Water heater

[joe in calif]

I always leave my water heater on while I'm camping. A friend of mine said he turns his off when not actually using hot water. Like after he showers etc. and turns it back on before he needs hot water. He said it will last longer that way. I never thought of it that way but it seems like turning off and on will do more harm than good. What do you guys do??

[Donedroolin]

I have heard that also. I turn mine off only at night. Don't need to heat water while sleeping then when I wake up , turn it on for the day. Wife always needs hot water to clean something.

[Crabman]

I just leave it on. Its insulated so it does not run all that much when not being used.

[Flyrotor]

I leave mine on the whole time we are camping, never had any problems here

[Threebutchers]

We leave it on....I'm gonna pick my battles when we camp and the DW likes cold air and hot water :-)

[certified106]

We leave ours on all the time. If you ever pay attention to it once the water is hot it very seldom kicks on unless you are using hot water

[joe in calif]

Thank you for the answers, I guess I will continue to leave mine on also.

[Doug]

Originally Posted by Crabman

I just leave it on. Its insulated so it does not run all that much when not being used.

X2

Doug

[Nighthawk 96]

Leave ours on all the time while camping

[tinlizzie23]

Originally Posted by certified106

We leave ours on all the time. If you ever pay attention to it once the water is hot it very seldom kicks on unless you are using hot water

Once water is hot, ours kicks on about twice a day. No reason to turn it off.

[Recondite]

Mine is dual gas/elec. I leave it on electric when available and add the gas when multiple showers are needed. Extra fast hot water that way. Obviously only gas where no electric hookup.

[Soulman]

Originally Posted by Threebutchers

We leave it on....I'm gonna pick my battles when we camp and the DW likes cold air and hot water :-)

Amen to THAT!

[jwstewar]

Originally Posted by Recondite

Mine is dual gas/elec. I leave it on electric when available and add the gas when multiple showers are needed. Extra fast hot water that way. Obviously only gas where no electric hookup.

That is exactly how we do it, except when we are at the county fair. There are so many folks there and it is so hot all the ACs are running, you will sometimes get voltage drop. If we want to do something and not have to turn the AC off (did I mention it is hot?), I will kill the water heater for a while just to maintain proper voltage.

[Chuckwagon.]

Hi Doug ! On our 165's the WH start-up is basically in the on position then lighting the pilot ? We've yet use ours since our first 2 trips were dry camp. June trip will be first hook-up.

[baltimorebear]

We are on a seasonal site and have a metered hydro hook up that we pay at the end of the season. This will be our first seasonal experience. For now we use mainly electric hw and turn it off when not there. I'm just curious as to which would be the better money saver, propane or electric?

[Siamese]

On.

[Isaacs]

Mine has a manual lighting pilot light so it always stays on with no problems. Except when the wind blows it out.

[MnBob]

This is something I have thought about and this prompts me to check more. My gas water heater seems to come on for just a few seconds every few minutes. Does this throughout the day and night. Sounds like this is not normal.

[markscns]

As ours is gas only, I turn it on to get the water hot enough during the day to wash hands, etc. When it's time to wash dishes or take a shower I leave it on. I shut it off at night time like others. This helps conserve propane.

[groundhog72]

Mine used to kick on once maybe twice a day for 5 min. I wouldn't think there would be any savings to shutting it off during the day. Probably uses more energy heating up after being off all day. I truly miss the older hw from two campers ago. It had a pilot and that was enough to keep it hot all day and night without firing the burner.