Hot water heater working again

Last week was our first trip of the season. Motored out to the beautiful Oregon coast and parked at the campground. Full hookup and beautiful weather. Since we always have a full hookup we use the electric element only to heat the water. For the first two days, water was very hot. Third day the water heater ceased working on electric. Since we had hot water for the first two days, I ruled out not having water in the heater before turning it on and burning out the element. When the propane was turned on, we had hot water again. However, needed to have this attended to. Upon our return I took the Pod to Camping World and they diagnosed our problem as a defective hot water thermostat. I happened to review the documents that came with the trailer and noted that the Suburban hot water heater has a two year warranty. Camping World replaced the thermostat under warranty and we are ready for our next trip. Saved almost $200. Lessons learned. Always review all the documents for all the subsystems on our Pods before heading to the repair shop. The tech mentioned that he had recently run into a number of defective thermostats on Suburban water heaters. Additionally, he recommended not using the switch outside, but to use the circuit breaker inside to control the water heater when on shore power. If you find this happening to you, check your warranty before heading off to have a repair done. Additionally, to have it done under warranty the shop must be a certified warranty station for the item to be fixed. Also reviewed a number of videos on YouTube pertaining to water heater maintenance. Hope to see many of you in Sept. Safe Travels.

From day one I have always used the breaker inside to turn on and off the water heater for the electric mode, it was just easier than using the switch on the heater outside. Glade to hear that you were able to get it fixed at little cost. Goose

I use both!   Just to make sure it doesn't get flipped on with no water and burn up....

Yes, it will work fine.

Maybe someone can enlighten me. This is my first camper with a water heater. What exactly is the switch next to the water heater and what is the one on the monitor panel that is labeled water heater? How do I know if LPG, 120 or 12V is what the heater is using? Thanks.