On the Via the electric water heater element is shared with the microwave but they did not label the microwave breaker to include that information. To prevent the 20 amp circuit from overloading they installed a Automatic Energy Selection (AES) switch behind the breaker panel with the priority load being the microwave, so when the water heater is on and you switch on the microwave the AES automatically cuts power to the water heater till the microwave shuts off. They couldn't provide a separate breaker because for one, the panel is full up, and 2, if it did have it's own breaker this would allow too much current for the 30 amp service if the AC, microwave and water heater were all on at the same time..
If you turn on your water heater and microwave, then stop the microwave and listen by the breaker panel you will hear the AES click after a couple of seconds as it switches power to the water heater.
Funny thing before I knew about the AES we used to switch off the water heater before using the microwave whenever the AC was running, not knowing it was already being done for us automatically.
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Brian
2011 Winnebago Via 25Q on 2010 Sprinter Chassis
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