Water Heater

[JRSactoGuy]

Hello. I have a question regarding the water heater on my new Jayco Jay Feather 165. It holds 6 gallons of water. My question is if I run out of water will the water heater know this or will it keep going and possibly do damage? It runs on gas only and I have to light it if I want to use it. Thanks in advance for everyones help.

 

[Gary B]

Water Heater

Hi JRSactoGuy, welcome to the forum , I take it you are asking about if your using the fresh water tank as the water supply and it goes empty, then yes the way the water heater is plumbed it is impossible to pump it dry so there is always water in it unless you open the drain valve. But if you know your out of water (and you'll know the pump will keep running) its best to turn the pump and the water heater off. Good luck and have fun. :laugh: :bleh: :approve:

 

[Poppa]

Water Heater

Gary is right , you can't pump it dry, but of your water system goes down whether it be lack of water from the pump or city service, the heating element will in fact boil the water out over a period of time and do damage to the unit and possibly cause a smoking situation :dead: . This is one of the reasoms you ALWAYS make sure the heater is turned off first thing on breaking camp .

 

[Kirk]

Water Heater

While Poppa is correct, it actually takes quite a long time for that to happen. It would probably mean at least a day, probably longer. So the key is that if you are running on the water tank, you do need to shut off the water heater as soon as you discover that you are out of water. And you also need to turn it off if you shut off the city water when using it. But much more likely to cause you harm when your tank runs dry is the water pump. When there is no water in the tank, the pump will just run and run until it quits. The pumps will not be harmed by running out of water immediately either, but they will be damaged if allowed to run dry for hours. I got to replace mine shortly after we got our new motorhome from such a case.