyway so the anode was stuck inside the tank and I new I had to replace the tank anyway. Bottom line it is now working fine now and I appreciate your help as well as Geralds. Hope this thread will help someone else down the road.