Another Question: Water Heater Switches

Well now that you friendly folks have helped me figure out the unlabeled outside light switch:  

When you turn on the switch inside and the red light comes on, your propane has ignited and is now heating your water.  Hopefully before doing this you have purged air out of your HW tank, make sure it is full and your valves are set for summer use, not for winterization.

The rocker switch on the outside, when turned on, will heat your water with 120, shoreline power only.  If you set it to off, the only way it will heat is if you turn your switch inside to on, so that the propane will be used, it is not an auto thing, you have to set the switch accordingly as to whether you want to use electric (outside switch) or propane (inside switch).

Some who want to get hot water the fastest way will turn both on, (assuming you are hooked up to 120) so that both work together in tandem, and your recharge time will be shortened.  For us, we usually boondock so we use propane.  For the times we do have electricity I turn the inside switch off and the outside switch on, I figured I payed for it, may well use their electricity instead of my propane.  Safe travels Jim.

Just a few points to add to jato's summary.

1. The gas and electric sides are totally independent. The switches do not interact at all.
   
2. Running on gas and electric simultaneously is perfectly alright. It will cut the recovery time roughly in half.
3. On gas the red light will stay on only until the burner lights. It will then go out but the heater is still heating until the water is hot. If it does not go out it means the WH is not lighting. Usually out of propane or air in the lines.
   
4. Do not ever run on shore power unless you're sure the WH is full of water. The electric element will burn out within a few minutes.
   
5. There is little reason the turn off the outside switch but if you want to inhibit electric operation while plugged in you can turn off the circuit breaker in the power distribution panel in the converter. You may want to do this if you're going to leave the camper for an extended (days) time. The one exception is if you want to run the microwave and A/C or space heater at the same time. The 30A service will generally support two large devices but not three.
   
6. An instruction manual for the Suburban SW6DE is available on line.
   

Originally posted by devro Thanks CharlieM! That was some short, sweet and very useful information. I believe I'll print that out and put it in the POD book I'm assembling. JIM

Before you put too much effort into that, you may want to look at the manual that techntrk has already assembled (http://www.rpod-owners.com/forum_posts.asp?TID=1723). He doesn't have the same exact R-pod, but there is a lot of overlap.