Hot Water Heater on electric or gas

Run it on propane
Well heat faster and recover faster
Two A/C will use 25~30 amps around 4kw save the rest for other items in the RV
If ambient temps get really hot, the the A/C and generator will be working hard

Only on those very occasional nights when I'm in an RV park and plugged in do I operate the water heater on electric....one out of seven last trip...needed to dump! Bobbo and I agree!

When running my gen I use electric......already generating electrical power so I use it. One fuel vs burning up two

I use electric when electricity is provided by the campground. I use propane otherwise, so if on a generator, it is LP.

Rephrase: Gas!

ford truck guy wrote:
I should rephrase the question to better explain .

I will be running the Onan and both AC's this weekend at the track, would it be better to use the water heater on gas, or electric?

Last year ( first time on Onan ) I switched it to gas, figured it would be less draw on the generator... I have plenty of genny, Onan 6.5 so Thta is not a worry...

I would run it on gas.
Barney

I should rephrase the question to better explain .

I will be running the Onan and both AC's this weekend at the track, would it be better to use the water heater on gas, or electric?

Last year ( first time on Onan ) I switched it to gas, figured it would be less draw on the generator... I have plenty of genny, Onan 6.5 so Thta is not a worry...

If you are powering with a generator, you'll probably want your water heater running on gas.

If you are plugged into shore power, it doesn't really matter which way you run your water heater, or even if you run both. Gas will recover faster than electric, and Gas will heat from cold faster than electric too. But gas and electric together are best for fastest recovery.

It's all a matter of how fast you want to heat your water and the available of electricity (shore power or generator).

IF you are running Onan Gen for charging of batteries and OTHER needs then use the electric function on water heater.

Then when NOT running Onan Gen use propane when you want HOT water.


Electric is 6.2 gallon per hour recovery time (4778 btu)
Propane is 10.3 gallon per hour recovery time (8000-12000 btu depending on gal size and MFG)

Not really a matter of efficiency, it's a matter what fuel do you want to use, propane or gasoline.