Jbiclove Report post Posted July 19, 2023 Hello, I just became a member of FMCA after meeting a very nice couple who recommended I join while vacationing in or 5th wheel down at Carrabelle Beach, FL. I’m new to RVing and bought a used 2013 Montana Mountaineer. We love it, but it’s been a learning curve to say the least. We took it on its first long voyage, making our way from Virginia to Florida and back, stopping multiple times over these last 18 days. Everything worked great, except now the hot water tank on electric setting is only getting Luke warm. This happened about mid trip so I have been running on propane until I got home. Any recommendations on where to start?, if it was my house, I would immediately replace the elements, but now that I have this RV, it seems that it could be a multitude of things. Thanks for any help or experience you can share. Jason. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
dons2346 Report post Posted July 19, 2023 (edited) Welcome to the family. A couple of things to check: If you have an outside shower, make sure both the hot and cold valves are turned off. If you have a winterization kit, make sure the valves are in the correct position. On the water heater circuit board, remove all the electrical connectors and reconnect Edited July 19, 2023 by dons2346 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
wildebill308 Report post Posted July 19, 2023 Jason, welcome to the forum. Yes it sounds like the electrical heating element is not working as it should. Most of those water heaters you can change the element. My experience is the electric element takes quite a while on good shore power to heat a tank of water. You said you were trawling so could your usage exceeded the recovery time on electric? Let us know what you find out. Bill Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
rayin Report post Posted July 19, 2023 (edited) The 120VAC heating element is just a huge resistor actually. Replacements are universal, nothing RV-specific, 2 versions are made, buy the same length. I bought my last one from Menards. Which brand and model of WH? There are 2 brands Atwood and Dometic, each has several different models. One brand uses only one thermostat for both electric and LP, the other has once for each heating source. You can download the service manual, and all your appliance service manuals from:: https://myrvworks.com/manuals/ Edited July 19, 2023 by rayin Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Jbiclove Report post Posted July 22, 2023 Thanks for all of your replies. It turns out that one of the wires shorted out and was burned clean through, right at one of the connections. It looks like the wire was rubbing against the edge of a sheet metal shield that it was touching and over time, finally grounded itself out. I replaced the connector and used heat shrink for an extra layer of protection and then zip tied the wires away from the shielding. Water is nice and hot now. Hopefully this never happens again. thanks again for the help. Jason Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
