[BusNit]

My ceramic tankage heater is dead. It is a Rival ceramic heater. Does anyone know what wattage it is? I found a 500watt non T-stat amazon brand that I can wire to the existing thermostat in the compartment.

[Rixson]

So interestingly, mine came on randomly a little while ago, and I'm not sure what controls being on or off, And it's not that its cold, where we are so seems odd..   
Anyway, I am curious what you learned on this particular topic, as you worked on your coach.

[bikestuff]

Ron,
I am not sure how your coach is wired….but on 653 (2003) there were two knobs on the drivers side water bay. One black one that was tucked into the ceiling, and one normal looking thermostat mounted on the wall. The black one controlled the fan on the Aquahot heater mounted above the fresh water tank. The thermostat controlled the ceramic heater which was mounted above the Aquahot.

Look and see if you can trace the power wires that feed the heater.

Newell replaced the ceramic heater and the mounting was simply placing rivets through the bottom of the heater to attach it to a bracket. In other words, you dont need a special heater…just one that works.

Ps. The new one had a thermostat built into it. I just set it to the lowest temperature and then used thermostat mounted above the water pump.

Bill

[Tf175]

I replaced mine with a King 1500 watt heater . Used the original driver's side location and run it off the thermostat mounted on the passenger side near the water heater .
Has been working fine since 2017 .

[Rixson]

Okay, that all makes sense is the only intent of this heater to keep the bay warm in cold temperatures, or is there another purpose that i'm not thinking of?

Like, I have a odor control switch for something but I have no idea what it it actually does? Lol.

Thanks, guys. I will look for the mentioned artifacts and see if I see anything matching.

[Jack Houpe]

1500 watts is most common on the shelf but make sure you don't have it too close to something that can combust or melt. Ron that is the only intent is to keep water lines and water related items from freezing. Walmart had some 375 watt heaters on the shelf and I thought would be just about right to keep the bay warm enough not to freeze, a cold snap came through Pensacola and they were gone in a blink of an eye.

[Richard]

Back in the day, Newell installed an odor control system that worked by sending electrical current at low voltage into two probes in the waste tank. If you put salt in the tank, the electrical current would disassociate the NaCl into Sodium and Chlorine. Obviously the Chlorine helped to negate the bacteria.

I don’t know how well it worked, Newell abandoned by the mid nineties.