I knew not to turn on the electric to the water heater without verifying water flow. I actually knew this before RVing. So, we picked up our new home and once we got to our main-stay campground, I verified water in the system and turned on the water heater.
I was pretty disappointed when there was no hot water after about 30 minutes, but I just chalked it up to a lack of familiarity of a 12 gal water heater (not sure why they don't install 16 gal, there's plenty of room). So, after a couple hours I thought it was working, but it turns out that was just due to the hot weather. So, for the night we used propane to have warm showers, actually, hot showers. The heater works very well.
The next day it dawned on me that there was another switch in the water heater panel. I turned it on and assumed I was just an idiot. I turned the gas off and the next morning there was plenty of hot water. For lunch, still hot water. When I got home from work my wife informed me that there was in fact, no hot water. I must say, the insulation on the heater works quite well to keep it hot for over half a day.
So, for the remainder of the week, we used propane. I assumed that some jackass had turned it on at the dealership and burned out the element. It's an easy fix and costs about $7 at Lowe's. But, given my engineering background, I wanted to find the problem first.
I got a operation manual from Surbaban with ease. They emailed it right to me and took less than a day. After verifying the interior switch truly had power to all connections, off to the outside panel I went. I first checked the suspected element. 10 ohms, right where it should be. Now, I was less optimistic. So, I turned everything back on and no power to the element. Ok...next suspect is the reset switch. No power!? Well, there's only one thing between the reset and the interior switch, another switch. I popped it off and checked...no power!?!?
At this point I was pretty pissed. I had forgotten about something else between the reset and the interior switch...wire. My first thought was that it was wired and someone put a screw through the wiring. Then I thought about it more. I figured some idiot just didn't hook it up. Well crap, how am I going to get to this problem. Of course there's not much information in the owners manual on how to access the water heater (or the pumps, or really how to operate anything, no schematics, nothing!) And, since we're full timing, taking it to a shop would be a major pain in the ass and leave us homeless.
I happened to notice a panel in the pass through storage. So, the next day was Saturday and I would give it a look in the morning since the heat here in Tennessee has been unbearable by 10:00am...actually it's unbearable all night. It's almost 10:00pm and it's still 94 with the heat index well above 100.
Next morning, I opened up the access panel and the first thing I saw...EXPOSED WIRES!!! It was marked with tape about 10 inches from the end. I immediately knew I found the problem. I hooked up the volt meter to the exposed end and had Katie turn on the circuit to verify. Sure enough, 120 VAC, that was the problem. I then saw the wires from the water heater, stripped and ready for hook up. If only someone had actually done that.
Fortunately, I spent a few years as an electrician and was able to properly correct the problem fairly quickly. I did have to drill a hole through a wall of the shore connection trunk to get access to the j-box screw. A handhole would be a great thing to put in order to access the heater j-box. There's plenty of room and I may put one in sometime in the future. The other option would have been to disconnect the gas, pull out the water heater, connect it, then reinstall. If I ever pull out the water heater, a 16 gal is going back in it's place. 16 gal only require an additional 1.5 inches and there's about 4 inches available.
Needless to say, I'm pretty disgusted with the QA at the Cyclone factory. Add to that window borders that were not secured to the wall and a couple trim pieces that were not attached. Neither are as dangerous as exposed wires floating around waiting to short out, but luckily, no one was hurt!
I say to the Cyclone factory, you better watch your work and should probably step up the QA. I hope I don't find more problems this serious.
Regardless, I still love this rig and would recommend a Cyclone to a friend. I would just tell them not to take ownership until the water heater was tested.
-Steve
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