Wiring dilemma in replacement Suburban sw6de water heater...

[Capt.Tony]

In the process off swapping out an old(6years) Suburban water heater on my Keystone RV, i have a problem.  On the new WH i have a junction box and have made that connection black to black and white to white.  No problem.  Now this WH is both electric and gas. Honestly have never used the electric, because i could never find the switch and gas was easier anyway.  There are 3 more wire from the heater that should connect to 3 wires from the Fifth wheel. Now here is the issue....... On the WH the wires are Green, Blue and red.  From the 5th wheel there are RED, White and orange w a white stripe......  I tried Keystone they said contact a dealer,  dealer said contact suburban,,,  etc,    Can any one offer any information on this??      Thanks  in advance.......   

 

[Capt.Tony]

  Can anyone help with this ?

 

[dabrooks]

I would try to contact Suburban and give them both model numbers and I would think the could tell which wires are which. There should be a support number in the manual for the new heater.

 

[Capt.Tony]

Thanks DABROOKS...... 

 

[robertusa123]

Do the instructions have a wire diagram.  And is their a wire sirgram on the old unit we can compare

 

[Capt.Tony]

The replacement unit DOES have a wire diagram,  The problem Robertusa123 is that the RV wires colors do not match those on the w\h  . In fact , i dont think i,ve ever seen some of these colored wires.... Orange/stripes, .  The RV Mfgr will not talk to me. They said that i should calll a dealer.  I did that... The Dealer told me to call the water heater mfgr ( suburban )    Suburban says their unit is complete, the fact that the wires i,m connecting do not match, is NOT their  problem.          At this point i,m temped to just attach any color to any color.....i have a 50/50 chance of being wrong.....But  i,m hoping for someone else who has had this situation to chime in an offer up a solution.... 

 

[Gary RV_Wizard]

The color of the wires in any 12v system is pretty much random and should be ignored. There are no standards for wire color in 12v like there are for 120vac.

There should be electrical designations for each Suburban 12v wire, i.e. 12v+ from switch, 12v- (ground), and  12v+ to the switch light.  You may have to do some detective work to figure out the similar designations of the trailer wires, but some time with a meter should determine what each wire does (hot, negative/ground, light).

You ought to be able to ask the trailer manufacturer what each wire does, but he probably can't/won't tell you which heater wire to connect them to. And vice versa if you ask Suburban. They don't now the other guys wiring and won't take a chance guessing.

So what is the new heater and what do its instructions say?  The Suburban manuals I can find online show Red, Black & Green wires, not the colors you described.

 

[Capt.Tony]

Hi Gary rvroamer    The new suburban has red, blue and green like i stated in my original post, also the black and white 120 power wires.  I will try to trace the 12v as soon as i get a tester today.  The trailer mfgr told me straight out they could not help, to call a dealer....and then the circle keeps on turning. As you ststed Suburban they don't know how the 5er was wired.    i 'll eventually get it done.

 

[yolo]

The Red Wire is 12 Volts from the switch that turns on the water heater on gas.
The Green Wire is Ground.
The Blue Wire carries a Ground when the "Light" Switch is depressed.
You will need to find out which wires that you have do what.  A multi meter is an essential tool for working around an RV.

 

[Capt.Tony]

Thanks YOLO

 

[Capt.Tony]

Ok , So, Now i have purchased a Multi Meter and made the final connections.  So i test it out and low and behold i have SPARK.....  No Ignition.  Any suggestions other than make sure the gas is on??  Thanks.   

 

[Gary RV_Wizard]

Spark + LP + air is all it takes to ignite. The position of the spark electrode is critical, though. As is a smooth flow of the gas/air mixture.

 

[Vicmeg]

Capt.tony how did you end up connecting your wires?? I am having the same dilemma you had.