Water heater efficiency

**pengle** · 06-03-2022, 07:51 PM

Originally Posted by docque

We have a water heater with a tank. Which is more efficient? Electric or Gas?

I have a 12 gallon water heater. I've experimented with recovery times.
Recovery time for "electric only" averaged 60 minutes.
Recovery time for "gas only" averaged 40 minutes.
Recovery time when both are used averaged 30 minutes.

Gas and electric each have their own set of thermostats - an operating thermostat and a high-limit thermostat. The gas or electric will shut turn off when their thermostat reaches temperature (130 degrees in the Suburban tank). The nature of these thermostats (tolerance variance) is that your gas may shut off first or my gas may shut off first. Using both sources to heat the water doesn't cause the water to get an hotter. It just gets the water up to the operating temperature faster.

**Jerryr** · 06-04-2022, 06:38 AM

We always only use electric when connected to shore power and never run out of hot water. Of course our “cold” ground water starts at about 75 degrees in Florida. When not connected too sewer and using the grey tanks we take “navy showers” to maximize days between having to dump the gray tanks.

When camping up north in colder climates electric is primary source of heat energy for hot water but if we find we run out of hot water due to colder ground water we then also turn on gas at the same time only when taking showers.

Same with heating the trailer. We use the electric fireplace and/or electric space heater for primary source of heat and supplement it with propane heat only when needed. We travel with a parrot and need to keep temp above 72 degrees for him. We use a oscillating space heater with digital temp setting to keep his area warm.

**Redapple63** · 06-04-2022, 11:19 AM

Originally Posted by docque

Sorry that I wasn't specific. It was which will keep up with demand.

If I understand your question, if you had to use one or the other exclusively, I would go with propane as the faster recovery time. With that said when connected to site power, electric with propane makes recovery times significantly faster.

**docque** · 06-04-2022, 07:21 PM

Originally Posted by Jerryr

We always only use electric when connected to shore power and never run out of hot water. Of course our “cold” ground water starts at about 75 degrees in Florida. When not connected too sewer and using the grey tanks we take “navy showers” to maximize days between having to dump the gray tanks.

When camping up north in colder climates electric is primary source of heat energy for hot water but if we find we run out of hot water due to colder ground water we then also turn on gas at the same time only when taking showers.

Same with heating the trailer. We use the electric fireplace and/or electric space heater for primary source of heat and supplement it with propane heat only when needed. We travel with a parrot and need to keep temp above 72 degrees for him. We use a oscillating space heater with digital temp setting to keep his area warm.

Thanks to all for the responses. Makes sense. As for the space heater option, I never thought of that. My Wife likes it because our trailer is new and the heater is very smelly. We are running it to get rid of the smell.

**Jerryr** · 06-04-2022, 07:38 PM

Originally Posted by docque

Thanks to all for the responses. Makes sense. As for the space heater option, I never thought of that. My Wife likes it because our trailer is new and the heater is very smelly. We are running it to get rid of the smell.[/b]

Running it will eliminate 99% of the smell. Initially I thought mine was burning and immediately turned it off. It was the preservative oil coating on the,teal surfaces burning off. It got better after a few hours of running. It still has a distinctive slight odor. The space heater option works great.

We bought this space heater back in 2016 and it’s been fantastic. It oscillates and it has a digital temp setting https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000TTV2QS/

The only down side of not using RV propane heater is in below freezing temps the underbelly would not get heat. The propane heater has a duct that pumps heat in the underbelly to keep water lines etc from freezing.

**docque** · 06-05-2022, 06:51 PM

Originally Posted by Jerryr

Running it will eliminate 99% of the smell. Initially I thought mine was burning and immediately turned it off. It was the preservative oil coating on the,teal surfaces burning off. It got better after a few hours of running. It still has a distinctive slight odor. The space heater option works great.

We bought this space heater back in 2016 and it’s been fantastic. It oscillates and it has a digital temp setting https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000TTV2QS/

The only down side of not using RV propane heater is in below freezing temps the underbelly would not get heat. The propane heater has a duct that pumps heat in the underbelly to keep water lines etc from freezing.

We have ran it for about three hours. Still stinky. We got a little space heater just to take the chill off.

The water heater we will have to see what fits us best. I will let my Wife try it out first. She likes long showers.

**Sparky1** · 06-08-2022, 08:34 PM

An Oxygenics shower head really conserves the hot water and prolongs the hot shower.

**Redapple63** · 06-08-2022, 11:09 PM

Originally Posted by docque

Thanks to all for the responses. Makes sense. As for the space heater option, I never thought of that. My Wife likes it because our trailer is new and the heater is very smelly. We are running it to get rid of the smell.

I thought this discussion was about the water heater not the rv space heater.

Regarding the rv propane heat, anytime it sits idle you will need to run it to burn off the dust etc.

Bill

**CampMcSurley** · 06-09-2022, 05:30 AM

Originally Posted by mkevinmarshsr

I use electric when at a park but the gas definitely heats the water faster (15 min). I will use both if we are taking showers back to back but always turn the gas off once finished. Using this method we have never had a cold shower.

This is how we use it - Electric and Gas when we arrive (If needing Hot Water first go, just electric if not) Gas & Electric if washing dishes or shower, then back to electric to maintain hot water.

**IBEW Sparky** · 06-09-2022, 06:19 AM

Originally Posted by docque

Thanks to all for the responses. Makes sense. As for the space heater option, I never thought of that. My Wife likes it because our trailer is new and the heater is very smelly. We are running it to get rid of the smell.

Like others have stated it's all a matter of how much usage and incoming water supply temp. One of the first things we do when we're setting up and plugged in is to verify water heater tank is full then turn on the electric mode to the water heater. By the time we're done setting EVERYTHING up there is plenty of hot water to take a shower if needed. We usually only use the propane if we're taking back to back showers or running on generator. Even when on generator the water heater is turned off most of the day since it holds the heat fairly well... We turn it back on for showers and then afterwards let it get back up to temperature before it gets turned back off... and there's still plenty of hot water throughout the day.
As far as electric heaters go we use the fireplace and supplement it with a quality ceramic disk heater... NOT one of the cheap plastic ones.

Comfort Glow BDISC6 Original Brown Box Ceramic Disc Heater 5,200 BTUs https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00JP4YCUG...ding=UTF8&psc=

https://www.ebay.com/p/1436391781