Hot water heater on or off

[FirstFiver]

Originally Posted by Larry-NC

Having replaced my residential water heater about every 10 years for the last ~40, I don't share your view. The Suburban SW6DE in our 2008 Cherokee 38P has never needed service of any kind. Admittedly it does get less use.

We have been full timing in our fifth wheel since Oct when we moved down here.
I'm not sure off the top of my head what size my H/W is in it, maybe 10gal tops??

So it actually goes through quite a constant duty cycle with that little capacity.
Very reliable if you put it in perspective.

[Reverse_snowbird]

Originally Posted by downsc123

The bold part got me thinking. My kids sleep in their bunks in the rear of the trailer (water heater is underneath the bunks - Alpha Wolf 26 DBH-l) and complain its hot with the AC set at 69 or 70 at night. Wonder if the water heater is contributing to that.

Well, many will disagree, but when we were camped in hot weather, I think it made a difference in the heat in the tt when we left the water heater on . Try it and see. You might also want to put a small fan in the rig to circulate air to the bunks. We have a small mh with two beds and one is freezing at night while the other is warm due to air circulation unless we use a fan.
Another reason for turning it on and off... We turned the water off when we left the camp and didn't want to leave the water heater on when the water was off. So we got in the habit of turning the water heater on when using and off after we were done.

[Chuck_S]

Electrical problems exist for those stuck with 120vAC-only appliances.

My water heater runs just fine on propane and doesn't affect hairdryer, AC, microwave, etc. use. Same with my refrigerator, don't need 120vAC for it either. Unable to find a decent propane microwave though which forces me to heat lunch on the stove when we stop enroute in rest areas.

-- Chuck

[Ohio_john]

Electric..leave it on, I’m not waiting every freakin time I want hot water!! I don’t turn off the water heater at home….

[5picker]

Originally Posted by Chuck_S

Electrical problems exist for those stuck with 120vAC-only appliances.

My water heater runs just fine on propane and doesn't affect hairdryer, AC, microwave, etc. use. Same with my refrigerator, don't need 120vAC for it either. Unable to find a decent propane microwave though which forces me to heat lunch on the stove when we stop enroute in rest areas.

-- Chuck

Dang... here I thought you were going to say you heat your lunch on the engine manifold!

[kfd82]

Like most have said, I too turn on the Electric water heater as soon as I hook up and dont turn it off until I leave.
If we have more than the 3 of us I also turn on the propane as soon as the first shower starts. Running both really makes it ALMOST endless hot water.

[cincia]

like many here we leave our WH turned on the entire time we're at the camgpgrounds with a couple of exceptions. If we're going to be gone for an extra long day we turn it off (along with shutting off the water) just as a safety precaution. and if its very hot or very cold out. When its very hot the hose, etc sitting in the sun heat the water so we don't need the WH as much. When its cold out we tend to have on an electric heater so we want to know when the WH turns on so we can manage our electrical usage (we have a 30a trailer).