Hot water heater not working

[bulletbob]

My son in law asked if I could look at his hot water heater. He said when he would turn it on, the fault light would come on but the hot water heater would not work.
When I looked at the water heater you could see rust and white crust around the heating element. See attached pic. What would cause this. Would it be as simple as replacing the element?

[halfprice]

That's looks like the anode not heating element. That should be changed at least once a year

The heating is accessed behind the heater not from the outside door

Jerry

[16ACE27]

The fault light comes on when the water heater doesn't light on propane and heat the water within a specified time period. It has nothing to do with the electric heating element which, as Jerry said is not what you are looking at, and may not even exist on your water heater.

[Lt Keefer]

Try turning on a couple of burners on the stove. After a few minutes try turning on the water heater. Sometimes, air gets trapped in the propane line leading to the water heater and the fault detector shuts it down before the air is purged.

[bulletbob]

Thanks to all of you for your replies. I was wrong in calling it a”heating element,” it is powered by propane only. The trailer is only 6 months old,and I wasn’t sure the anode should be covered with rust and crusted over like this. It has only been used once or twice kept in covered storage.Due to newness of unit, he contacted the dealer only to be told he could bring it in in April for assessment. And God only knows when to expect it if repairs needed. He is military and scheduled to PCS in 2 months. We will try lighting the stove tomorrow and then try to light the heater. Thanks again for the help.

[bulletbob]

Follow up to my earlier post. We lit stove and let it run while trying water heater. Same thing, fault light came on immediately. Checked to insure had voltage at water heater, we did. Removed anode, still had over 1/2 usable. Flushed water heater, reset anode,refilled with water and water heater fired up. Don’t know what exactly caused it to work but it does.

Thank you halfprice, 16ACE27, and Lt Keefer! We do appreciate your assistance!