Basic water heater questions

[kirkdl9]

Jayco Jayflight SLX 264 BHW

I have some basics questions regarding use and operation of my 6gal hot water heater. The owners manual like most of the ones I have is very vague and not much help. We are currently living in the TT while we find a home. Since I don’t know much about it I have been using it as described: If we want hot water I turn on propane and flip hw heater switch. Allow it to heat up. Take shower. Then I turn off propane and let the pilot die. Then turn off switch. Is this a correct procedure or is it safety/conservation overkill?

Further questions:
How do I know if my HW heater is gas/elec combo or gas only?
The pilot turned off after about 20 min of not using the hot water. Is this normal? If we begin to use hot water will it turn back on?
Can we just leave the propane bottle on and flip the hw heater switch as needed?(and let it warm up of course)

Any basic tips for usage is greatly appreciated. I am pretty ignorant on the subject.

[Atlee]

What year TT do you have? Is it relatively new, ie within the past 6 or 8 years? If so, I doubt you have a WH that has a pilot.

Do you go outside and light a pilot? If not, you don't have a pilot. You can tell if you have both electric and gas WH by looking at the switches you have on the wall. You will have two WH switches if you have both electric and gas. If you only have gas, you'll only have one switch.

Originally Posted by kirkdl9

Jayco Jayflight SLX 264 BHW

I have some basics questions regarding use and operation of my 6gal hot water heater. The owners manual like most of the ones I have is very vague and not much help. We are currently living in the TT while we find a home. Since I don’t know much about it I have been using it as described: If we want hot water I turn on propane and flip hw heater switch. Allow it to heat up. Take shower. Then I turn off propane and let the pilot die. Then turn off switch. Is this a correct procedure or is it safety/conservation overkill?

Further questions:
How do I know if my HW heater is gas/elec combo or gas only?
The pilot turned off after about 20 min of not using the hot water. Is this normal? If we begin to use hot water will it turn back on?
Can we just leave the propane bottle on and flip the hw heater switch as needed?(and let it warm up of course)

Any basic tips for usage is greatly appreciated. I am pretty ignorant on the subject.

[kirkdl9]

Sorry I should have specified. It is a 2015 and I do not have to manually light the pilot. Once I turn the gas on I turn on the switch and the pilot lights.
Ok so I guess l don’t have electric combo because there’s only 1 WH switch.
What about my other questions and proper use?

[jimp]

If you are living in the TT full time, and in a CG with full hook ups (electricity), you can just use the CG's electricity and save your propane for other needs/uses (stove & main heater). If the CG charges you for electricity based on usage during this time, I would still just use the electric side of the WH, as it does not take it long to heat 6 gal of water. Then turn the WH switch off until you need it again.

If the CG is not charging separately for electricity, the you could just leave the WH on if desired, and get a small electric heater to use to heat the TT when desired. You won't have to fill the propane tanks as much this way. It may be cheaper to use electricity more than propane, or at least more convenient depending on how many propane tanks your TT has.

[kirkdl9]

Originally Posted by jimp

If you are living in the TT full time, and in a CG with full hook ups (electricity), you can just use the CG's electricity and save your propane for other needs/uses (stove & main heater). If the CG charges you for electricity based on usage during this time, I would still just use the electric side of the WH, as it does not take it long to heat 6 gal of water. Then turn the WH switch off until you need it again.

If the CG is not charging separately for electricity, the you could just leave the WH on if desired, and get a small electric heater to use to heat the TT when desired. You won't have to fill the propane tanks as much this way. It may be cheaper to use electricity more than propane, or at least more convenient depending on how many propane tanks your TT has.

I think my WH is gas only because as Atlee said I only have one WH switch. I don’t pay for electricity so it would be awesome for wh to be electric as well but if the defining clue is 2 switches then it’s gas only.

[SouthCo]

I wouldn’t bother turning off the propane. Just flip the switch off or on as needed.

[Atlee]

1) I would leave the propane on all the time. 2) turn on the WH and let it get hot. It will automatically shut off when it gets to the preset (at the factory)
temperature. When it gets completely hot, you can either do nothing, and the WH will cut off and on to keep the water temperature about the same all the time, much like a house WH does. Or you can simply turn off the switch. The WH will keep the water hot to warm for a pretty long time. If it gets too cool for you, you can just turn the switch back on for a while.

Originally Posted by kirkdl9

Sorry I should have specified. It is a 2015 and I do not have to manually light the pilot. Once I turn the gas on I turn on the switch and the pilot lights.
Ok so I guess l don’t have electric combo because there’s only 1 WH switch.
What about my other questions and proper use?

[kirkdl9]

Great thank you for that simple explanation. That is the kind of info that should be plainly explained in the owners manual but it’s not. That’s how I assumed it worked but wasn’t sure.
If I do leave the propane on I guess I’ll need to get a new CO/LP alarm because my LP alarm was sounding several nights late into the night so l just cut the wires. It was a false alarm because all propane and burners were off. I had bottles checked for leaks and they were good so l know alarm was false.

[Jagiven]

Originally Posted by Atlee

1) I would leave the propane on all the time. 2) turn on the WH and let it get hot. It will automatically shut off when it gets to the preset (at the factory)
temperature. When it gets completely hot, you can either do nothing, and the WH will cut off and on to keep the water temperature about the same all the time, much like a house WH does. Or you can simply turn off the switch. The WH will keep the water hot to warm for a pretty long time. If it gets too cool for you, you can just turn the switch back on for a while.

X2.

sounds like you have a gas only water heater. on our HTT, we have two switches for the WH, right next to each other. One marked gas and the other marked electric. We tend to turn the Propane off, between uses, just turn it on about 30 to 45 minutes before we need hot water.

As for the propane tank, open the valve and leave it open until you are ready to go home!

[kirkdl9]

Great thanks. I now have a much better understanding of my water heater.
Now I have another question: Do I need to drain it before I travel? And if so I believe I read in a manual that it will fill up first, and automatically, once connected back to city water.

[Jagiven]

I drain mine only if we are not planning to use the tt for more than two weeks, so the water does not get icky. Some well water will stink after and while.

Yes the tank will refill before you will get any water out of the hot water faucet. If we are filling the fw tank, I'll turn the pump on, to fill the HW tank at the same time, or it is 6 gallons out of the fw tank I cannot use. I open the pressure relief at the HW tank as I fill, so I do not worry about forgetting that a faucet is on. When the water start coming out of the pressure relief valve, I flip it close, and the pump will cycle off.

[kirkdl9]

Originally Posted by Jagiven

I drain mine only if we are not planning to use the tt for more than two weeks, so the water does not get icky. Some well water will stink after and while.

Yes the tank will refill before you will get any water out of the hot water faucet. If we are filling the fw tank, I'll turn the pump on, to fill the HW tank at the same time, or it is 6 gallons out of the fw tank I cannot use. I open the pressure relief at the HW tank as I fill, so I do not worry about forgetting that a faucet is on. When the water start coming out of the pressure relief valve, I flip it close, and the pump will cycle off.

That makes perfect sense and thank you for the explanation. That is the kind of stuff that should be in the owners manual....basic common sense operation.

[Dobbs]

My two cents: A friend of ours just purchased a 2018 Coachman trailer and the switch for the electric side of the water heater was on the heater itself. You had to open the outside access panel to locate a rocker type switch. No lights anywhere to let you know it was on. Also you can check your circuit breaker panel to see if there is a breaker for the water heater. It would be on its own circuit. If there isn't one then you have gas only.

[ifallsguy]

Be aware the factory thermostat is set somewhere near 140 degrees, so there is a scalding possibility. If you want to change it out for an adjustable, do a web search for adjustable thermostat for your specific OEM WH. We did that and now have water at 115 degrees. No scalding and saves on LP.