SW6DE Suburban Water Heater

[Dlangston]

Can anyone help. We recently purchased a camper with a 6 gallon water heater. The water heater is electric/gas. The manufacture recommends that you get wet, stop the shower at the shower head, lather, turn the water on at the shower head to rinse. The question I have is in our previous camper we had a dometic GC6AA10E water heater and didn’t have to do this. Both myself and my wife could shower with about a 5 minute break in between with barely losing any hot water. However, we tried it in our new camper and she couldn’t even get a shower without the water completely running out. Both water heaters are 6 gallons so I’m not sure what is causing the difference. Any help is appreciated. I checked everything that was recommended on other posts i.e. (outside shower is off, the bypass on the water heater, and both electric and gas are working as I checked them separately). Also as a note this is with both the electric and gas on to try to refresh it faster.

[SeaDog]

Listing your rig year and model will help to get the best answers. It may be that your shower head is just flowing to much water. give some consideration to changing it out to something like the oxygenics body spa I use one in my rig.

[kenandterry]

Originally Posted by Dlangston

Can anyone help. We recently purchased a camper with a 6 gallon water heater. The water heater is electric/gas. The manufacture recommends that you get wet, stop the shower at the shower head, lather, turn the water on at the shower head to rinse. The question I have is in our previous camper we had a dometic GC6AA10E water heater and didn’t have to do this. Both myself and my wife could shower with about a 5 minute break in between with barely losing any hot water. However, we tried it in our new camper and she couldn’t even get a shower without the water completely running out. Both water heaters are 6 gallons so I’m not sure what is causing the difference. Any help is appreciated. I checked everything that was recommended on other posts i.e. (outside shower is off, the bypass on the water heater, and both electric and gas are working as I checked them separately). Also as a note this is with both the electric and gas on to try to refresh it faster.

.....”couldn’t even get a shower without the water completely running out.”

That statement sounds like you’re running out of water completely, when I think you’re saying you run out of hot water.

Oxygenics shower head units will conserve the amount of water you use.
Just sayin’......like SeaDog.

[KKonyha]

Running the propane and electric at the same time will get a much faster recovery. Gas is a much higher btu than the electric side.

[Dlangston]

My unit is a 2021 Wildwood Heritage Glen 310bhi. Thank you for your help.

[NavyLCDR]

It might have a lower temperature thermostat installed than your last water heater, or the thermostat may be defective.
130 degrees and 140 degrees are the two standards. You might want to monitor the water heater and as soon as you hear the gas shut off, measure the temperature of the hot water with a thermometer.

[TitanMike]

Might want to see if the "restrictor" orifice is installed where shower wand hose connects to the faucet block. Remove hose and look at inside of threaded portion.
There should be a plastic par with a SMALL hole in it that restricts shower flow to less than 2 GPM. I had mine fall out when I had the hose off and without it in place you can get far more water flowing than necessary.

Something to check.

[Larry-NC]

Was your other heater a tankless heater? They heat the water as it flows through the pipe, and effectively never run out.

Your Suburban SW6DE, the most common water heater, is a 6-gallon hot water heater. Unless you use a low-flow shower head or take Navy showers, it doesn't take long to empty it.

A Navy shower works like this,

• Turn on water
• Briefly get wet and get washcloth wet
• Turn off water
• Soap up and scrub
• Briefly turn on water and rinse off
• Turn off water

It's named that because the technique originated on Navy ships.

No reason to run the water while you're standing outside the stream soaping and scrubbing.

[jjuscg]

I don't think your expectations are too high. We have a 6 gal suburban and we are both able to shower within a short period. I DO go first and take a semi-navy shower, but my wife can have a good shower after me. We did get an Oxigenics shower head which gave better results and I would follow up on other prior suggestions about thermostat temp and flow restrictors. We do turn on both gas and electric at bedtime, but only then.

[mfMcFroggierPod]

Test your water temperature and response time of thermostats. Remove electric element and test/check it’s condition. Clean/flush the tank. Also check anode rod for condition while you are at it. Have you checked the propane psi - inches of water column.
Use caution testing!

[5picker]

I agree with checking the water temperature (both in and out) and see what you have.

We currently have the same 6 gallon water heater (except ours has an electric switch inside) and both of us can take a shower back to back without doing Navy showers and not run out of hot water when using both heat sources. Mind you, these are NOT 30 minute showers, just regular R/V showering.

Be cautious of those saying get an Oxgenics shower head to save water. I had one that the specs showed it actually flowed MORE water than the factory shower head.

[Larry-NC]

Originally Posted by mfMcFroggierPod

Test your water temperature and response time of thermostats. Remove electric element and test/check it’s condition. Clean/flush the tank. Also check anode rod for condition while you are at it. Have you checked the propane psi - inches of water column.
Use caution testing!

The element is a simple structure. It only has three states:

1. Normal
2. Failed-open circuit
3. Failed-short circuit.

If the water is heating at all, it is in state 1.

If one was really uncertain about the state of the element, it is much simpler to remove power, remove one power lead from the element and measure its resistance, specified to be 10 ohms.

Just curious: how would you "check the response time of the thermostat?"

[mfMcFroggierPod]

Response Time: turn hot water on, how long does it take before heating activates. I have noted poor contact between tank and thermostats.
Regarding element, I thought mention was made of buying as a used camper. What was the actual service history. Tank not being cleaned, element buried in a sediment/calcium bed with will alter heating capability.

[mfMcFroggierPod]

[mfMcFroggierPod]

Element still tests good, I don’t think it heats to good.

[mhbraun]

Put the element (not the electrical contacts) into a delimer or into an acid (vinagre) solution. If you use vinagre, do not dissolve with water. Take your time. May take over night or longer. This will eliminate the lime and protect the heating element and bring back the heating capacity.

[NavyLCDR]

Dlangston posted they had both LP gas and electric turned on to the water heater.