Water heater: propane vs electric?

[LLMRPh]

Poll question: do you use the electric water heater in your hot water tank ... or the propane heater? I've actually never used the electric because the dealer and others told me the propane is much faster and hotter. But I'm wondering others' experiences. Maybe I'm wasting my propane for no reason. Appreciate any thoughts! Thanks!!

[ramsquatch]

I have them both on. That’s faster.

[uhduh camping]

We always try for electric when at campgrounds. Why should I have to buy propane? Now that being said, we have 50 amp so if we are at 30 amp site we use propane as to not trip breakers. If taking back to back showers we will turn on both gas and propane.

[Skyliner]

My 120VAC to my hot water heater is disconnected and I run propane only because ther are no 30 amp hookups where I camp.

[ramsquatch]

If I am correct ( big if) it should only use very little propane unless showering?

[ramsquatch]

With both on.

[BandJCarm]

Electric 99.5% of the time. Two long showers doesn't deplete it. Propane almost never needed.

[Mr. Dan]

Originally Posted by BandJCarm

Electric 99.5% of the time. Two long showers doesn't deplete it. Propane almost never needed.

X2

[wmtire]

Originally Posted by uhduh camping

so if we are at 30 amp site we use propane as to not trip breakers. If taking back to back showers we will turn on both gas and propane.

A water heating element typically is around the 1440 watt range, which draws 12 amps on 120 volts. This is 40% of 30 amps.

Down here in the hot south, during summer camping and with the air-conditioner working hard, I always use propane only, or I trip circuit breakers a lot if using electric.

As others have stated, it doesn't use much propane at all.

This link may help as it goes over the things I just described above, as well as the recovery rates of the electric heating element and propane, as far as a Suburban brand is concerned:

http://www.forestriverforums.com/for...ore-36197.html

[Thurman]

I turn on the electric when setting up the TT. Just before myself, sweet thing, and three g'son's start getting showers I turn on the gas. At bedtime I turn off the gas.

[5picker]

Originally Posted by Thurman

I turn on the electric when setting up the TT. Just before myself, sweet thing, and three g'son's start getting showers I turn on the gas. At bedtime I turn off the gas.

This is pretty much us.
120v if we have hook-ups and propane goes on once the showering starts. When the showers are complete, the propane gets turned off.

[LLMRPh]

Thanks, all! I did not know I could have both gas and electric on at the same time! Interesting. We have a 30A TT so I also didn't know the heater draws 12A which would be an issue with AC or other high amp appliances. We tend to use electric space heaters in cool weather instead of propane for heat but I'm not sure the draw on those.

[wmtire]

Originally Posted by LLMRPh

We tend to use electric space heaters in cool weather instead of propane for heat but I'm not sure the draw on those.

Easy to figure out if you know the wattage of an appliance. It's a formula RV'ers benefit from knowing and applying.

Watts= voltage X amps

Example using the water heating element

1440 watts = 120 volts X 12 amps

A 1500 watt space heater or hair dryer for example would be

1500 watts = 120 volts X 12.5 amps

-----------------------------------------------

The other way to figure it out is

Amps = wattage/voltage

12 amps = 1440 watts/120 volts

You can see this on the schematic below for the electric heating element for the Suburban water heater.

[LLMRPh]

Originally Posted by wmtire

Easy to figure out if you know the wattage of an appliance. It's a formula RV'ers benefit from knowing and applying.

Watts= voltage X amps

Example using the water heating element

1440 watts = 120 volts X 12 amps

A 1500 watt space heater or hair dryer for example would be

1500 watts = 120 volts X 12.5 amps

-----------------------------------------------

The other way to figure it out is

Amps = wattage/voltage

12 amps = 1440 watts/120 volts

Thanks! Excellent physics refresher! See?? I always knew physics would be useful!!

[Dave Lyon]

Originally Posted by Mr. Dan

X2

X3. No sense in burning my propane when I've paid for an electrical site. Sometimes I'll run it on both when I first set up to heat the water quicker and then shut off the propane.

[CedarCreekWoody]

Electric for me, but have to be careful not to overload.

[timfromma]

The only time I use propane for anything besides the outside grill is when I'm boondocking. When hooked up to shore power, it's electric everything. I figure Im paying for a full hookup site so I will make full use of the utilities provided.

[rjshiflet]

Like most everyone else - we use electric the vast majority of the time. Occasionally if we want longer showers back-to-back we'll kick the propane on just to keep it hotter longer. However, our current fifth wheel has a 12-gallon water heater so that is 50% greater capacity than our previous 8-gallon model.

[TheWolfPaq82]

Paying for the electrical at the Campground ? USE IT !!

[Finster]

Electric, just because its free (with the site). I'll turn on the propane as well if we're giving all the kids showers back to back, but normally we try to spread them out through out the day rather than all at once in the evening. If we're at a campground with a nice, clean shower house then we skip the navy showers all together and use the campground showers.