Water Heater on or off when Full Timing

I'm not a full timer, but our camper is parked at home and we sleep in it almost every night, until temps get below 10 degrees. Then, trying to heat is just costly and me move into the house. So, our camper is used "almost" full time. I always said, we bought this house so we had somewhere to full time in the camper!

Anyway.. water heater?

At home and when camping, previous camper ... electric on all the time if there was water in the water heater. The only time the water heater was turned off was when the tank was empty.

Current trailer... I found the electric draw on the current water heater is pretty steep. Considering we do so much in the camper all year round, it's very easy for us to exhaust 30 amps, pretty fast. So, at home, we use propane. I (mostly) leave it on all the time.

Same when camping. With the air conditioner, hair blowers, coffee pots, toasters, it doesn't take much to pop the main breaker in the camper. Turning off the electric from the water heater solves this problem. On our highest electric usage days, with the water heater on gas, we never blow the breakers.

Now ... recently, (at home), we've been showering inside the house a little more. The "need" for hot water in the camper is not so great. And as the temperatures get colder and colder now, the camper will soon be winterized and we'll be using a port-a-potty until it's not feasible to heat the camper any more.

So, recently, I've been shutting the hot water off completely, as we're not actually using "hot" water all that much.

When we decide to use the hot water and it's been turned off, we warm up the water with both gas and electric for a faster recovery. But then, once hot, I'll flip it back to gas.

I have found, the water heater can run almost all summer on gas and still not use up a 30 pound propane tank. It takes so very little. But seems the electric usage popping the breaker with other things running is a real annoyance. So we use gas mostly with the current camper. Off when not actually it, and always on all the time when camping (anywhere else than home).

I leave both on, don’t use that much propane.

CabinetmakerII wrote:
or to turn it off when not in use and risk not having hot water when it comes time to do the dishes or take a shower.

I don't see this as a full timer question. I think it applies to every RVer.
It doesn't take long to heat the water. I don't think there is any 'risk' of not having hot water when you want to do the dishes or shower. Just plan ahead.

FWIW, I turn mine off when I'm not actually using hot water.
Maybe your water heater isn't working properly if it is taking a long time for the water to get hot?

I wish more people would realize how loud one of those gas wh's are at 3am.

What did you do when you didn't live in an RV? Did you turn your water heater on and off as needed?

Leave it on full time. Use electric side.

Do you turn your hot water heater at home?

If on electricity, leave it on. If on propane, turn it off if you want, the little bit you save isn't worth the bother.

Bill

Electric when available, propane intermittent.