how bad are 6 gallon gas/elec water heaters?

Itching2go wrote:
Might also check to see if it's an Atwood with a model number that begins or ends with "EXT". If it is, you may be looking at one that has an effective capacity above 6 gallons. These models accomplish this by heating the water well above the standard 120 degrees, then mix in cold water through a mixing valve at the tank outlet to reduce it safe temperatures. We have this with our 10 gallon gas/electric, and it yields an effective capacity of 18 gallons.

Something to check out..

Standard Atwood heats to 140*F (Normal t-stat set point)
The XT model heats to 160*F then uses the mixing valve to regulate output temp to 130*F

Mixing valves can become clogged if water source has high mineral content.

Might also check to see if it's an Atwood with a model number that begins or ends with "EXT". If it is, you may be looking at one that has an effective capacity above 6 gallons. These models accomplish this by heating the water well above the standard 120 degrees, then mix in cold water through a mixing valve at the tank outlet to reduce it safe temperatures. We have this with our 10 gallon gas/electric, and it yields an effective capacity of 18 gallons.

Something to check out..

Seems like the Oxygenics shower head helps us save water too. Might want to check it out.

We started with a RV with 6 gallon heater. Everything was fine. Use gas and electric and recovery is pretty quick. Allow 15 minutes between showers and you will be OK

We got by many years on a 6 gallon water heater. We have had 12 gallon water heaters and now have a 10 gallon. Basically the difference is 1/2 the water volume of a 12 gallon water heater.

Navy style showers is all we ever do, even with the larger water heater.

Ken

Thanks everyone. I'm no longer afraid of the six gallon heater.

And, hello to all you Oregon campers!

6 gal here in Oregon. No issues with it. Just the two of us. By the time the 1st one gets done drying off and dressing the water has recovered enough for the 2nd person. Usually 10-15 mins. When we can we do run gas/elec at the same time.

Golden_HVAC wrote:

LynnandCarol wrote:
We have six gallon. I always have enough for my shower. May need 10 or 15 min to be ready for next shower.

That might work fine in Texas with 65F water coming out of the ground. In Portland Oregon, the ground water is a chilly 45 in the winter and 55 in the summer.

What I did to increase my shower time is fill the fresh water tank with warm water. By using a tankless water heater, I can fill it with about 80 - 85F water, then take a refreshing 15 minute long shower at 110F!

However I agree, that when it is 45F into the RV, the 6 gallon water heater on gas only runs out quickly! So that was my solution.

I bought a L5 water heater at Amazon.com for about $129. Shipping was a nominal extra fee. The slightly larger L10 water heater will heat 10 liters per minute, not the 5 liters of the L5, so it takes me a little longer to fill the tank with hot water. The L5 is about 37,000 Btu's, while the L10 is about 55,000 Btu's. Your 12 gallon heater is probably in the 10,000 to 12,000 Btu range, while typical 10 gallon is around 10,000 Btu's and my 6 gallon is 8,800 Btu's per hour.

So the tankless has them all beat for warming the water quickly, however the tankless can only supply a small amount of water per minute at that temperature rise, while the tank water heater is drawing from it's reserve of hot water the whole time it is warming the incoming 45 - 55F water to 105 for your shower.

So pre-heat your fresh water tank if you can! It will offer the longest showers for a reasonable cost.

You can buy a tankless RV water heater, that fits in the same space as a 10 gallon water heater takes up. However they lack the controls that a house tankless water heater has, and because you sometimes are on a pump, the changing water pressures make it difficult to get a warm shower without scalding that is surely followed by the tankless heater reaching it's overheat limit and shutting off - so 55F shower water for a few seconds too!

Fred.

Well use to take the third shower after two women, and never had an issue with having hot water. This is on the Oregon coast in winter! With a 6 gal tank!

Red,
Not sure how many of you there are using the shower but...It comes down to how long the shower takes and how many people are taking 'em. When able to use both electric and gas heating do it. Always take Navy showers, they are the key to making the hot water last. We only ran out when the DW would wash her hair, something about getting out all the shampoo and then the conditioner.................she now realizes when we are camping we are NOT at home!
Good luck,
Billy

I had a six in our old TT and now have a ten in the new TT. far as I'm concerned I like the ten better. I can shower with out turning off the water to soap down, this is while we are at a full hookup cg. AND I did it without propane only with electric. while in Yuma I could not get my propane to come on. found out after we got home what was wrong, poor connection.