# Hot Water Heater



## NobleEagle (Jul 8, 2006)

After reading a few posts here, I was thinking about how other people do it. We only turn on the water heater about 15-30 minutes prior to needing the hot water. But I was wondering if anyone leaves the heater on and if so, how long? Do you turn it on during setup? Can it do damage if it is left on too long? What options do I have within the guidelines of being safe and not burning out the element or heater?


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## z-family (Oct 2, 2004)




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## Camping Fan (Dec 18, 2005)

I usually run my hot water heater on propane, and fire it up as soon as I have water in the hot water tank. Then I just leave it on for the entire trip, and turn it off when I'm breaking camp.


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## Oregon_Camper (Sep 13, 2004)

I leave the gas on all the time. I hear it fire up every now and then, but only for a few mintues. Figure a few gallons of propane I "waste" each year is worth the hassle of turning on/off during the trip.


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## hpapa4 (Apr 11, 2007)

I also fire up both the electric and propane when I get hooked up and leave it on until I am ready to leave.


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## LarryTheOutback (Jun 15, 2005)

When plugged in, we keep the water heater turned on during the day. When we start cooking (i.e. well before dishes are done) or are soon to take a shower we turn it on gas AND electric.

When dry camping, we follow the gas-only part above, but turn on the gas a bit earlier than when plugged in.

Ed


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## sleecjr (Mar 24, 2006)

run it on electric. All the time when plugged in.


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## W4DRR (May 17, 2005)

We usually run ours on electric all the time. When taking showers, we leave the electric on and kick in the propane also. The only exception to this was this summer at St Joseph Peninsula State Park in Florida. The line voltage was so low, running the hot water on electric pulled the voltage down to an unacceptable level, making the AC compressor struggle. So then we ran it on propane, but then only when needed like showers, washing dishes, etc.

Bob


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## skippershe (May 22, 2006)

We leave the electric on most of the time when hooked up...sometimes we'll just flip on the switch about 30 minutes before taking showers.

Didn't even need to turn the heater on while we were in Zion, those cool showers were mahvelous!!


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## MaeJae (May 12, 2005)

We run it on electric. Turn it on as soon as we are plugged in!
We leave it on except if we leave the campground, like a 
day trip or if we will be at the beach all day.

MaeJae


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## Eagleeyes (Aug 1, 2007)

NobleEagle said:


> After reading a few posts here, I was thinking about how other people do it. We only turn on the water heater about 15-30 minutes prior to needing the hot water. But I was wondering if anyone leaves the heater on and if so, how long? Do you turn it on during setup? Can it do damage if it is left on too long? What options do I have within the guidelines of being safe and not burning out the element or heater?


We used to run it on electric for the whole camping trip, but we experienced some excess condensation in that corner of the rv. Now we just turn it on an hour or so prior to needing the hot water, still using the electric.

Gas firing worked our first season, but not later on....don't know what was going on, and I was going to fix it. But we are upgrading, so it won't matter.

Bob


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## Nathan (Jan 2, 2007)

When we are not hooked up to water, we only have ours on when the pump is turned on (don't want to risk a leak that lets the heater drain). That is basically whenever we are around the trailer (but off at night also). When at full hookups, I just leave it on electric


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## wtscl (May 22, 2007)

When we get camp set up, I turn the ELEC on (unless it's late and we need showers soon, then I turn on both GAS and ELEC). I turn it off before we go to bed, then back on in the morning. While in the shower, I have both GAS and ELEC on to give it a little boost. If we go out for the day, I turn it off. I guess I'm just not comfortable having it on while not there. With GAS and ELEC on, it heats up pretty fast. Plus, our last time out, I noticed that it holds heat VERY WELL. I had it turned off all night, and there was still warm water in there.

I'm sure everyone has their own opinion, so it's a personal choice.


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## RizFam (Feb 25, 2006)

sleecjr said:


> run it on electric. All the time when plugged in.


Same here.


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## Swany (Mar 2, 2006)

When plugged in to shore power I run it all of the time. Sometimes when our current draw becomes high (m-wave, appliances etc) I will shut it off for a bit or turn on the gas. Other than that it is on all of the time.


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## Sayonara (Jul 23, 2007)

Good question here. One i was thinking about as well. Is the benifit of running it on bothe gas and electric faster heat up? last trip on gas, i took a shower and a half hour later my wife took one and said the water was cold shortly after she started.

Also, what about the switch in the heater for electric? do you leave that on all of the time or only when on electric? Do you shut it off when you break camp?


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## Nathan (Jan 2, 2007)

dpthomasjr said:


> Good question here. One i was thinking about as well. Is the benifit of running it on bothe gas and electric faster heat up? last trip on gas, i took a shower and a half hour later my wife took one and said the water was cold shortly after she started.
> 
> Also, what about the switch in the heater for electric? do you leave that on all of the time or only when on electric? Do you shut it off when you break camp?


During the PDI at Holman they told me to use both sources at once for faster heatup. Of course he also said the roof was a walk-on (we had 3 of us up there during the PDI!!!)









I always make sure the wall switch is off when I don't want to run it.


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## tdvffjohn (Mar 10, 2005)

Electric always on......also turn on propane if needing quick recovery for numerous showers at once, but for one or two, never ran out.

If I need to use the microwave and hw heater and ac is on, I turn off the hw heater and put ac on low so I do not blow a breaker.

This past weekend, I was on a 20 amp breaker, so I left the ac on low all weekend and used the hw heater on propane only. I did notice that the water is hotter on propane than electric. Bumping the knob in the shower gets a quicker reaction









John


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## Sayonara (Jul 23, 2007)

Do you leave the switch in the actual heater itself on all of the time? Or do you turn that off too at breakdown?


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## tdvffjohn (Mar 10, 2005)

Most time, I just leave it on. I always make sure breaker is off when plugging in and off before unplugging, so I see no harm in leaving on. This is assuming you are travelling and camping. Its off when camper not in use at home.


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## E9E1CEF (Mar 1, 2007)

Now that I have both electric and gas I use the electric side. Turn it on when we need it, then turn it off when the water is hot. When we only had gas I would get the water hot and then keep it warm by using the pilot light only. Worked for us, the only time we needed hot water was for washing dishes, took showers at the camp facilities.
CEF


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## gone campin (Jan 29, 2006)

sleecjr said:


> run it on electric. All the time when plugged in.


Same here.

Linda


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## Bill H (Nov 25, 2006)

I leave it on electric and gas all the time. The gas will fire up during showers and if washing dishes. Electric keeps it up to temp the rest of the time. I have never had a problem with tripping breakers and never been w/o hot water.


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