Suburban SW6DE runs out of hot water in 80 seconds

[Rene T]

Have sw6dea hot water system on van when I pull Pressure relief valve the water is hot steam coming from water coming out P/valve can’t put your hand under water it’s to hot, but yet the water in taps and showers are Luke warm put new anode and pulled electric Element gave it clean no corrosion on element and gave tank cleaner out seems to be bit hotter not by much though any thoughts cheers

Welcome to the forum. Could you please start another post with your issue. This post is 10 years old and the circumstances may be completely different than yours. Give us as much detail as possible. Thanks.

 

[Gary RV_Wizard]

There are a couple things to check:

1. Make sure the heater winterizing valve is fully closed (not bypassing the heater).
2. If the wintering bypass is the single valve or 2-valve design, there will be a check valve at the heater exit pipe. Make sure the check valve is working freely. Usually best just to replace it, since they tend to get gummed up with mineral salts after some years of use (time depends on the water mineral content).
3. Are all the faucets delivering the same temperature or are some hotter than others? Single lever faucets in particular may be mixing more cold with the hot than expected. The problem can be a clogged mixing valve in the faucet. One way to check is to disconnect the hot water tube at the faucet (make sure pressure is off!) and measure the water temperature there. Or just run hot tap only for a few minutes and feel the hot water tubing under the sink.
4. What is the cold water temperature? If less than about 52 the heater may be struggling to reheat the incoming cold water.

 

[Kirk]

To add a few questions, is this a new to you RV and has it worked as expected in the past but now doesn't get hot enough? Check the things suggested by Gary and if you aren't sure about the winterizing vlave it is pboably behind the water heater similar to this picture.