Water Heater Heat-up Time

[5arnolds]

I am interested to receive feedback on how long it typically takes to get hot water out of a faucet when using electric only to heat the water. I tested the gas mode and got hot water rather quickly. When testing the electric mode, I sensed it was starting to get hot, but ran out of time. Common sense tells me that gas gives you the quicker turnaround time for hot water versus electric, so beyond the cost savings of using electric (assuming you are already paying for the electric at the site), I am interested to know what modes others use their hot water heater in (gas, electric or gas/electric?).

[Terry]

I use all 3 depending on the situation. During normal use I keep it on electric. Have not timed it, but it is a fairly long heat cycle -- good for doing the dishes, ad-hoc hot water use, etc. When it is shower time for the family, I put it on both. It will heat the water enough for the next shower in about 12 minutes.

In the big scheme of things I don't get too concerned about propane. If I was full timing it could add up, but for a weekend warrior along with a few week longs here and there - it is worth the comfort factor to throw on the propane IMHO.

[nylyon]

I do both as well. When I get to the CG, it gets put on electric and gas. Once it's up to temperature I will usually turn off the propane and leave it on electric both to save gas and for the subtle water heater sound. For the morning shower time (I have a teen age girl) it MUST go on both again until the morning routine is over.

[canuckowner]

... I never realized you could have it run off gas and electric at the same time--- good to know!

[mcfarmall]

After we are plugged in to shore power, I flip both the gas and electric on. After I hear the gas burner cycle off, I switch over to electric only. We don't shower in the camper so we only use hot water for handwashing, dishes and the outdoor shower (handwashing and cast iron cookware cleaning).

[chopshop]

Originally Posted by canuckowner

... I never realized you could have it run off gas and electric at the same time--- good to know!

Nor did I, this is good to know......

[veryconfusing]

Gas + electric at same time - about 20 minutes to hit scalding hot for us.
Electric only - Takes about an hour or slightly longer

Like a few of the previous posts - we run both at shower time and electric only the rest of the time. This can result in shower #3 not being as hot as the first two but it's good enough for me.

[clutch]

If youre in a hurry use both.

[norty1]

On some rigs, you do not have the option of running both at the same time.

[jwstewar]

We do like most of the others. Just flip on the electric when we pull into the campground and plugged in. By the time everything else is setup and loaded we have hot water. When it comes morning and/or evening shower time, both get turned on. When we go to our local county fair, there is so many campers there the electric can be marginal and it is so hot, all of the ACs are working overtime that we can actually see the voltage drops. We will then typically run it on propane only.

[Preston]

In our 32BHDS I will just use propane. Because it is 30 amp and if I have it on electric with the 2 fridges on electric and the a/c on someone will turn on the mecrowave and trip the main in the trailer

[FPM III]

I always run on electric unless there are voltage problems, then I switch it to gas. On a few occasions, I've had to switch the refrigerator over to gas too as when it's in "auto" mode, it will start constantly switching back and forth from electric to gas if the voltage drops too low.