We can take back to back "modified" navy showers and not run out of HW when both
electric and LP are on. By modified I mean we do shut off the shower head while lathering up but we also give it a little extra time on the rinse off.
__________________ Peace! Dan & Rita D
2017 Nissan Titan 5.6L King cab 4wd
2016 Evergreen Everlite 242RBS
29' empty nest model. Blue Ox WD hitch
(1 queen bed, large main cabin and huge bathroom)
Camping days 2010-53, 2011-47, 2012-41, 2013-41, 2014-31, 2015-40, 2016-44, 2017-63, 2018-75, 2019-32, 2020-41, 2021-49, 2022-43, 2023-66
My wife and I regularly take back to back showers and we DO NOT use the navy shower method,and there is plenty of hot water to do dishes afterwards. I submit that if you have to navy shower, then there is a problem with the water heater.
Here is what I've learned. A 6 gallon WH, nets 4.5 gallons of hot water, then the remaining starts to become Luke warm. ( this into a bucket to confirm amount. ) so run time is determined by water flow at shower head. For example a 1.7 flow rate should net 8 minute shower. (+|-) I've found just a little hot water at valve then turn cold on. Helps a lot.... This in addition to flow control valve
My WH from cold to hot as mentioned takes about 14:00 minutes.
I worried about running out of hot water on my first couple uses. So I did my usual quick shower as most the time we are dry camping for a week. The last day I did the quick shower, washed all the soap off and then just stayed there with water running. Amazed I got about 5 minutes give or take of hot water before it got cool. That's on propane only.